How are the SCT with WiFi?

[RickK]

I like the idea but kind of afraid to try something new.

[ronin]

Read something yesterday about software from Skywatcher or Celestron that ananbled wifi cintrol of their scopes. From the comments it seemed that it was one of the standard packages with specific bits thrown in for their scopes so you could control the scope from a tablet, perhaps a phone.

Do recall it is version 1.1 as version 1 didn't really do it right.

Found it: Skyportal by Celestron, appears to be Skysafari based but I doubt that Celestron would develop from scratch their own planetarium software, they will have come to an agreement with a developed product.

The page does not really have much about it, but it is wifi and Celestron so should be available in th US.

Sure there may be other produces but no idea who/what.

[red dwalf]

Celestrons new nexstar evolution scopes and mounts based on the nexstar range have wifi built in so they can be controlled via wifi tablets and phones

[thanders]

SkyFi has been around for a while now; http://www.southernstars.com/products/skyfi/

Also from Orion. Works well with SkySafari and NEQ6.

/Thomas

[RickK]

I am looking at the Celestrons new nexstar evolution scopes. I downloaded the app and it uses another app ( think is was Skysafari ) but that was where I started thinking that its not "its own" and uses someone else's software. Than what if the other persons software go's away?  That is what worries me most is buying something that works now, but not supported later. I bought back yard years ago and found when trying to install it one my windows 8.1 it never loaded, after contacting tech support was told it only worked through XP and was not supported in later versions... Not happy with that at all.. but I did get it to run, running it in XP Compatibility mode. 

[tekkydave]

I would hope that Celestron have thought of that and built in some kind of software escrow agreement into the contract with the software supplier. In any case these mounts use very simple serial commands to communicate so it is probably fairly simple to port to another software package.

[Northern Soul man]

Hi RickK, the fore mentioned Evo range are, I think, pointed towards the "new" WIFI controlled aspect of the Celestron scopes, been reading and surfing over on Cloudy Nights in the States - they seem to have had the scopes delivered a while back.

There seems to be a consensus of "lagging" and "freezing" of the phones/tablets that are connected via WIFI, with a few comments of the connection "dropping out" and have to do re - aligns.

I wonder if these new "connection" based scopes will be a problem at star parties and the like when there could be a gathering of a few of these scopes within "WIFI" range of each other, with each one trying to connect automatically with signals that are within its range (this is how my home connection works - when not switched on or in range, the laptop searches every few seconds for a signal).

I'm no expert on the connectivity of this new line - but one thing that struck me was that they are shipped with the good OLD FASHIONED hand controllers - is this what they call backward technology??.

Paul.

[RickK]

That would be a problem with everyone's scope playing war of the wifi..lol.  I like the idea and in the market for a scope before cold weather gets here.

[stevesreed]

Hi RickK, the fore mentioned Evo range are, I think, pointed towards the "new" WIFI controlled aspect of the Celestron scopes, been reading and surfing over on Cloudy Nights in the States - they seem to have had the scopes delivered a while back.

There seems to be a consensus of "lagging" and "freezing" of the phones/tablets that are connected via WIFI, with a few comments of the connection "dropping out" and have to do re - aligns.

I wonder if these new "connection" based scopes will be a problem at star parties and the like when there could be a gathering of a few of these scopes within "WIFI" range of each other, with each one trying to connect automatically with signals that are within its range (this is how my home connection works - when not switched on or in range, the laptop searches every few seconds for a signal).

I'm no expert on the connectivity of this new line - but one thing that struck me was that they are shipped with the good OLD FASHIONED hand controllers - is this what they call backward technology??.

Paul.

At a star party, a temporary wifi network can be set up with a router and all the Evolutions can join that. Then there would be no problem with everyone's scope creating there own network.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[tekkydave]

At a star party, a temporary wifi network can be set up with a router and all the Evolutions can join that. Then there would be no problem with everyone's scope creating there own network.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

That may work if each scope has some other id that the handset/pc can use to connect to the correct scope. If they all rely on a certain wi-fi ESS or network name to find the scope it could be chaos. I keep saying this but "hopefully Celestron have thought of that"

It may be a case of monitoring the local wi-fi traffic with a portable device (phone/tablet) and spotting multiple setups using the same ESS and asking/helping people to change them to be unique. Good job for any tech-savvy kids in the team

[orion61]

Make sure your neighbors like you to avoid a Drive By Slewing..... lol

seriously it should be fine and anything to get rid of cables.