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Android Tablet Apps

Tinker1947

By Tinker1947
in Discussions - Software

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  • 7 months later...
Helen

Helen

Posted
Posted

I've now got skysafari on my Nexus 7 tablet controlling my synscan scopes via bluetooth - brilliant! (and the bluetooth adapter cost less than £30, rather than the £150ish that the skyfi or starrynight adapters cost)

Helen

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skir

skir

Posted
Posted

I've now got skysafari on my Nexus 7 tablet controlling my synscan scopes via bluetooth - brilliant! (and the bluetooth adapter cost less than £30, rather than the £150ish that the skyfi or starrynight adapters cost)

Helen

I'd be interested to know how you hooked this all up as my laptop has recently died so I may as well buy a tablet to replace it and the nexus 7 is top of my list with sky safari pro on it to run the goto cg5 mount.

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Helen

Helen

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I'd be interested to know how you hooked this all up as my laptop has recently died so I may as well buy a tablet to replace it and the nexus 7 is top of my list with sky safari pro on it to run the goto cg5 mount.

I bought one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bluetooth-to-Serial-Adapter-Bluetooth-RS232-With-Built-In-Chip-Antenna-100m-UK-/221180445771?pt=UK_Computing_Parallel_Serial_PS_2&hash=item337f61c44b - delivered next day :-)

It fits onto the rs232 end of the white cable which fits into the synscan handset. You'll need a rs232 to usb adapter to programme the bluetooth adapter if your pc hasn't got a serial port.

The instruction here are quite good - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bluetooth-Serial-RS232-Adapter-Class1-100meter-range-with-Built-In-Antenna-/251215378867?pt=UK_Computing_Parallel_Serial_PS_2&hash=item3a7d9a79b3 I downloaded hyperterminal and used that to change the baud rate to 9600 to match android by following the instructions. You need to be careful with the various switches, so follow the instructions carefully.

The skysafari FAQ is useful http://www.southernstars.com/support/faq/skysafari_android.html

The adapter does need power. There's a cable that comes with it that can attach to a battery box, or it can be powered from USB. I've got a little box designed for emergency power from my phone which has a USB socket, so I'm going to try that :-)

Just need some clear skies to test it now!

Helen

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  • 2 weeks later...
skir

skir

Posted
Posted

I bought one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bluetooth-to-Serial-Adapter-Bluetooth-RS232-With-Built-In-Chip-Antenna-100m-UK-/221180445771?pt=UK_Computing_Parallel_Serial_PS_2&hash=item337f61c44b - delivered next day :-)

It fits onto the rs232 end of the white cable which fits into the synscan handset. You'll need a rs232 to usb adapter to programme the bluetooth adapter if your pc hasn't got a serial port.

The instruction here are quite good - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bluetooth-Serial-RS232-Adapter-Class1-100meter-range-with-Built-In-Antenna-/251215378867?pt=UK_Computing_Parallel_Serial_PS_2&hash=item3a7d9a79b3 I downloaded hyperterminal and used that to change the baud rate to 9600 to match android by following the instructions. You need to be careful with the various switches, so follow the instructions carefully.

The skysafari FAQ is useful http://www.southernstars.com/support/faq/skysafari_android.html

The adapter does need power. There's a cable that comes with it that can attach to a battery box, or it can be powered from USB. I've got a little box designed for emergency power from my phone which has a USB socket, so I'm going to try that :-)

Just need some clear skies to test it now!

Helen

Helen, did you use a null modem connection plug with this as well? I've found details of a couple of other people using this setup as well and they are using one of these plugs too. I've got as far as being able to connect to the Bluetooth adapter but sky safari won't see the scope.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

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skir

skir

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No worries Helen I got it sorted out, I just needed to change a switch setting and then it was all OK. Just need this cloud to clear off now, that could be harder to organise!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

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Helen

Helen

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I'm glad you're sorted - I too had to juggle the switch combinations to get it to work. I've got one of those little (rechargeable) emergency phone chargers to provide the power via a mini USB cable :-)

Having tested it last week it seems to work fine, it would be a bit easier if the arrows on skysafari were a bit bigger and if the position of them could be dragged, but fun all the same :-)

Helen

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skir

skir

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I'm glad you're sorted - I too had to juggle the switch combinations to get it to work. I've got one of those little (rechargeable) emergency phone chargers to provide the power via a mini USB cable :-)

Having tested it last week it seems to work fine, it would be a bit easier if the arrows on skysafari were a bit bigger and if the position of them could be dragged, but fun all the same :-)

Helen

I've just hooked it up and had a bit of a play getting the scope to slew to different objects. Its a lot of fun. I think it will make stargazing with the scope much more intuitive. Plus I'll have sky safaris database to provide me with info on what I'm looking at added with the ability to make observing notes within the app too.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

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skir

skir

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I tried this setup out last night for the first time and it worked very well. You can put the scope on an object and then hit align to make it more accurate too. I found that for close control of the scope I was reverting to using the handset keys as its much easier to feel what you are doing rather than using the sky safari controls for which you have to keep looking down at the tablet to make sure you are pressing the right button. This means you take your eye away from the ep of course, so less intuitive than the hc in that respect. But having your sky map integrated with scope control is great. It really makes learning the sky easier particularly if you have the constellations view switched on. Once I'm looking at something I can pull up a full description of the object meaning I'm learning about what I'm setting too.

For planning a nights observing you can create observing lists and add in those objects you want to go to. Once seen you can mark them as observed and add notes on what you saw.

As Helen said bigger direction buttons and being able to move the interface module on screen would be improvements. But I guess they have had to keep in mind getting the interface to display correctly on mobile phones as well as tablets with bigger screens.

Overall really impressed with sky safari and the Bluetooth scope control.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

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blinky

blinky

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Is there any way of controlling a mount via bluetooth/android but without the handset? I want to use my heq5 pro for visual use but at the moment since I sold my handset I need to use a laptop to control it via eqmod.

Sent from my GT-P5110 using Tapatalk 2

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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I think Chrishillto said no... as it uses nexstar protocol to control rather than la ower level motorcontroller one so the handcontroller has to interperate the commands and pass them through to the mount...

Peter...

Sent from my GT-P7300 using Tapatalk HD

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chrisshillito

chrisshillito

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I think Chrishillto said no... as it uses nexstar protocol to control rather than la ower level motorcontroller one so the handcontroller has to interperate the commands and pass them through.

Yes that's right. Currently I don't know of any apps that can drive the mount directly - only via the handset's serial port using a very reduced subset of the nexstar protocol.

Chris.

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chrisshillito

chrisshillito

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No plans - do you think android devices currently offer a viable platform for mount control, focuser control, guiding, image capture etc?

If on the other hand all you want to do is get data back and forth between an android app and a PC/laptop that is actually doing all of tbe above that is a different matter.

For instance I'm told there are already andriod apps that act as PC gamepads and that could therefore control EQMOD.

Also EQMODLX can receive/transmit LX200 commands via a windows com port and provide a 'protocol conversion' to ASCOM commands. I beleive the Southern Skies folks did something similar. Using that and a virtual serial port bluetooth connection should (in theory at least) allow android apps access to scope control albeit via a PC.

Chris.

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