adyj1

14 minutes ago, fireballxl5 said:

does anyone know if AZ-GTi works with a v3 handset?

 

PS: great review! I also like my GTi 

Yes, I have a v3 handset which came with a SW AZ Goto mount. It supports the AZ and eq modes

On 15/03/2019 at 11:33, Scorp said:

adyj1, did you ever get your touptek to move your scope over the ST4 port with the ASCOM drivers?

Scorp

Unfortunately, my guiding ambitions were put on the back burner once I realised that my EQ5 couldn't take the 150pds AND st80 guide scope. I also found I had a lot more to learn about everything else, so haven't got round to looking at it again. 

Hopefully I'll be able to have a go at it over the summer... 

Ady

1 hour ago, AngryDonkey said:

 

It's pretty hard and a lot of effort to write good cross platform software that works well on all systems (that's probably why there aren't many around). I don't think the fact that it only runs on one platform should be seen as a minus. Almost all astro applications are locked into one platform or another, it's just a decision that is made to keep things manageable.

I agree with Mr donkey, it may be a very big minus for you that it only runs on Windows, but it's hardly a shortcoming that sets it apart from the rest... 

12 minutes ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

Great upgrade Alan and the photos show the procedure if anyone has any doubts. Brilliant.

I agree - thanks for showing the detail, Alan.

I like the way you roll ? ✅ 

My next project ☺ 

2 hours ago, giorgio_ne said:

It's a vixen style aluminium saddle with a single brass clamp.  It has several fitting holes, four of them are 19mm spaced unthreaded holes. 

That looks interesting, but I'm not sure about their dimensions;

Bottom row; three holes 19mm apart (centre to centre). Second row; three holes 17.5mm apart - but both rows look the same length? 

What am I missing? 

4 hours ago, symmetal said:

take an image at whatever exposure gives you a reading of around 30000 ADU at the centre of the image.

I'm using a cheap light panel and would like to do this - how can the ADU be checked? 

Thanks, 

Ady 

Just to add for clarification (in case it helps) Skysafari *thinks* it is connecting to a mount, when in reality it is Synscan 'pretending' to be a mount by advertising an ASCOM interface on port 11882. Synscan takes the commands from Skysafari via ASCOM and then controls the mount through the connection you have already made (hence @R26 oldtimer saying make sure all is well with synscan, including alignment, before trying Skysafari.)

Skysafari -> (ASCOM) -> Synscan -> (WiFi ) -> Mount

Hope this helps 

Ady

when you are running skysafari on a different device to the one you are running synscan,  you have to go through a convoluted way of finding out the real IP Address of the synscan device. With this, because they're both running on the same device, it's easy!

127.0.0.1 is a special ip address that equates to the computer/host itself - in other words it means the device running skysafari. 

Ady

Thanks for the update, @R26 oldtimer-one now on order...

Ady

Alan,

Sorry, my humour was a bit obtuse; I meant that I've downloaded the manual a few times but didn't actually spot the pinouts,and now that someone has pointed it out I feel a bit sheepish ?? ? ... 

(I blame electronic manuals - if I'd had a paper one I'd have spotted it. Probably ?) 

Thanks again for your help ☺ 

Ady

11 hours ago, symmetal said:

On page 8 of the AZ-GTI manual it gives the pinout of the RJ12 connector which you can match to the known RJ45 pinout. It uses 3.3V logic. As noted on the EQDIRECT page the AZ-EQ6 and EQ8 have 3.3V logic but will happily work with 5V TTL FTDI adapters. Whether the AZ-GTI will also cope with 5V logic I don't know so it might be worth getting the 3.3V FTDI adapter to be sure it'll work. If anyone knows whether it will work using 5V logic it would be useful to know.

Alan, 

Thanks very much for your post, but there appears to be a problem with your link. When I click it, it says "Do you really want to download the manual for the THIRD time, Ady? Do you?"... ? ? ? ? 

Thanks for the pointer, exactly the info I needed - didn't expect it to be in the manual!

And thanks also for the 3.3v/5v reminder. 

Ady

Hi

I'd like to make my own FTDI EQDIR USB Adapter for my new(to me) AZ GTi  mount... 

Does anyone know what the pinouts for the rj12 connector are? The 8-pin RJ45 connections are well documented, but I can't find a 6-pin RJ12 wiring diagram...

Lynx astro do make one, so I know it is possible ? 

Thanks

Ady

9 hours ago, williamnohair said:

Unfortunately I think I have made a beginners mistake, during the process when the update failed the instructions told me to 'power down' the motor controller (or something very similar) and being in the Christmas spirit as it were I switched off the unit. From my previous experience in life and working with printers/copiers I was always told never power down during a firmware update.

I know what you mean, but I would say you were just following instructions... Every time my update failed - sometimes after as little as 5% - it said to power on and off. Luckily for me, it always returned with a SynScan (no number) Wi-Fi SSID. 

Perhaps try the 4-hr reset and hope that the normal SSID returns. [4-hr reset is to switch on the mount and leave for at least 4 hours without connecting to the WiFi (not a problem for you - you can't ?), then power off and on] 

Good Luck! 

Ady

I posted this in the other thread;

"Just thought I'd add some encouraging findings to this thread, as I managed to get out of the 'Firmware Update Failed' cycle.

The beta firmware for the EQ mode 'AZGTi_RightArm_AZ_EQ_V0316' would not flash, failing at different percentages during the update (I think I tried about 6 times, each time trying to fight back the tears ? ).

I then tried to flash the normal firmware 'AZGTi_motor_controller_firmware_0316' and it worked at the first attempt. I tried the EQ firmware again and that worked first time too. 

So don't give up if your GTi does get stuck in a failed firmware update cycle - try different firmware versions."

Ady

PS - any others had this success? 

Just thought I'd add some encouraging findings to this thread, as I managed to get out of the 'Firmware Update Failed' cycle.

The beta firmware for the EQ mode 'AZGTi_RightArm_AZ_EQ_V0316' would not flash, failing at different percentages during the update (I think I tried about 6 times, each time trying to fight back the tears ?).

I then tried to flash the normal firmware 'AZGTi_motor_controller_firmware_0316' and it worked at the first attempt. I tried the EQ firmware again and that worked first time too. 

So don't give up if your GTi does get stuck in a failed firmware update cycle - try different firmware versions.

Ady

I'm a big fan of skysafari, but the 'plus' version is good enough for me, and a bit cheaper...

That'll do it ?

1 minute ago, SAW said:

The Fornax one, a bit pricey for what it is but zero play in it.

Very, very nice ? 

I've got to ask what tripod you're using as well, as it sounds like a dream grab and go...

49 minutes ago, SAW said:

I've ended buying a Fornax Lightrack II. Yes it's twice the price but it's 100 times better, I'm getting 10min exposures with my WO61 and 600D and no guiding. 

@SAW,What wedge are you using with that?

@noah4x4  I think I get it now - we probably qualify as "mutually exclusive" when it comes to offering advice on what kit to buy. 

Your speciality is the ratified air of EAA, and mine is low-end budget AP (or attempts thereof). No reason for us to fall out, but we are going to be offering drastically different advice that applies to very different audiences. Everything I use for remote automated AP doesn't add up to the cost of that £1,500 camera ? 

I think that £150 kodlix box is a cracking astro PC and would be an upgrade for me ? 

1 minute ago, noah4x4 said:

 This might be true of earlier versions. But I was recently told by TeamViewer Support that in the latest downloaded version that today this is only possible using the paid for commercial version. It was also flaky and unreliable over the Internet, so to get peer to peer I switched to Remote Desktop, which was also free in Windows 8, but now you need Windows 10 Pro, so cost applies there.  I suggest that if your rig is using an older version of TeamViewer you don't ever upgrade and potentially lose this functionality.

However, this isn't relevant to my main point. For AP it isn't material. However, the wireless route does degrade the (indoors) on-screen view so for EAA cable is typically better, assuming that your camera is large sensor high resolution. 

Thanks for the heads-up about TV, noah. I will be uninstalling it if I have to pay for offline screen control, as there are other free options. 

EAA sounds very, very expensive. It is perhaps worth making it clear that your very high (for AP) remote setup is intended for that use. As I said before, when you first recommended 4K UHD on this thread I couldn't understand why someone would need anything approaching that it for AP. 

4 minutes ago, noah4x4 said:

TeamViewer [...] forces you to connect via the Internet.

Apologies for not correcting this earlier - TeamViewer allows connection between two local IP addresses without going via the Internet using the free version. I use it when at a dark site with no internet connection.

Ady

52 minutes ago, cjdawson said:

There's no need to use a cloud based sharing service.    Instead there's nothing stopping you from sharing a folder on the laptop, then connecting to that share from the desktop and copying the files directly across the network.  

Completely agree (although if you had your cloud storage set up, there's no reason not to use it). If you aren't an IT guru, the same applies as to imaging as a whole - start simple, then grow slowly; solving each problem as it occurs. 

Even with all the wifi and networking stuff I've got sorted, occasionally I save to a USB3 thumb drive on the astro PC and then walk the files up the garden ?.