Rusted

Hi John I can now confirm that both the laptop and PC will Connect and work with driver 1.2 but NOT in 1.3. I swapped back and forth, uninstalled and restarted both. ONLY 1.2 offers a Restart after installation. The basic focuser control panel will work on both machines but ASCOM reports a fawlty Hitec on both machines within SharpCap.

Guess what? I cleared everything Hitec focuser related off the PC. For the umpteenth time! Deleted all the HID references under Device Manager. Restarted. Checked and all the HIDs had repopulated automatically. Then I downloaded the ASCOM and Focuser drivers but chose 1.2 instead of 1.3. Reinstalled and was offered a Restart for the very first time! Opened Hitec and hit Connect then plugged in the USB cable and it finally Connected! Phew! I had to whack the settings right up to maximum to see much movement on the motor shaft. At least I can play now to see what more I can squeeze out of it. A light grey screen format would be infinitely better than this dull red and black! Night Vision is even worse! Now it is on to the laptop to try and repeat what I did on the PC. I'm most grateful for all your efforts in trying to help John. Thank you!

Thanks John. I found that discussion during my search for a solution. Let's see what HitecAstro support suggests.

Thanks. I seem to have .Net Framework up to at least 4.7.

No progress [at all] despite repeated attempts over further, completely wasted hours. Handed the problem to HitecAstro support. Life's too short. Google spelling checker keeps wanting to make HitecAstro into "Catastrophic." Oh the irony?

Thanks John. I'll give that a try tomorrow.

Thanks John. Yes, including the ASCOM driver. Several times, in fact. Deleting them again in between. I even tried loading them onto my PC to see if that would help. Connect > NO Hitec unit detected. The motor works fine on the manual buttons. Tried changing all the cables. USB and motor cables and 12.8VDC PS are all fine. Tried accessing it through SharpCap/ASCOM. Connect > No Hitec unit detected. It appears in Printers and Devices. HID drivers are shown as Windows 2006. Events show it started. I even had the Windows flag that it was ready to go. I was sent a V2 for those who want to run two devices in parallel without COM port problems. Shouldn't matter according to the Hitec blurb. Searched online for a solution but the only useful forum discussion was back in 2011 on W7. Both my laptop and PC are recent W10. I'm using USB 2 ports because Windows says the unit wont work on USB3. I've now wasted 6 hours solid on this thing without any sign of progress or the slightest change. Lucky I kept the box! I'm an amateur astronomer. Not an IT consultant!

Grr?

Does a full eclipse by the neighbour's ash tree count as proof of the existence of dark matter?

I'd be looking for an offcut of PVC drainpipe to sandwich between the studs and the boards. It would stiffen things up nicely and look quite purposeful at the same time.

Not when you're a solar imager it doesn't. Though I do wear a matt black T-shirt to stop reflections off the laptop screen. I'm a martyr to reflections.

She Who Must Be Obeyed is insisting on dark blue for the Obs.. May I ask which paint you used? Is it suitable for wood? And, does it keep the rain out? Thanks

Hi Joe, I can confirm that The Milky Way is in safe keeping up here in Darkest Scandinavia. Strangely enough, we discovered early on that most vehicles have headlights fitted by law. So they don't need extra [street] lights just to see the way ahead on every lane and highway. Nor is there any reason to light up the high street when only the homeless are there at night.

Keep it coming Joe. We enjoy your enthusiasm. Congratulations on the fine, new addition to your armoury. It sounds as if this planet, which you call Jupiter, actually exists behind our perpetual clouds. I've also heard that there's a Moon, called Armstrong, somewhere up there too. Can you confirm this?

Excellent workmanship! Very impressive construction skills. One thing though: Train the dog to lie somewhere else. Its thermals will ruin the seeing!

Thanks again John. I have some old model train power supplies so I'll check those for their output.

Before I send my focuser into near Earth orbit.. can these HiTecAstro boxes cope with 17.2V DC? I checked several of my plug-in style PSs and they all produce 17.2V unloaded. Too much of a good thing?

We didn't do physics in my day. It was all alchemy to me. Balance in all things. Ohhmmm. Don't forget to add the increased moment of the extended shaft. If you can lift it.

I'm far too "lacquered" to respond to this barb. "Where there's brass there's muck."

Pedant mode/ a) Making the declination shaft longer may help to reduce the required mass but the actual "moment" wont change. I prefer a short, thick shaft and more weights rather than a longer one: Less spring and takes up much less room in the observatory. b) Brass doesn't last long in a shiny condition when exposed to the atmosphere. Soon ugly when not polished. c) Bare aluminium soon becomes spotted and ugly unless regularly polished. d) White Hammerite paint is the cheapest form of stainless steel. <Arrowed.> \ Pedant mode

I find flash usually freezes the image. ⛈️

Thank again John. That's good to know. Nice clear screen details too, by the look of it. It's a real pain having to find and put on reading glasses just to see the micro-text when hovering over inscrutable symbols. Which is why I hate FireCapture so far. I'd need a 55" screen just to be able to use it! I'm grateful you answered my post as it provided not only a firm choice but useful information on cabling. And, I get to keep my motor and avoid the rigmarole of returning the complete kit to the dealer. Word of mouth recommendation is the only "advertising" I will listen to any more. It will be a few days until I see my HitecAstro box over here. I'll report my own results when I do. Meanwhile I can order a longer RJ10 cable and some timing pulleys and a belt. The O-ring worked but was designed to be easily removable for longer focusing movements. Which usually meant I'd lost the target and had to reacquire! Not recommended!

Sorry to be slow to reply. I have been looking at the supplied curly cable and others in my possession. 4P4C is RJ9 and RJ10 it seems. They have four pins and four conductors and the plugs are 7.5-7.6mm wide as John confirms. It is at least 3 months since I looked at the replacement cable problem so I was a bit rusty. I haven't used the motor in anger since the paddle died. Re-examination of the straight cable I tried to use last time showed it had 5pin plugs at 9.5mm wide. It was no wonder it didn't fit! I can easily obtain RJ10 locally but couldn't source RJ9 at my usual supplier. Thanks for all the feedback. Very useful to have this finally cleared up. Ever onwards!

That's really weird! I have RJ10 plugs on several cables and can't make them fit into my motor cables sockets. I even put a vernier caliper on both and RJ10 is just too wide on my kit. Could it be because mine is a "Clone" of the Skywatcher? Mine is just marked China on the paddle. Images I've seen online have 'Skywatcher' printed across the paddle.

Thanks. Any particular reason to choose Shoestring in comparison with the HiTec?