stash_old

Wouldn't be so bad if Indy had a Windows Client then perhaps the Canon Dslr issue would be solved by using DSLR on Windows Mini but I suspect it would be too slow as Virtualhere(linux connects to DSLR via VirtualHere server) is but at least the latter works every time just too slow on RAW images.

One thing I noticed I quoted tb6600 - I used the older board which the tb6600 is the new replacement. It was TB6560 my orig board https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TB6560-CNC-Router-Single-1-Axis-Stepper-Motor-3A-Driver-Controller-Board/253682904482?epid=505799232&hash=item3b10adeda2:g:VWgAAOSwXeJYDReW Sorry about that. Yes I will try and help you out ? as long as its not soldering LOL

Try and remember a real photo but the attach is not far off if they haven't changed the TB6600 board deails (Please check yourself) - most details were etched on the board for setting options - e.g. Microstepping,Current etc En- and En+ Enable the TB6600 CW+ and CW- Control the direction CLK+ and Clk- control the Stepping B- B+ are 1 coil of the Stepper (4 wire) see spec sheet which if you buy from OMC normal is in the box ? A- A+ are the other coil of the Stepper But you need only one set hence EN- CW- and CLK- all to common GND No need to connect ground between stepper power and Nano Hope that helps

That's why I wont move although someone else on here shows a Canon 700d working but the last time I tried it (4mths ago) Canon Indi support was too flaky BUT may think about doing it for my ZWO camera. Thanks for the info I shall look forward to an update when you go live !!!! Gina there is a 5ghz dongle for the Rock hats supplied by Pine !

What do you what to know Andy ? added to the kit listed is 1 x Nano ,4 wire Bipolar Stepper from OMC, a DIY stepper bracket for your Scope, project box,USB cable to PC,wire to connect Nano adapter to TB6600. The Gnd,Step(+),Dir(+),Enable(+) pins to correspond to Roberts Pin assignment for DRV8825_M version Focuser Pro all the other pins on the Nano side on the TB6600 are connected to Gnd. Stepper side of TB6600 is connected to Bipolar Stepper Wire motor wire (or extended up to 6ft) depends on your spec plus a DC power feed - I use 12v limited to 3amp via fuse. With the heat sink in place its good for 3 amps . The TB6600 is optically isolated so the Nano is protected from the Stepper. The USB PC link provides the 5V power to the Nano - I dont use/need the voltage pins on the Naon. Have been using this set up for 30 months with only 1 problem which was cured by reloading the INO program to the Nano. // Stepper Motor stuff, control pins for DRV8825 board #define myDir 3 #define myStep 4 #define myM0 5 // microstepping lines #define myM1 6 #define myM2 7 // m0/m1/m2 sets stepping mode 000 = F, 100 = 1/2, 010 = 1/4, 110 = 1/8, 001 = 1/16, 101 = 1/32 // steps per revolution = 200, 400, 800, 1600, 6400 // must set the current limiting for microstepping to work correctly // ENABLE - Setting CoilPwr controls the disable or enable state of the EASYDRIVER board outputs int boardstate; #define OUTPUTENABLED 1 #define OUTPUTDISABLED 0 #define myEnable 8 NOTES I dont use Microstepping lines (pins 5,6,7) as the TB6600 is manually set (no option to program) to the step size via switches ,so is the current and a few other settings- works fine for me - board never misses a beat. The DRV8825_M does not have support for LCD,Rotary or Temp as I use mine remotely from my Obsys so pointless (my temp is done differently via a different program using UDP and Wemos d1 mini's) - you could do one of the other RB versions to add lcd or rotary or temp That worked for me ! Using a screw driver you can wire this kit quickly - just map what goes where first - I didn't and blew my first Nano up by connecting wrong wire LOL. Drill holes to attach the TB6600 and the Nano Adapter to the project box Drill a hole for the USB cable and the Stepper Motor Wires (which I covered in shrink outer skin) - I used grommets for the holes to added water/dew protection Suggest a dry run out side the project box to make sure the wires and TB settings are set correctly. Biggest time consuming item was creating a bracket for the Stepper on the Scope - I used direct connection (via shaft coupler) but belt driven would work just watch the ratio's. I did later change Robert's excellent code to use Accel Library (stepper control) which gives far more flexibility and control of stepper motors via ANY driver board (IMHO) and I no longer use Ascom as I wrote my own Python GUI interface. But the original was Robert's code unaltered. Anything else ?

Be interesting to see a report in say 3 months time after some real time testing - for me especially any Canon DSLR connections that work for long exposures as I notice you have(had) DSLR 350d/600d/1100d . What OS dist are you using ?

I am not against soldering at all great if you can do it well - only stating the obvious that a lot of people cant solder well (or wont admit it) and bad soldering can cause problems down the road. Plus using readily made sub components are faster,cheaper and can be replaced easier when things go wrong! Using these as an example : 1. http://www.dx.com/p/tb6560-single-axis-3a-stepper-motor-driver-green-10-35v-214349#.WzJZAinzzWA 2. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Breakout-Board-for-Arduino-Nano-Terminal-Adapter-/182206532642?_trksid=p2385738.m4383.l4275.c10 Using the above I have built a focuser (excluding stepper and focuser bracket) inside 20mins to use Robert's basic model code unchanged all without soldering. Cost under £20 inc project box. So in a nut shell ,as I have said I am not against soldering, but for those who cant or wont there are alternatives which perform just as well. ? Being informed is king. In this case Soldering for Iwols is not a problem. So each to his/her own.

Thats the simple bit LOL - enjoy your project

Before you start please ask yourself a couple of questions and be honest :- 1. Am I capable of doing reasonable soldering 2. If things go wrong am I (or a close/local friend) electronically savy enough to be able to diagnose where the problem lies. 3. I wont to spend more time doing electronics and software than Astronomy - especially if time is limited. If you answer no to any of the above I ,IMHO, would not recommend doing the "Full Monty" - using parts not sub level components Else enjoy your project and being able to say at the end " I did that" - with a big grin

Not in the strictest sense - it uses the USB port on the Nano which is seen as a Serial COM port on PC/Linux etc when connected. A minor point point but you have to realise it will need a driver on Windows PC - The best Nano's,IMHO, come with CH340 or FDTI USB/TTL Serial chip - but some don't especially clones and can be a nightmare - Prolific chipped Nano's are one make to be wary of !

if you can soldier fine else you have no alternative but to buy the "ready built" driver boards as used in the 3d print industry (50% cheaper than Roberts nice boards) and then its a screw driver job and metal work for the bracket - or buy a ready built focuser.

Sorry Chinese as far as i am aware

Well not always true but they do mark if the stock is held in the UK which is great - so check first even if the stock level looks ok - Once "ran out" of UK stock even though it reported 10+ they answer very promptly.

IMHO - I also suggest direct drive - no belts . Using a coupler like this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aluminum-Alloy-Drive-Flexible-Shaft-Coupler-Motor-Connector-3-5mm-Red-/122630560672?clk_rvr to replace the "wheel" if it comes off easily. Limits backlash and gives you a simple 1:1 ratio plus simpler bracket. Probably get away with it on a focuser but where you need repetitive accurate positioning,e.g. Filer Wheel, they are very poor and do a skip every now and then in my experience no matter what driver/step count/voltage/current is being used. Plus they get very hot when pushed to the limit and switching off,via software, the coils is a must. As Gina says "light duty" only. But if it works for you then great !

1. Another Robert Brown Focuser supporter - but if you want to use std bits use either the A4988 or drv8825 (same as A4988). or lot bigger footprint but will handle ANY current/voltage use a single axis TB6600 driver board - used one for 3 yrs without a blink and using any Nema 8 - 42 even with high torque geabox. As I say the size is the problem with the TB6600 but needs no soldering or fiddling current/voltage measurements as per A4988/DVR8825. Roberts support is brilliant ! 2. If you do your own via Arduino IDE please use Accel library - makes thing easy and supports every driver there is. A professional bit of software with many key features not found in Roberts or Dave's projects (IMHO). 3. Nano is stuck with USB/Serial connection without add ons - look at ESP32 which has Wifi therefore no need for any addons or USB/Serial. Best for accuracy is Teensy as its MHZ rate is far greater than Nano but are more expensive ! 4. Steer clear of 5v or 12v 28byj - they are useless and cannot be counted on for accuracy especially with high torque micro stepping. 5. As someone else has pointed out OMC-Online (use there own site it is sometimes cheaper than Ebay) have great Stepper motors and a vast range. Just have to hit the site/ebay when they are trying to get rid of a range/stock. Excellent delivery - for me anyway. 6. Ascom supplied driver(Dave and Robert provide this) is probably the best but I have found a lot of problems mainly with the Camera software provider side To be honest if you can use a RPI for something else as well as a focuser then go RPI as you can one of the 4 ports(1 on RPI zero W) and it works great - look up SER2NET and HWCONFIG virtual com if you want Windows support and still use RPI. I have run SW Mount and Focuser thru RPI from Windows Vista - 10 with no problems and you dont get driver problems on Linux (well nearly never with USB/Serial HW) Have a great build !

Sorry to break the bad news but the ESP32 chip software is not quite 100% reliable IME - e.g. 3 Uarts - no there isn't - only 2 that can send and recv data plus the OLED shares the pins with the flash memory so if you use them -oops it goes illegal and restarts. The Wifi is ok but not brilliant on some clones. Programming the Wifi is a nightmare when you get complicated due to the RTOS used by the ESP32 chip - tip do not use long DELAY but relinquish control ASAP so the RTOS can do its Wifi core routines. Yes it could be a great little device (there are so many clones/implemtations of the esp32) but its not as good/reliable as the ESP8266. But for £12 (oled version) is not bad - IMHO p.s. The documentation is pretty poor in places you have to dig everywhere and some is conflicting or just wrong. WEMOS and Adafruit ESP32 version seems to be reliable but some ESP32 implementations produce some funny results when tested with the same code. Having said that it can be made to do things and it takes up small space and power. The built in OLED versions are nice . I have used it to control SW mounts (acting as AP,STA and AP+STA) and to drive focus stepper motors all under Arduino IDE. Also have a look at Smartconfig which runs on Android Phones etc and allows you to connect the ESP32(in STA mode) to any network without inbuilt details such as passwords - again a bit iffy IME In a nutshell IMO W.I.P but FUN

Hi Steve, I do not use the handset at all ! USB/Serial adapter (correctly wired for your mount - your responsibility be careful !!!! ) connects from port on mount to usb port on PI. I am using UDP in Ser2net to allow ANY Windows or Android SynScan App Pro connection(not both at the same time). So Running SynScan App in Windows I can connect Sky Safari on Android to the Windows PC IP address and port 11885 in Sky Safari. Running SynScan App pro/Sky Safari on Android just requires Sky Safari to use 127.0.0.1 and port 11885 The critical parts of Ser2net are :- setting up a UDP port 11880 to TTY USB (thats where your Serial(ttl) to com port device connects - use LSUSB on PI before and after connecting the USB/Serial adapter to make sure its being picked up. Plus the DMESG command to see the device is being setup correctly - normally users USB0 mod ser2net.conf to add lines as follows # # UDP port on Here is # 11880 it works with # synscan app and still allows Sky Safari on Android # while app on Windows # udp,11880:raw:0:/dev/ttyUSB0:9600 8DATABITS,NONE,1STOPBIT NOBANNER plus you need, I have found, the following: DEFAULT:kickolduser:true otherwise it never releases the UDP port unless to power off/on the PI You may/will have to compile the latest Ser2net as the one in PI rep is old and does no support UDP - might have changed since I did it last. https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=40729 Hope that helps !

Sorry I had forgot about this thread - apologies !! 1. I use UDP not serial to talk to the ESP8266/ESP32 - later is faster but there are some problems. One as they use RTOS you have to be vary careful of the delays in your code(use none if possible or very small) else you will get time outs and no connections. The serial/TTL link is from the ESP8266/ESP32 to the mount using just 3 connections RX,TX and ground - 9600,N,8,1 works. 2. The other problem is that , depending on the hardware (so many clones), you will have problems using any serial connection pins on the ESP8266 as most are shared with memory SPIFF extentions(Wemos was the most reliable) and using the USB port on ESP8266/ESP32 is not reliable. I have found that ESP32's (best with built in OLED for info) at least allow you to use H/W serial pins but the info is sketchy/inaccurate to say the least - I used https://github.com/espressif/arduino-esp32/blob/master/cores/esp32/HardwareSerial.cpp. 3. The Android SynScan App does have some hidden extra's - tap the blank line between "Wifi" and "help" eight times move the screen up and down and extra inputs appear - a. The ability to input fixed IP address , resend tries ,read timeout,serial port . the resend and time out are important as this allows you time lag in getting replies over Wifi. The Fixed IP address also makes it easier to connect the Android Synscan App to the ESP device (in AP or STA mode) 4. You need to convert TTL on some mounts from 3.3v to 5v else ESP devices wont work and will be damaged. 4 channel logic converter work fine. 5. Depending on your Wifi set up on your ESP you may need to use ESP8266 Smart Config (works for both esp8266 and esp32) - this enables you to configure your Wifi on your ESP device - i.e. which AP to connect to if you are using the ESP in STA mode. Be very careful where you put the code for this as I had many problems (ESP device rebooting) until I found the correct place in my code plus a good delay(300) seemed to help after the smart config. The documentation is very bad about this - trial and error I am afraid. 6. My code (lots of versions) does not look anything like the clone bridge softwareI stared with (totally rewritten) but I may upload it at some point. 7. The set up works 75% of the time but ESP32 is still in raw dev and as I say ESP8266 has serial problems. I have found that using Ser2net (UDP version) and a RPI zero W(plus a CH340 or FDTI TTL serial convert) is far more reliable and at £12 better value and support is better. But I am still playing with ESP devices

If you are using Ascom and the Synscan Pro mobile Ascom driver you can use PHD2 to do guiding with the Synscan Adapter. You just get PHD2 to connect to the SynScan Mobile Ascom driver AFTER you have started(and connected the mount successfully) the Windows SynScan Pro program . You can still use Safari from your Android phone/tablet - you just connect to the IP address of the Windows PC. I have ignored ST4 method as I dont use it - but someone who has will explain the different set up.

Can even see the cars headlights across the fields the cloud is so low here - its b@@@@@y depressing - must be suffering from SAD

If I read you right you want to have both the Wifi Adapter and the Lynx cable connected at the same time? - if so my first answer would be no as there is no connection port that allows both and you are talking about two different interfaces - RS232/TTL to Wifi(Sky Wifi adapter) and RS232/TTL to USB/Serial Com port(Lynx). You can of course just do the obvious and swap them about as required. Maybe I am not getting what you mean

You mentioned "Pad" - is that an Apple Pad - maybe its not been updated but I can verify its on Android version 1.8 where "Prusling" states it is. Does make it bigger (buttons are the same size) just comes further up the screen. One question to all users does your App rotate ok ?

Pics from project - sorry for focus - hopefully it might inspire others to try similar approach. Basis of ESP8266 software (but modified) based on https://github.com/roboremo/ESP8266-WiFi-UART-Bridge. No able to control my Grab and Go dslr kit from just my Sony Android Phone using Synscan Pro App and Sky Safari 5 -line of sight comms about 20 feet max to keep 5 bar Wifi level On mounts that are 3.3v logic (Thinks thats AZeq6/5 - BUT check) tou could do away with the 5v-3.3v Logic Level converter.

Still the Apple O/S short coming/restriction I am afraid - oh well - one area Android/Windows wins

Sorry Kerry just trying to get things straight in my head - when you say App on Iphone - which App - I presume Synscan Pro - so What was the App that was unable to connect and was that on the same Iphone ?