Eqmod equivalent for Celestron?

[Thalestris24]

Hi

Having just got an AVX I'm wondering if there's anything similar to Eqmod but for Celestron out there somewhere?

Cheers

Louise

[Cornelius Varley]

The question has been asked before and the answer is not yet. I'll dig out the thread later.

[Cornelius Varley]

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/103400-eqmod-and-celestron/?hl=eqmod+celestron#entry1780965

[Thalestris24]

Hi

I know there's not eqmod for Celestron - I just wondered if there's something non-eqmod, but similar, available. I guess not...

Louise

[szymon]

The Nexstar protocol has been published, so it should be possible to create something:

http://www.nexstarsite.com/PCControl/ProgrammingNexStar.htm

but I can't find anywhere that it's been done.

[kirkster501]

..one of the reasons I got out of Celestron stuff other than their OTAs.

[Thalestris24]

Hi

I'm not that bothered - an eqmod-type piece of software would be useful but not essential. Astrotortilla is more important for me, though there's always the handset and ASPAto fall back on

Louise

[dazza1639]

I use nexremote, stellarium and Astrotorilla to control my setup for the mosaic functionality you could buy Sequence Generator Pro and the mosaic plugin

Darren

@SalAstroSoc & @astronut1639

www.salfordastro.org.uk

[Thalestris24]

I use nexremote, stellarium and Astrotorilla to control my setup for the mosaic functionality you could buy Sequence Generator Pro and the mosaic plugin

Darren

@SalAstroSoc & @astronut1639

www.salfordastro.org.uk

Hi

Nexremote sounds promising! I only got the AVX yesterday and I've yet to even unpack it I'm not interested in mosaics - at least, not at this point in time.

Thanks

Louise

[Crose01]

Take a look at SGPro it does mosaics and more

[Thalestris24]

Hi

Thanks. I had a look at it - it doesn't seem to do much more than I already can anyway. My needs are basic and simple! But I'll bear it in mind!

Louise

[perfrej]

The thing about EQMOD is that it does away with the hand controller altogether. It hooks up to the interface that the hand controller uses to talk to the actual motor control board inside the mount. In other words, it controls the motors, not the mount, and that, apart from the rich set of features available, is what makes it so good and efficient. You can even change gear rations in the mount and just tell EQMOD how many steps per rev you have.

/per

[Thalestris24]

Hi Per

I use EQMod with my Heq5 but it's only available for Synta mounts. I've also acquired an AVX so have to manage without it on that!

Louise

[tekkydave]

Nexremote is ok - I have tried it with my 127slt but it is not up to date with the latest features e.g. Starsense which I use. You can use it to slew the scope but not much else e.g. alignment. You need to keep the HC connected aswell as it plugs into the HC serial connector.

[Thalestris24]

Hi

Yeah, I'd only need it for slewing sometimes - it's all I use eqmod for anyway! I use Astrotortilla for plate solving and PA. I've still not powered my new AVX up yet!

Louise

[dazza1639]

Nexremote is ok - I have tried it with my 127slt but it is not up to date with the latest features e.g. Starsense which I use. You can use it to slew the scope but not much else e.g. alignment. You need to keep the HC connected aswell as it plugs into the HC serial connector.

Yes you need to connect through the hand controller unless you have the serial to pc port cable, either way nexremote will perform any function that the hand controller can including alignment, database object go-to's and polar alignment. If an object isn't available in the db you can input the RA Dec coords or use stellarium to perform the slew. You can also frame up your shot once on target you can use your camera to take looping exposures and use nexremote to nudge the scope to exactly where you want. I think it's a great piece of software. The only problem with it is that it can only create and talk to one virtual com port so only one other piece of software can connect at once. Do if you use stellarium for your slew, you need to disconnect it before you can connect phd to start guiding. I think that there is a piece of software called Nexhub that can let nexremote talk to more ascom programmes but it is $45

Darren

@SalAstroSoc & @astronut1639

www.salfordastro.org.uk