Jump to content

Banner.jpg.b83b14cd4142fe10848741bb2a14c66b.jpg

Astronomiser and Celestron NS8GPS mount control cable

SteveL

By SteveL
in Discussions - Mounts

Recommended Posts

SteveL

SteveL

Posted
Posted

Hi all

I ordered a Celestron mount control cable from Astronomiser a few weeks back (and its arrived pretty damn quickly I have to say! Good job!)

http://www.astronomiser.co.uk/mcc.htm#celestron

The problem is that I cannot get any of my ASCOM based apps to talk to the scope (nor can hyperterminal or Teraterm). Why did PC manufacturers remove real serial ports? Bah! Anyway, I have tried two different makes of USB-To-Serial adapters, both of which work when pluged into a Cisco switch, both of which allowed me to upgrade my NexStar MC firmware via the other programming cable plugged into the NS8GPS PC port, but no matter what I do, I cannot get to talk to the scope controller via the mount control cable (and I have tried it on two seperate laptops too!).

Now, before I cart my scope down to my local shop (Greenwitch) for them to make sure its not the HC or the scope itself, is there any way of testing this cable? Is Mr Astronomiser on here? (very likely, but not sure which of you fine gentleman it is). Or anyone else out there generous enough to "lend" me their Celestron mount control cable for a short time to see if that works?

Many thanks for you help, it is greatly appreciated.

Steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Jamie

Jamie

Posted
Posted

Its unlikely that the cable is faulty mate.

Andy (Astronomiser) has built a great reputation for the quality of his kit.

It might and probably is a driver issue.

I am sure Andy will be along soon enough to help you out...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ant

Ant

Posted
Posted

I have a lead from Andy and it is great. It has worked for years...

But you have to remember that he is only human and it is something that you cannot rule out - it might be faulty - I do agree though it is unlikely.

Speak to him, if nothing else he may have heard of the problem and be able to offer some advice.

Regards

Ant

Link to comment
Share on other sites
barkis

barkis

Posted
Posted

Hi all

I ordered a Celestron mount control cable from Astronomiser a few weeks back (and its arrived pretty damn quickly I have to say! Good job!)

http://www.astronomiser.co.uk/mcc.htm#celestron

The problem is that I cannot get any of my ASCOM based apps to talk to the scope (nor can hyperterminal or Teraterm). Why did PC manufacturers remove real serial ports? Bah! Anyway, I have tried two different makes of USB-To-Serial adapters, both of which work when pluged into a Cisco switch, both of which allowed me to upgrade my NexStar MC firmware via the other programming cable plugged into the NS8GPS PC port, but no matter what I do, I cannot get to talk to the scope controller via the mount control cable (and I have tried it on two seperate laptops too!).

Now, before I cart my scope down to my local shop (Greenwitch) for them to make sure its not the HC or the scope itself, is there any way of testing this cable? Is Mr Astronomiser on here? (very likely, but not sure which of you fine gentleman it is). Or anyone else out there generous enough to "lend" me their Celestron mount control cable for a short time to see if that works?

Many thanks for you help, it is greatly appreciated.

Steve

Steve, I bought a HBX cable from Topsky@Botsky for my LX90, and it did not work either. I contacted John Gannels who makes the cables, and he got me to return it. After a while I got it back saying there was nothing wrong that he could find. I have to say that he was very helpful and cooperative throughout, a nice man in fact. I keep changing the cable for the curly whirly one that came with the 497 controller, and it worked fine. The new cable did not. I did continuity tests which were OK. I went to Maplin, and bought a 10 pack of the 8 way RJ45 connectors

and fitted two myself. The result was, the scope works fine now. A conversation with John concluded that the cable he made had the connectors compressed by a tool he has for the job. We concluded that the contact point had been compressed to deeply into the plastic housing, with the result that there was no connection taking place between the the female scope connector and the cable male connector. The one I connected up, did not have the pins crimped down so deep. This may or may not be the problem you have, but I thought I would tell you of my experience.

Cheers Ron. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SteveL

SteveL

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks for the offer Helen, but I think I`ll be OK now that I know the cable is wrong. Now, if only I hadnt thown all my electronic tools away when I moved house, I`d still have my soldering iron and could fix this in a few minutes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.