Filter Wheel Setup

Understanding Drivers

All filter wheels operated by MaxIm DL require drivers, which are supplied by the manufacturer.  The manufacturer is entirely responsible for driver performance and technical support. 

Usually there are three levels of drivers required:

• System-level hardware driver; for example, drivers to talk to the USB chipset in the filter wheel.
• User-level driver, typically a DLL that understands the filter wheel's communications protocols.
• Software interface driver.  This will be either an industry-standard ASCOM driver, or a driver that works with MaxIm DL's proprietary API.  The latter method is used when some additional capabilities beyond the ASCOM standard is required.

Most manufactuers provide two separate driver installers - one for the system/user level hardware drivers, and one for the software interface driver.  You will need to install both in order to operate the filter wheel with MaxIm DL.  These drivers will typically be supplied with the camera, and updated versions may be available on the manufacturer's web site. 

Some manufacturers control the filter wheel through the camera interface.  In this case the filter wheel drivers are automatically installed when you install the camera driver. 

Please note that the ASCOM Platform must be installed first, before installing an ASCOM driver.  The ASCOM Platform can be downloaded from http://ascom-standards.org.

Notes

• Depending on the software level you purchased, you may only be able to run some of the listed filter wheels. Please see Product Levels for more information.
• If you wish to write your own driver, you can use the ASCOM Standard camera interface, or request our native MaxIm DL API through technical support (use Help Ribbon Technical Support).
• If you encounter problems with the camera equipment or their drivers, please contact the manufacturer for assistance. 

Model-Specific Notes

• Most filter wheels require both the ASCOM Platform and drivers provided by the manufacturer.  Please visit your camera manufacturer's website for more information. See ASCOM Filter Wheel for setup instructions.
• Filter wheels built by Diffraction Limited / SBIG are typically operated via the camera drivers; please refer to Camera and Autoguider Setup for more information.  The optional USB-to-FW adapter operates via an ASCOM driver.
• For CRI wheels see CRI Tunable.
• For CVI wheels see CVI Filter Wheel.
• A Simulator is included, which is useful for testing scripts, etc.  See Simulator.
• A Dual Wheels driver is included, which allows you to stack two filter wheels and operate them as one.  See Dual Wheels.