Hitec Astro DC Focus - Problem

[neilhooper]

Hi All,

I bought a Hitec Astro DC Focus last week, a little birthday present to myself, but I'm having problems getting it to work and I'm wondering if anybody has had the same problem.

I installed the software, downloaded from Hitec Astro's web site, on my Windows 8 laptop. The software installed without problem and when I plugged in the unit Windows went through the usual installing device procedure and all seemed fine. I fired up the Hitec Focus software which ran fine but when I clicked on the Connect button I got a message box saying NO HITEC FOCUS UNIT DETECTED. At this point I thought it might be a Windows 8 issue.

I'm in the process of raising my old laptop from the dead and I've now installed a clean install of Windows 7 on it as I'm having too many problems with various things 'astro' running under WIndows 8. I'm thinking dedicated astro laptop.

I installed the Hitec software on the Windows 7 laptop and I'm getting exactly the same problem.

Anybody got any ideas?

Is anybody running one of these on Windows 7 or Windows 8 for that matter?

- Neil

[Sp@ce_d]

Been running one for some time on win7. Does it work ok manually using the push buttons? If so sounds like windoze is not loading the driver. How about com ports, can you see those showing up? Did u get the "loading driver" message when you installed it?

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[Sp@ce_d]

This thread may be useful re com ports

http://stargazerslounge.com/index.php?/topic/188422-Clearing-old-com-ports-on-windows-7

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[neilhooper]

Been running one for some time on win7. Does it work ok manually using the push buttons? If so sounds like windoze is not loading the driver. How about com ports, can you see those showing up? Did u get the "loading driver" message when you installed it?

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It does work manually, well sort of, I've measured the voltage coming out of it and it's been set to just under 2 volts, so not enough to actually turn the motor. I guess that what it was left at when it left the factory and as I can't access it I can't turn up the voltage using the software.

When I first plugged it on both machines it went through the usual installing device procedure but it doesn't show up in Device Manager as a COM port it shows with two entries under Human Interface Devices, one is a HID-compliant device and the other is a USB Input Device.

I've just seen your other post about clearing old com ports but as this is the first and only thing I've installed on a clean Windows 7 install I don't think it applies.

Should it show up under a COM port in Device Manager ?

- Neil

[Sp@ce_d]

Hmm I'd need to check mine to see what it shows up as then. Not sure about voltages off top of head. The handset runs off 9v battery if I remember correct.

My gears stripped down for summer & rebuild so ill need to dig it out to check. Another thing that occurred to me is the USB levels. Have you checked different cables, a powered hub etc..

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[neilhooper]

Hmm I'd need to check mine to see what it shows up as then. Not sure about voltages off top of head. The handset runs off 9v battery if I remember correct.

My gears stripped down for summer & rebuild so ill need to dig it out to check. Another thing that occurred to me is the USB levels. Have you checked different cables, a powered hub etc..

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Even though the Hand controller uses a 9v battery it only ever delivers 7.65v to the motor, from my understanding and research the reason that the DC Focus unit comes with the cigar lighter plug is that it is able to deliver the full 12v to the motor, this is supposed to be selectable in the software.

I've tried a different cable thinking that could be the problem, I swapped it with one on one of my printers and the printer still works fine and I've tried it with the one off my scanner as well just to be sure !!!

I've emailed HItec Astro which is a follow up to filling in their contact form on the website a couple of days ago to which I have had no reply as yet.

I'm just getting a bit frustrated with it now, I might try it on my Windows 8 desktop tomorrow or on my XP Netbook. I'm starting to think I've got a bad unit.

- Neil

[Sp@ce_d]

Ok I'll dig mine out tomorrow / today evening & take a look.. Refresh my memory. Hopefully David at Hitec will respond. I think there's a yahoo group for Hitec too isn't there?

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[Sp@ce_d]

Ok yes it shows up as HID & Input Device.. well when I first plug it in it shows as Hitec Astro then once drivers installed it changes to USB Input Device. Heres a screenshot... Note: I've not got the motor connected so it's still happy to install & connect without being connected to the motor.

[Sp@ce_d]

Also, just to double check you mentioned hitecs software do you have ascom installed too?.. page 4 of the install guide. Note Ascom is up to V6 now

Installing and Using the HitecDCFocus Software Appl

ication.

This will be the primary means of operating the foc

user. Its installation and use

are now described. Before installing any of our so

ftware or ASCOM drivers, you

must ensure that your computer has the following in

stalled.

•

Dot Net Framework v4

•

ASCOM Platform v5.5.1

[Sp@ce_d]

Oh and the yahoo group is here.. http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/hitecastro/

[neilhooper]

Thanks for all that.

It's working now. I removed everything to do with it from both machines and even deleted the downloads of the driver and software.

I downloaded both the driver and the software, installed the Ascom driver, restarted, installed the software, restarted, plugged it in, waited, ran the software and now it connects.

I've got a feeling that there may have been some sort of corruption when I downloaded the driver / software the first time.

- Neil

[Sp@ce_d]

That's good news. Glad you got it sorted. Enjoy

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