Bye, Stellarium, Astro Tortilla - What Cables

[johnb]

Hi

I am a BYE user with my trusty Cannon 450d and EQ6 Mount and all works a treat

My cable setup is straight forward

USB with 4 ports

Port 1 - Cannon Camera

Port 2 Guide Camera

Then a cable between Guide Scope and Mount

Guiding is with PHD2

All works well

So I would like to now add Stellarium for target selection and Astro tortilla for solving - and there is plenty of info on line about configuration - but very little on cable connection etc

Do i need more cables - I have no idea (suspect I do)

Pointers appreciated

John B

 

 

[Dr_Ju_ju]

nope, you have all the control cables (but I'd recommend pulse guiding as opposed to ST4), just install the software including Ascom, Stellarium, Stellarium scope and Astro Tortilla. Then learn how to stich it all together....

[kens]

You are going to need an EQDIR cable to connect the EQ6 mount directly to your computer. Stellarium and Astrtortilla need this to receive your mounts position and to send it commands to move. You'll also need to instal EQASCOM (aka EQMOD) and StellariumScope

[StuartJPP]

Personally I wouldn't bother with Astrotortilla for plate solving, BYEOS can plate solve just like AstroPhotography Tool (APT) can as far as I am aware.

In fact I hardly use Stellarium to control my mount any more, I generally just copy the RA and DEC coordinates of a target and put them into APT and plate solve and goto from within APT.

But of course there's no harm in trying it all and finding what works best for you.

[johnb]

thanks - struggling as when I setup astrotortilla it wants a scope and it cant see the scope - would I not need to add a cable from the serialm port on the scope via an adapter to USB which then goes into my laptop ?

John B

[Doug64]

Hi,

I use BYEOS, PHD2, Stellerium, with my scope and Canon Camera.  I have them all connected to a USB hub on my mount and then I go from the hub to my computer via a 5 meter USB cable.  The mount is connected to the USB hub via a EQDirect cable and everything works fine.  I don't use Astrotortilla, I've never found a reason to use it.

I polar align using Sharpcap 3.0, then use Stellerium to sync mount after which I select target and image same using BYEOS whilst guiding with PHD.  

Doug

[kens]

1 hour ago, johnb said:

thanks - struggling as when I setup astrotortilla it wants a scope and it cant see the scope - would I not need to add a cable from the serialm port on the scope via an adapter to USB which then goes into my laptop ?

John B

Yes you do. That's the EQDIR /EQDirect cable. This is a cable with a USB connector on one end and a DB9 connector on the other. DO NOT use a regular USB-Serial cable as, despite the similar appearance, they operate on different voltages. If you use a regular USB-Serial cable you must attach it to the hand control and then connect the hand control to the mount. This is all a bit of a faff and I've found it unreliable so just get the EQDIR cable.

Once you have the cable you will need the right software: EQASCOM/EQMOD and StellariumScope if you want to use Stellarium. StellariumScope lets you connect to Stellarium and other tools like PHD2 and AstroTortilla at the same time.