Just when you think theings are goint smoothly

[Ro3bert]

Just received a Celestron RS232 serial cable (9 pin male). It is supposed to connect one end to the serial connector on a computer (female) and the other to the RS232 connector on the handheld GoTo controller marked LCM.

Unfortunately there is no 9 pin connector on the computer, the only one on the computer is a 15 pin connector used to attach an external monitor. There are two more (beside USB) connectors, one for HDMI and one that seems to be an either net connection.

Does anyone know what can be done to resolve this dilemma? Given I now have an RS232 adapter is there any way one can make a connection between the computer and the handheld controller?

It's not the end of the world, I'll send it back if there is no way to make the connection. (Assuming there is some sort of return policy).                                                                                                                                                               
 

[Davey-T]

Plenty of USB -RS232 adapters about, worth spending a bit and getting a proper FTDI one rather than a cheap EBay Chinese knock off.

Dave

Afterthought, Meade do a Meade specific one, Celestron may do also

[Fish]

What Dave said, however there was a uk guy on ebay selling them for a reasonable price last year, they have a small astronomy shop set up . I have had no problem with mine and the advert does say astronomy compatable . May be worth a search.

[Putaendo Patrick]

Think I have one of these to program a walkie-talkie radio. Just make sure it comes with a cd etc with the controller for your computer. Mine was cheap and didn't - took me an ago to find why it wasn't working and then locate and download the controller on the internet!

[Astroboffin]

This is what you need, it is the recommended one by the "prolific chipset" manufacturer, it has the latest chipset and will work with all Windows versions up and including win 10, a lot of the older and cheaper ones will not work, the reason being that there were a lot of Chinese copies of this chipset so Prolific who make the genuine ones have blocked some of there older chipsets working on win 7,8 and 10,

This one is guaranteed to work by them.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Plugable-Adapter-Prolific-PL2303HX-Chipset/dp/B00425S1H8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1450738284&sr=8-3&keywords=usb+adapter+serial+cable

I have ordered two of them, as my belkin ones no longer will work with win 8 or 10.

Or as stated above get one with the FTDI chipset, which are also very good, but get a good one, not a cheap one, but not sure about win 10 compatibility, but I am sure someone on here will know.

AB

[ChrisLX200]

Depending on your computer, you may find a COM serial port header on your motherboard. One of my computers does (even though there are no external COM prots provided. All I needed was a connector and short ribbon cable connected to 9-pin socket. My new computer had no such port header so I just bought a dual COM port card, wasn't expensive and useful for all sorts of stuff (I needed it to connect to my PCR1000 radio)

ChrisH

[Ro3bert]

Plenty of USB -RS232 adapters about, worth spending a bit and getting a proper FTDI one rather than a cheap EBay Chinese knock off.

Dave

Afterthought, Meade do a Meade specific one, Celestron may do also

What Dave said, however there was a uk guy on ebay selling them for a reasonable price last year, they have a small astronomy shop set up . I have had no problem with mine and the advert does say astronomy compatable . May be worth a search.

Think I have one of these to program a walkie-talkie radio. Just make sure it comes with a cd etc with the controller for your computer. Mine was cheap and didn't - took me an ago to find why it wasn't working and then locate and download the controller on the internet!

Looked in all the wrong places for the wrong item or didn't use the correct question. Finally found a USB to DB9 male connector cable that will match up with my Celestron Nexstar RS 232 PC Interface Cable with a DB9 female connector.

Bought it on Amazon, the same item that sells by the manufacture at US9 more.

So all is right with the universe.

[Ro3bert]

This is what you need, it is the recommended one by the "prolific chipset" manufacturer, it has the latest chipset and will work with all Windows versions up and including win 10, a lot of the older and cheaper ones will not work, the reason being that there were a lot of Chinese copies of this chipset so Prolific who make the genuine ones have blocked some of there older chipsets working on win 7,8 and 10,

This one is guaranteed to work by them.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Plugable-Adapter-Prolific-PL2303HX-Chipset/dp/B00425S1H8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1450738284&sr=8-3&keywords=usb+adapter+serial+cable

I have ordered two of them, as my belkin ones no longer will work with win 8 or 10.

Or as stated above get one with the FTDI chipset, which are also very good, but get a good one, not a cheap one, but not sure about win 10 compatibility, but I am sure someone on here will know.

AB

They can't deliver to the US for some reason and they aren't available from Amazon in the US. Hope the one I got will work.

[baggywrinkle]

It still begs the question: Why dont the telescope makers now use USB rather than the anti-diluvian RS232?

When was the last time you bought a PC with an RS232 connection?

[DanL]

I wondered that too. Best answer I could find is that in general, when it comes to programming an interface to control hardware, RS232 is a lot less complicated to implement than USB.

So my guess is it just comes down to that. Simplicity and lack of complexity in the RS232 interface for interfacing with the hardware components that control the scope.

[ChrisLX200]

That, and RS232 will work over much longer distances and is far more stable. Bit of a moot point though if you are forced to attach a Serial>USB converter...

ChrisH

[Pompey Monkey]

Plenty of USB -RS232 adapters about, worth spending a bit and getting a proper FTDI one rather than a cheap EBay Chinese knock off.

Dave

Afterthought, Meade do a Meade specific one, Celestron may do also

My "cheap Chinese knock off" works absolutely fine via my handset.

The dedicated branded usb EQ adapter that I just bought to go directly to my mount from my computer appears not to work at all!  (I am getting support from the vendor to sort this out though )

Computers. Meh.

[Uplooker]

Just to clarify, and not high jack the thread, is RS232 just a protocol, rather than connection type? The connection on the mounts is DIN standard?

Sent from my Fone

[Astroboffin]

They can't deliver to the US for some reason and they aren't available from Amazon in the US. Hope the one I got will work.

That's strange, as I think pluggable, which is the brand of them are an American company.....are there no other suppliers over there of them??

AB

[Ro3bert]

That's strange, as I think pluggable, which is the brand of them are an American company.....are there no other suppliers over there of them??

AB

The one I got is from an American company Cables to go (C2G) ordered from Amazon.

I should get it tomorrow (Wed) the 23rd. After I check it out I'll post the results. I will be checking using both Stellarium and Cartes du Ciel.

[Davey-T]

My "cheap Chinese knock off" works absolutely fine via my handset.

The dedicated branded usb EQ adapter that I just bought to go directly to my mount from my computer appears not to work at all!  (I am getting support from the vendor to sort this out though )

Computers. Meh.

A while ago there was a flood of bogus Chinese ones that actually didn't work at all, looked identical to the genuine ones sold by Maplin, I bought one direct from FTDI, there was also a problem with Prolific ? ones being bricked by updates because they had  "forged " chipsets.

Computers 

Dave

[Astroboffin]

A while ago there was a flood of bogus Chinese ones that actually didn't work at all, looked identical to the genuine ones sold by Maplin, I bought one direct from FTDI, there was also a problem with Prolific ? ones being bricked by updates because they had  "forged " chipsets.

Computers 

Dave

Yes completely true, that's why the one I Linked to , in the post above, is the one to buy because it is recommended by the Prolific company themselves on there website, so guaranteed to work with all Windows versions.

AB