Skywatcher Heritage Virtuoso controlled via bluetooth

[happy-kat]

Just found a related webpage so thought to add to this great thread

https://indilib.org/devices/mounts/skywatcher-virtuoso-alt-az.htmll.

 

[powerlord]

Hi chaps, bumping open this thread again.

 

I build an interface tonight for my az gti mount. Hc-06.sky safari 6 Pro gives error saying connected but no response. I tried serial Bluetooth terminal app and sent 'E' which according to api should give me response from synscan mount. Also nowt.

 

I've tried the obvious of reversing rx/tx though I'm sure they were fine.

 

I've also tried 2 other bt modules so I reckon that's OK too.

Kinda stuck now. I mean WiFi works fine on mount, just figured I'd give bt a go, as it means my mobile could stay connected to Internet.

 

The thread talks about a 'vituoso app' but I cant find any such app. And as far as I can tell the regular synscan app is WiFi only. Any ideas?

 

Stu

 

[happy-kat]

The virtuoso app was for the virtuoso mount and has since been taken off the play store. The app was an interface to communicate instructions to the virtuoso mount and worked through a Bluetooth dongle plugged into the mount. 

As far as I'm aware the az-gti has only wifi communication capabilities.

Edited January 6, 2021 by happy-kat

[johninderby]

The AZ-GTi can be used with a Synscan hand control.which is another option.

The mount has the hand control port.

Edited January 6, 2021 by johninderby

[powerlord]

Sorry, should have been more clear. I made a bluetooth to serial interface with an HC-06.

This means I should be able to control the az-gti via the serial port as you would any other synscan mount, but via bluetooth.

So I expected sky safari or stellarium to then be able to connect to it via BT.

But something is not quite working yet. I'll try some more debugging tonight.

Saying that, since I'd always need the SyncScan app to actually align the scope up in the first place, and that only works with wifi, I'm very possibly not making anything any easier by getting this working. But.. it's cold, and cloudy so it gives me something to do 🙂

 

[happy-kat]

A related update though I was using the skywaycher wifi dongle with the virtuoso v1, Safari Plus on android connected but the port needed was 11882 and not 4030

[MickeyB]

On 06/01/2021 at 18:21, powerlord said:

Sorry, should have been more clear. I made a bluetooth to serial interface with an HC-06.

This means I should be able to control the az-gti via the serial port as you would any other synscan mount, but via bluetooth.

So I expected sky safari or stellarium to then be able to connect to it via BT.

But something is not quite working yet. I'll try some more debugging tonight.

Saying that, since I'd always need the SyncScan app to actually align the scope up in the first place, and that only works with wifi, I'm very possibly not making anything any easier by getting this working. But.. it's cold, and cloudy so it gives me something to do 🙂

 

Sorry for the bump and hoping you're still around, but did you ever get it to work?

You see, I'm trying the same thing now. Have got things working with WiFi, but was/am hoping to go BT, directly to skysafari...

[petrocorii]

On 21/06/2022 at 22:31, MickeyB said:

Sorry for the bump and hoping you're still around, but did you ever get it to work?

You see, I'm trying the same thing now. Have got things working with WiFi, but was/am hoping to go BT, directly to skysafari...

tldr: It seems the HC-05 is using the wrong serial parameters to connect to the mount, but these settings don't have documented AT commands.

I've also been looking at using the HC-05.

Connections to my Virtuoso mount work fine over a 3.3v serial cable. My Windows version of Synscan works fine using a cable.

Another way to test is to connect to the mount using a terminal program and type:

:e1

Typing these three characters plus a CR should produce the response "=0210A" from the mount.

This doesn't work for the HC-05, nor does Synscan.

I compared the output of the two connections using the trial version of "Advanced Serial Port Monitor". The working serial cable connects using these parameters:

Baud rate 9600

Data bits=8, Stop bits=1, Parity=None

Set chars: Eof=0x00, Error=0x00, Break=0x00, Event=0x00, Xon=0x11, Xoff=0x13

Handflow: ControlHandShake=(), FlowReplace=(XOFF_CONTINUE), XonLimit=2048, XoffLimit=512

 

The HC-05 module tries to connect to the mount using these parameters:

 

Baud rate 9600

Data bits=8, Stop bits=1, Parity=None

Set chars: Eof=0x00, Error=0x00, Break=0x00, Event=0x00, Xon=0x00, Xoff=0x00

Handflow: ControlHandShake=(DTR_CONTROL, CTS_HANDSHAKE), FlowReplace=(TRANSMIT_TOGGLE, RTS_HANDSHAKE), XonLimit=0, XoffLimit=0

Xon, Xoff, Controlhandshake, FlowReplace, XonLimit, XoffLimit have differing values.

The problem is, I can't find any documented AT commands to change these parameters on the HC-05 module. The only documented AT command related to UART parameters is "AT+UART", but this can only change baud, stop bit and parity settings. If no other parameters can be changed, then this probably won't work?

Edited June 24, 2022 by petrocorii

[petrocorii]

I'm going to give this ESP32 based UART/bluetooth bridge a try, will update if it works https://github.com/coddingtonbear/esp32-bluetooth-bridge

Incidentally, I tried out plate solving in Sharpcap last night and was able to find M2 - the first DSO I have ever seen! 

Taken with a Svbony 305, with the 114p Virtuoso on a bedside table, pointing out of a window in central-ish London.

80 frame/107s live stack in Sharpcap + photoshop.

 

[petrocorii]

On 26/06/2022 at 14:47, petrocorii said:

I'm going to give this ESP32 based UART/bluetooth bridge a try, will update if it works https://github.com/coddingtonbear/esp32-bluetooth-bridge

I couldn't get the above to compile, but the ESP32 Arduino library BluetoothSerial.h seems to work well enough. Windows Synscan responds well and I can now control the mount via bluetooth in Synscan and via the ascom driver in Sharpcap.

The code below is almost the same as the SerialToSerialBT example which comes with the ESP32 Arduino install, the main change is the use of Serial2 - this separates the chip programming pins from the pins being used to talk to the mount. The TXD/RXD pins for the mount are 25 + 27 / GPIO16 + GPIO17 / U2_RXD + U2_TXD

The board I used is a ESP-WROOM-32 and I used the ESP32-WROOM-DA Board Module selection in the Arduino menu. It is important to select a board that has Bluetooth Classic, since the BluetoothSerial library will not work with Bluetooth LE. Also - make sure your usb programming cable is a data cable and not just a charging cable!

If you want to use the 12v output from the RJ11 port to power the module, you will still have to step down the voltage with something like a LM7805 regulator. The ESP32 has a 3.3v regulator onboard, but attaching 12v will fry it. Step down to 5v then connect this to the VIN port of the ESP32. The data pins on the ESP32 are 3v, the same as the Virtuoso mount, so they can be directly attached, no need to level shift. The GND from the RJ11 also needs to be connected to the ESP32.

If everything has worked, then you should be able to pair with a bluetooth device called ESP-Telescope. On my version of Windows, this creates a "Standard Serial over Bluetooth link" on COM5 and COM6. In Synscan select Settings/Connect Settings/Serial/ then select COM6 in the Serial Port Name menu.

#include "BluetoothSerial.h"
BluetoothSerial SerialBT;

void setup() {

SerialBT.begin("ESP-Telescope");

Serial2.begin(9600, SERIAL_8N1);
}

void loop() {

if(Serial2.available()) 
{
  SerialBT.write(Serial2.read());
  }
if (SerialBT.available()) {
    Serial2.write(SerialBT.read());
  }
delayMicroseconds(50);
}

 

[MickeyB]

On 24/06/2022 at 18:55, petrocorii said:

tldr: It seems the HC-05 is using the wrong serial parameters to connect to the mount, but these settings don't have documented AT commands.

I've also been looking at using the HC-05.

Connections to my Virtuoso mount work fine over a 3.3v serial cable. My Windows version of Synscan works fine using a cable.

Another way to test is to connect to the mount using a terminal program and type:

:e1

Typing these three characters plus a CR should produce the response "=0210A" from the mount.

This doesn't work for the HC-05, nor does Synscan.

I compared the output of the two connections using the trial version of "Advanced Serial Port Monitor". The working serial cable connects using these parameters:

Baud rate 9600

Data bits=8, Stop bits=1, Parity=None

Set chars: Eof=0x00, Error=0x00, Break=0x00, Event=0x00, Xon=0x11, Xoff=0x13

Handflow: ControlHandShake=(), FlowReplace=(XOFF_CONTINUE), XonLimit=2048, XoffLimit=512

 

The HC-05 module tries to connect to the mount using these parameters:

 

Baud rate 9600

Data bits=8, Stop bits=1, Parity=None

Set chars: Eof=0x00, Error=0x00, Break=0x00, Event=0x00, Xon=0x00, Xoff=0x00

Handflow: ControlHandShake=(DTR_CONTROL, CTS_HANDSHAKE), FlowReplace=(TRANSMIT_TOGGLE, RTS_HANDSHAKE), XonLimit=0, XoffLimit=0

Xon, Xoff, Controlhandshake, FlowReplace, XonLimit, XoffLimit have differing values.

The problem is, I can't find any documented AT commands to change these parameters on the HC-05 module. The only documented AT command related to UART parameters is "AT+UART", but this can only change baud, stop bit and parity settings. If no other parameters can be changed, then this probably won't work?

My apologies for the very late reply. My email settings where nok.

Looked into it a bit as well, with an old RPi 2b. Indeed those uart details seem not able to be set indeed.

Maybe i'll purchase the BT dongle someday, but i believe for now i'll be throwing in the towel on this one.

Thanks for the details though, learned a ton!