StevieDvd

I had issues with Station mode after the update, I too was connecting to the Seestar wifi but could not get the Station mode to list any networks, though it had been set before and was still set to on. After a reset still failed to resolve the issue I ended up switching from 5ghz to 2.5ghz which allowed me to select my home network. Perhaps doing that corrected any app saved settings to match the new firmware. I just need to get the moon video files from the Seestar but can't seem to get a working PC connection - it just says I need to format the drive that appears when the Seestar is connected. I'm not happy with a reformat as that would lose the files and I'm not sure whether it would be the correct thing to do. So a little more googling for me to solve this!! Update Managed to find the video files saved in the Ipad memory so can process those. ZWO support came back with a response that the PC connection is a bug and that I can safely format the drive in ex-fat format. I managed to do a wifi connect in Station mode and after adding the Seestar login details can view the internal EMMC content, even without the reformat. First Light I managed a few photos of the moon and a couple of videos stacked post capture. The left-hand is a cropped image of a single photo 'as is', the second a stacked and tweaked image from a video. Not much to choose between them, I expected to get a better result post processed but pleased to see the straight saved photo is so good.

A quick google found this page which may be of help. The ports when used for Dew straps are PWM and set as a percentage of voltage instead of just on/off.

On the ASIAir (apart from the first version) the power ports can be set to control the dew strap power style, they just need a 2.1mm connection instead of a phono plug. I don't believe there is a non ZWO controller that can be controlled from the ASIAir.

eqmod cables are normally 9600 baud and the new onboard serial chips are faster (115200 etc). But the decider might be whether the driver keeps the com port saved, the internal may be a Prolific chipset and a lot of USB Serial adapter cables use the FTDI chipset (which a lot of people prefer). But if price is the main objective then a standard USB printer cable wins. The other consideration is the USB printer cable is a looser push fit. Whereas the USB serial cables connect to the handset port - with a click in connection that is less likely to get pulled out in usage.

Looking at mine it seems the DC plate is slightly bowed so that when in place it exerts a little pressure on the onboard component part. In your image you can see the silver metal each side of the black plastic of the power port. The 'legs' of the dc plate need to be between the black plastic and the metal sides of the power port. This is what mine looks like.

There's an old software testers trick that might explain your issue. When software is updated it may need to adjust any config files and write the default values that are read at start up. The coder may only do this on the first change to the config or on a restart (hence the restarts you see systems do so often) so until a change is made the system can exhibit odd behaviour. You, changing the cameras, may have effected the update to the config solving the problem (which should not happen). Bane of my life in testing were coders who never initialised their variables but read them later in their code - my test software would catch them and the coder would be put on the wall of shame list. 😒

No it's a cloud magnet of course!

Another new owner of a Seestar S50 from today, now I can post on this thread as an owner and not an interested party.

A new arrival being fattened up (charged) for a later cloudless night! No prizes for guessing what it is.

These are still around there's even a 2023 Sabre model.

Try a different usb cable, sometimes the supplied ones can be a problem. If you can connect to a PC with ASI drivers installed, if it could indicate the problem is with the ASIAir.

That does not make sense to me. The unpark should update the mount coordinates to match the saved park position. If you tell yours to go to the home position and it does then it must know the saved position. It could be a case of the shutdown procedure i.e. if the mount is switched off first/last or when the eqmod is closed, but that's best answered by an eqmod user who parks in a saved position.

You should have told me that I'd have offered you £2 for it - twice it's current value.😀

Have you got a rogue file such as a jpg in there? Check the files for any that should not be there, it's a common error.

By mix up it was the linking of NCP to home position by where the scope is pointing. NCP can be set without a scope mounted. But of course if you setup your mount & scope for each session, and/or need to polar align then you will likely move the mount from whatever saved position or home to do so. If you are in an observatory and have PA sorted you can do a restart more easily, but in that case I doubt the original question would have asked. Can you let us know what software you are using and someone will point out where you can store your preferred start position? If you are not leaving the mount in the close down position for next time even the saved position is effectively lost. Plate-solving can be the answer you need as it can update the mount position for you as long as it can solve the image seen by the controlling software.

You are mixing up Polar Alignment and mount position. Home position is a useful starting point for most mounts, some do have an automated park/start position - the HEQ5 does not. NCP alignment is the mount not the scope and is needed for accuracy of goto's on eq driven mounts. Using your example of a perfect NCP alignment, what is needed on startup is to tell the mount where the scope is currently pointing. If it thinks it is at the standard home position but it's not, then the gotos will be wrong, though a bad date/time/location can have the same effect. A lot of astro software will let you save a start position, that is effectively your home position now. You would not need to go to the old weights down/scope north home position. When I had an HEQ5 mount and was polar aligned I would start at my home position, marked on my mount. Then do a goto to a bright star and if not centred I;d release my clutches and centre it, then do a goto home to check it was at my home marked on the mount. All gotos were then OK for me. The current equivalent can be done my plate-solving and re-centering. Star alignments are for letting the mount know of any inaccuracies in your Polar alignment and in where the mount is pointing (if not correct) it can then run taking these into account. HTH Steve

1. It loaded on my Iphone running iOS 17.0.3 - though I have not got my Seestar yet I checked the app out but have not connected to a Seestar. 2. The app says it needs iOS 13.0 or later

That's a valid point. I guess as they don't sell focal reducers they think it's the manufacturer of the reducer that needs to mention that. But we can't expect every reducer maker to know the settings for every camera can we.

To be fair they also state "Please be noted that this tutorial only applies to 55mm back focal length. "

ASPA on the Celestron was a feature that Skywatcher mounts used to lack and was hailed as a good tool by AVX users. You would do a normal star alignment, which in reality is compensating for a poor PA and then do a process to correct the PA by using any bright star. There is now a similar feature in SW mounts hidden in the manual. You'd need to see the AVX manual or a google to find the process

It's been a while since I last looked at alpaca, back then it seemed to need drivers from the hardware makers written for alpaca. The only reason I investigated virtualhere usb connection was to use an Asiair on a solar scope with moonlite focuser & Asi camera from indoors and a long network lead - all controlled from a Windows 11 machine.

Just an off the wall idea. If you have a look at virtualhere you can use the local Rpi as a USB hub and run all your current PC software. You can see the installation details on github. I think the free version only supports one usb but alt least you can try it out.

Save me repeating myself see this thread on SGL for the same question. HTH Steve

A guider scope, unlike a finder scope, needs to be in a fixed alignment with the main imaging scope. When guiding the target being imaged is not necessarily used as the guide star. The star chosen for guiding will move the same as the target so essentially no adjustments are needed for the guide scope.

Yes it could but the 70LT would need scope rings as the tripod it goes on is not a standard dovetail type. Though the usual answer is to use an adapter for the starsense to enable it to be mounted on a findershoe or similar. The 70LT would be a bit big for a finderscope though. The Starsense itself can be a replacement for a finderscope, that's how I use it.