Longinthetooth

Thanks again for all the info and tips. Plugging usb into an rj45........ who would do such a thing! (Clears throat......) malc-c "The 2.15v for EQ6-R (with USB port) would appear to be the one suitable." - This says without usb post on the page you've linked to........ ?

Thanks StevieDvd - I've recently updated the handset firmware - the latest I could find was 4.39.21 and I used Synscan Firmware Loader Ver 3.5 to do that. Does the motor firmware need a loader too?

Thanks for the info! I'm interested in the updating firmware mentioned above StevieDvd. I wondered if that would be possible/necessary. Is there clear instruction on the SW website for this?

HI folks - I have a Skywatcher AZEQ6GT about 5 years old. A couple of years ago the electronics had to be replaced and the new board came with a new faceplate too which featured a usb port. The faceplate bears the name AZEQ6 Pro which is a newer model of the mount. (See attached pic). I thought "Great - that'll come in handy!" However two years on and I'm still none the wiser what the usb port is for and suppliers are still showing the faceplate without a usb. On the Skywatcher support site the current user manual for the mount does not show a usb on the face plate or mention it in the text. I tried connecting the mount usb to my Windows PC but it didn't show up in Device Manager. Maybe it needs a driver I thought - but again couldn't find anything specific on the SW website. So can anyone who has cracked this issue point me in the right direction? I haven't found anything here specifically about my query but I'm happy to be proved wrong! Cheers JB

Thanks for that ispookie666. The tp link kit in my link above is 48V in - but 5V, 9V or 12V out (selectable). Does that overcome the issue as you see it? JB

Hi folks - and apologies if this question has come up before. I have an all sky camera with 2 cables, one usb3, and a power cable for a dew heater, running to a pc. I have both a ZWO 178c and an Altair Astro GPcam 3 178c and both have worked well with this set up - only one at a time of course! Now I need to move the setup to a darker site where the usb run would be far longer and where the nearest AC socket would be not more than 10 metres away. I am hoping I could use poe to overcome this problem. Would this be suitable for power and data to and from a USB3 camera and dew heater? https://www.tp-link.com/uk/business-networking/accessory/tl-poe200/ This would give me the following: laptop to (powered) poe injector, poe injector to ASC housing (10m) cat 6 outdoor cable, inside housing - poe splitter - here I'd have to find or devise a short power cable to connect to the dew heater and another to change the ethernet out to a usb3 type B into the camera. Possibly something like this? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mobi-Lock-Ethernet-Network-Compatible/dp/B00NLL10P4 There would have to be another adapter to make type A into type B. If this was possible I'd be able to resite the asc for the purchase of a few components only. I'd be grateful for any advice. Cheers John B

Many thanks for the many suggestions given here. Plenty food for thought!

Interesting. I'd already bought a SFF Windows 10 PC to run the asc 24/7. I hadn't anticipated the light pollution from the car park would be so bad. I was hoping there would be a tried and tested cable solution so all the things that could go wrong (apart from the asc itself) were easily accessible. Having another pc on the roof is just another thing to go wrong! Anyway - thanks for your suggestions. JB

Hi Julian and thanks for your input. I was hoping to steer clear of Rpi since I haven't had any luck with Linux and that opens up a whole new area in which I have no expertise. I actually started out the asc project with Rpi in mind but just couldn't get it all to work together. The Windows 10 PC and AllSkEye software are working great I just need to solve the distance issue!

Hi folks and best seasonal wishes! I want to move my all sky camera to the roof of my house to avoid the bright lights of a car park next door. On the roof the camera would be above those lights so less affected. Currently the camera sits on the side of my astroshed. The camera is usb3 and needs 5.5v and there is a 2.5w dew heater in the case as well. Two cables then - a 4m usb3 and a 4m 12v power cable. They run inside the astrohut and are connected to a 12v DC supply and a W10 SFF PC. The camera is controlled using AllSkEye software. It works great although the usb3 is a little temperamental. It works flawlessly though when connected to a usb2 port. Shorter usb3 cables work fine. I would like, if possible, to keep the hardware I've got rather than start from scratch with Rpi for example. I haven't measured exactly what the cable run would need to be if the unit was atop my chimney but it'll be in the region of 25 metres. The cables would have to run down the outside of the building so need to be reasonably "weatherproof". There is no power up there either. Online research - I've looked at active usb cables but have heard that's a bit hit or miss and I don't know how they would cope with the cold and wet here in Scotland! Photos of the units don't look exterior quality to me but I could be wrong. (Wouldn't be the first time!) Utilising cat 6 - usb and power over ethernet with something like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Extender-165ft-4-Port-Ethernet-Cat5e/dp/B07VN3FBW3/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=usb+over+ethernet&qid=1607897984&sr=8-7 It looks to me as though the receiving box needs a power supply and there is none at roof or even near roof level. Usb2 or 3 active optical cable. These cost, it seems, hundreds of pounds so not my first choice. I'm really not very familiar with what technology would be required. I'd be interested to know how others have overcome the problem of usb, outside, at these distances? Regards John B

Wow! Vlaiv! It does sound more complicated than I thought!

Hi folks - having installed an All Sky camera I'm now able to easily generate star trails and I love the way they bring out star colours. This resulted in me thinking "I wonder which blue star made that trail?" This swiftly became "I wonder if there is software which would help me identify the stars making the trails". I tried googling the title of this post but was unable to find strictly relevant suggestions. I use Stellarium to inform my observing targets and it can simulate a view with the celestial north pole in the centre but I don't think it adds star trails? Perhaps there is an alternative that would do this? Or maybe it's a feature which could be added to existing software?

Beautiful! Image background looks good and plenty detail in the DSOs.

Nice one!

Nice one Bob! This is a mosaic? How many pics? Stitched together in which software? JB