Parallax

I have modified a smoke alarm to act as an intrusion alarm.

It still functions as a smoke alarm, so two birds with one stone.

Steve

You will find that the SW motor draws very little current (IIRC <20mA with no load). This increases when you put a load onto it, but I can't remember what it increases to!

Steve

In the VB Help type "serial ports availabilty" into the 'Look for' box.

Here is the code. They have used a ListBox but you can use a ComboBox.

Sub GetSerialPortNames()

' Show all available COM ports.

For Each sp As String In My.Computer.Ports.SerialPortNames

ListBox1.Items.Add(sp)

Next

End Sub

As for using the USB supply for the motor - I have, and it does work BUT if you are pointing near the zenith with a lot of weight hanging off the focuser then it might struggle.

Steve

Just a quick suggestion.

For those that use USB to serial adaptors, 4 COM ports might not be enough to choose from. You can alter your code quite easily to use a drop down box as I have done in the attached pic. The code is somewhere in the VB help. It populates the combo box with all the installed com ports.

Nice and easy solution by the way.

Steve