Arduino Ascom focuser Mark2

[stash_old]

18 hours ago, CedricTheBrave said:

Hello all 

has anyone converted this focuser to bluetooth?

 

If not Robert Browns version diy focuser pro 2 runs all sorts of interfaces including BT:-) 

[CedricTheBrave]

ignore me! my memory is clearly fading as i have already done the BT conversion a while ago but had completely forgotten how i did it!

now re read the thread and found my entries explaining how!

sometimes i wonder how i manage to get through the day!

[calli]

I think I posted also here, I just put one of these cheap BT modules onto the serial and it works. Controlling by mobile or PC.

Carsten

[KRYPTON]

Hi Carsten

Thanks for the reply. Do you have any more information on the "cheap BT modules" and how you connected it?

Many thanks Ken

[calli]

15 hours ago, KRYPTON said:

Hi Carsten

Thanks for the reply. Do you have any more information on the "cheap BT modules" and how you connected it?

Many thanks Ken

Search for something like this:

Quote

Wireless-Serien 4 Pin Bluetooth RF Transceiver Modul RS232 P4L6

It is just a BT to Serial adapter.

Carsten

[BlobHunter]

Sorry to cut in on your bluetooth request (I thought Dave had put this into his project?), this may or may not be of interest.  I'm an existing user of Daves AAF2 project (which is the best Ascom focuser I have come across https://sourceforge.net/p/arduinoascomfocuser/).  And I thought you should know:-

AAF2 is now supported in StellarMate Beta (shortly to go live I suspect).  www.stellarmate.com Go to support /Misc/ Beta etc.  When adding your focuser to Ekos AAF2 should appear in the drop down (pretty much at the top!).  It all seems to work well, many thanks to Jasem Mutlaq for writing the driver, now all we need is for he weather to clear and the Moon to go down..

AAF2 (upside down), rear side shown connected to Baader Diamond Steeeltrack.  Incorporating Nema 14 stepper, DRV8825 connected to Nano (seperate 12V supply requred)

Load testing. Belts and wheels from BearingsRUs.  Fitted into a Cambdenboss 50mm box. The hole in the top there is filled with clear silicone, and shows the power status (incorporated a '12V detect' function and flash pin 13 if not there.  Temperature probe not connected here.

Edited May 14, 2019 by BlobHunter

[dyfiastro]

Hi everyone

Does anyone know of an indi driver that will work with this focuser setup?
I have been using it very successfully with windows and just build another for my new 8" sct.
With the release of the rpi 4 I am seriously looking at moving stuff over to a pi for control

Any help would be great

[BlobHunter]

Hi Dyfi

It's supported in StellarMate (www.stellarmate.com).

Stellarmate is an Indi based system running on Pi.  Not got a Pi 4 yet, so don't know how it will work, but assume its compatible.

[Stub Mandrel]

I believe!

I've looked at lots of Ascom focusers. Some of them are ridiculously complicated.

I just want something that will show up in Sharpcap, connects to 12V (I know how to set the current limit on the stepper board) and a USB port and focus in and out.

This sounds like it will do the job.

Am I right that all I need is a Nano (and put @tekkydave's sketch on it), a stepper driver (like a pololu) and a stepper than work out my own connections.

I assume exact ratios are unimportant as long as the stepper can handle the weight of the camera.

Do I need to add a special driver to my computer or will Ascom do this?

[Stargazer33]

Bit of a zombie thread this one, but I've only just recently rediscovered it.

I've modified my original diy manually controlled focuser to #tekkydaves AAF2.

The focuser works great in Dave's test program and in APT; but it isn't recognised in N.I.N.A or FireCapture as they are 64 bit programs and the driver for AAF2 is 32 bit.

Having watched numerous YT videos about N.I.N.A.s autofocus feature, I would to give it a try. I would also like to use the focuser for when I do planetary imaging in FireCapture.

So, has anyone written a 64 bit driver for this focuser or know of someone who has and could point me to the download? If not I might try having a go at writing one myself; although I've never done any programming before! 

[BlobHunter]

Bryan

I hacked Dave's original driver to make it 32/64 bit compatible and overcome the 10,000 step limit so that I could use it with APT.

Can provide a copy if you pm me.  However I have been unable to get it to work with NINA or Voyager - I think the problems go beyond being 64 bit.

[Stargazer33]

For anyone still interested in getting Dave's AAF2 to work in N.I.N.A. and possibly FireCapture too read on...

I was just playing around with N.I.N.A. and managed to get AAF2 v2.5 to work by selecting 'POTH Hub' from the focuser chooser in N.I.N.A. and then selecting 'AAF2 Focuser' in the subsequent ASCOM chooser.

Everything seems to work and you get to use the excellent auto focus feature in N.I.N.A. 

HTH

[Stargazer33]

The above no longer works as the latest release of Ascom v6.5 has removed the POTH hub!

I'm currently trying to learn how to rewrite tekky daves source code to enable users to enter the maximum step value in the ascom properties box and to enable it to work with 64 bit programs; but I wouldn't hold your breath! 

Edited March 5, 2021 by Stargazer33

[sloz1664]

If that's the case, which sad as I had built two AAF2 focusers in the past. If you still require a source for a decent DIY focuser then I suggest, if you haven't been there, is Robert Brown's excellent myfocuserpro2

Steve

[R26 oldtimer]

Has anyone found instruction on  how-to build a simple version of the mfp2 with an esp 32. I looking for a dummies guide (solder a wire from this pin to that...) as I get lost in the details for the many features. I just want to make a simple usb ascom controlled version

[Stargazer33]

On 06/03/2021 at 22:16, sloz1664 said:

If that's the case, which sad as I had built two AAF2 focusers in the past. If you still require a source for a decent DIY focuser then I suggest, if you haven't been there, is Robert Brown's excellent myfocuserpro2

Steve

Thanks Steve, I was looking at Robert's focuser before I stumbled on Dave's which I decided to go for as I could adapt my existing setup rather than start from scratch. 

As programs are moving into 64 bit, I just need an ascom driver for the AAF2 that will work with 64 bit versions of N.I.N.A. and FireCapture etc.

[skybadger]

On 05/03/2021 at 21:30, Stargazer33 said:

The above no longer works as the latest release of Ascom v6.5 has removed the POTH hub!

I'm currently trying to learn how to rewrite tekky daves source code to enable users to enter the maximum step value in the ascom properties box and to enable it to work with 64 bit programs; but I wouldn't hold your breath! 

But the replacement hub does the same job with a different name!

[skybadger]

8 hours ago, Stargazer33 said:

Thanks Steve, I was looking at Robert's focuser before I stumbled on Dave's which I decided to go for as I could adapt my existing setup rather than start from scratch. 

As programs are moving into 64 bit, I just need an ascom driver for the AAF2 that will work with 64 bit versions of N.I.N.A. and FireCapture etc.

Windows takes care of that if registered properly, it doesn't matter whether it's 32  to 64 or any other combination. 

[skybadger]

On 24/10/2020 at 11:37, Stargazer33 said:

Bit of a zombie thread this one, but I've only just recently rediscovered it.

I've modified my original diy manually controlled focuser to #tekkydaves AAF2.

The focuser works great in Dave's test program and in APT; but it isn't recognised in N.I.N.A or FireCapture as they are 64 bit programs and the driver for AAF2 is 32 bit.

Having watched numerous YT videos about N.I.N.A.s autofocus feature, I would to give it a try. I would also like to use the focuser for when I do planetary imaging in FireCapture.

So, has anyone written a 64 bit driver for this focuser or know of someone who has and could point me to the download? If not I might try having a go at writing one myself; although I've never done any programming before! 

Checkout the ascom developer  forum on groups io .  IIRC you need to register the driver in 32 and 64 bit modes and may need to compile into any CPU mode rather than  dedicated architecture but many drivers do work without change. What does the diagnostics tool show when selecting as 32 or 64 bit ?

[Stargazer33]

On 11/03/2021 at 07:43, skybadger said:

But the replacement hub does the same job with a different name!

Hi SB!

I did try it when I updated my Ascom Platform but I get this error message when I click on the properties button after selecting "Device Hub Focuser" from the Focuser Chooser dropdown:

I have no idea what this means or where I can "See Inner Exception for details"! I just assumed that it wasn't a replacement for the POTH hub and resigned myself to not being able to use the AAF2 in NINA.

 

Quote

Windows takes care of that if registered properly, it doesn't matter whether it's 32  to 64 or any other combination.

Quote

Checkout the ascom developer  forum on groups io .  IIRC you need to register the driver in 32 and 64 bit modes and may need to compile into any CPU mode rather than  dedicated architecture but many drivers do work without change. What does the diagnostics tool show when selecting as 32 or 64 bit ?

 

I don't think tekkydave (whose code this is) compiled it to run in 64 bit applications. I know ASCOM says that it doesn't matter and that 32 bit drivers should run in 64 bit applications but this one doesn't.

I had a book at Christmas to try to learn Visual Basic Studio so that I could re-write the ASCOM driver; but it is not written very well and the diagrams are useless as the image is too fine a detail and too low a resolution to be able to see clearly. Therefore I am like a tortoise trying to enter a drag race at the moment as far as VBS is concerned!!

The ASCOM Diagnostic Tool brings up this error:

tekkydave isn't supporting this project anymore and hasn't since about 2015 - hence the Zombie post comment. and why I was trying to learn VBS to re-write the code and compile it for 64 bit applications. tekkydave wrote a Windows installer to install all the relevant code onto the system and I have no idea how to do that either. I was hoping that I could just do the ASCOM driver and swap it for the one registered through tekkydave's installer.

Edited March 12, 2021 by Stargazer33

[skybadger]

All good points well-made. 

The basic requirements for 32/64 compatibility are to compile for «any CPU» rather than X86_xx  and to register for both 32  and 64 bit operation using regsrvr. 

I can see the problem if it can't be recompiled, which also may not be available in VB.NET . 

To address the POTH issue, have you turned on logging in the diagnostics tool or dropped a line to Rick the author at ascom io group ?. That feels like the driver is not properly supporting absolute moves. The logging should capture the internal exception details. 

One thing to try withe the ascom diagnostics tool is to open the driver in native and 32 bit modes and capture the output which should help to clarify. . 

The installer steps can also be reproduced manually, consisting of moving the source and binaries to the ascom common folder and registering under com for 32 and 64bit operation using the two different flavours of regsrvr. 

If all this is beyond contemplation, it might be worth trying the remote client trick : set the focuser up on the server app and configure the remote client to access. Setup the hub to use the remote client and the remote client/server combo might carry you through the issue. 

HTh

[AngryDonkey]

Just stumbled across this and having been through the ordeal of writing  a switch driver from scratch just now I thought I could help out. I've downloaded the source from the github repository and rebuilt the driver for Any CPU. I've also added an Inno installer (quick and dirty, hopefully it will work). The result can be downloaded here:

https://mpoelzl.exavault.com/share/view/2epu4-f8eqprbm-exdnsvm1

This might throw up anti virus warning as it is not signed in any way. It is clean but please use at your own risk, I didn't write the code...

 

[AngryDonkey]

Oh and should the installer not work correctly you can register the driver for x64 manually:

• Open a command prompt with admin priviledges
• Navigate to the folder the driver dll is in
• Enter the following command:  "C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\RegAsm.exe" /register /codebase "ASCOM.AAF2.Focuser.dll"
• This assumes that the RegAsm.exe file is located in C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\. If that is not the case you might have to change this to point to the correct location.
• To deregister the driver you can use a similar command: "C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\RegAsm.exe" -u "ASCOM.AAF2.Focuser.dll"

Hope this helps!

Mike

Edited March 13, 2021 by AngryDonkey

[Stargazer33]

On 12/03/2021 at 22:17, skybadger said:

One thing to try withe the ascom diagnostics tool is to open the driver in native and 32 bit modes and capture the output which should help to clarify. . 

The installer steps can also be reproduced manually, consisting of moving the source and binaries to the ascom common folder and registering under com for 32 and 64bit operation using the two different flavours of regsrvr. 

If all this is beyond contemplation, it might be worth trying the remote client trick : set the focuser up on the server app and configure the remote client to access. Setup the hub to use the remote client and the remote client/server combo might carry you through the issue. 

🤯 My head hurts! And it's not from having my first Covid jab yesterday! 😄

Thanks for the information. Mike's rewrite below has solved the problem, but I want to work through your suggestions so I can understand the issue better and hopefully be more informed in future. 

[BlobHunter]

Bryan

I went through a similar process to Mike (mostly to get it working for APT) and have a roughly working driver.

Not been successful with NINA so far (as I mostly use APT).  But let me know if you have no success with the above.