What a wasted evening - fighting with the synscan wifi gadget

[JOC]

So Santa bought a Synscan Skywatcher Wifi gadget - I haven't had a chance to play with it before tonight - that's how bad conditions have been since December!

Tonight looked set clear - scope out early, decided to run the mains power out of the shed, wrote a list of what was up there, decided to dress in something warm, and thought I'd finally play with the Wifi gadget.  Found out how to plug it into the synscan unit and the wifi connected to the phone - no problems.  However, I couldn't get the scope to callibrate - it couldn't find anything and when I think about it how on earth did it know where it was  - there is nothing in the system that allows you to educate it as to your individual location or time unless it picks it up from the phone's GPS.  Time and again I tried it and it was miles out.  In the finish I gave up and tried to find things by eye.  However, nothing looked spectacular - in fact it was all most lack lustre, and I'm quite certain that I got a better view of Jupiter in the Vixen last night.  I reckon I'll get the Astrobaby collimation bible on the go and check the collimation - I dropped in a cheshire and it did look out of alignment - the primary seems OK position wise, but the vanes are off centre and I wonder if the secondary needs a tweek.  In addition because I'd taken off the dew shield to give the goto a chance wieght wise I fancy everything started to get damp too and that probably contributed to the poor viewing.  All in all a most unsatisfactory evening despite excellent preparation.  :-(  

[Davey-T]

If it makes you feel any better I've just wasted 3 hours trying to get plate solving to work 

Dave

[Ronclarke]

My Wifi Synscan is brilliant! A lot more accurate than the handset, takes a bit of practice but well worth it!!

 

Ron

[Chris]

It's annoying the more aperture you have, the better the seeing needs to be. This is why my scopes have got smaller and smaller over the years. I sympathise with the goto issues, last time out was a disaster with mine.....fab when it works though. 

[JOC]

8 hours ago, Ronclarke said:

My Wifi Synscan is brilliant! A lot more accurate than the handset, takes a bit of practice but well worth it!

There's obviously a knack to it - how does it know where it is?  Does it need the GPS on the phone on (mine was), or does it need contact with a home based wifi system which would mean it could only be used at home.  How do you finish the calibration - after the second start there is no obvious finish button.  How level does the Dob need to be - would it make a difference?  

Oh, and why on earth do we rotate in the solar system - I like castor and pollux to be in east where I can sort them out and last night they were in the west!!!!  Grrrr.

[Ronclarke]

The Wifi is a single entity, it doesn't need any other device apart from your phone. All I do is switch on the dongle on the mount, give it a minute then got to settings on my phone, wifi connections and find the dongle, connect then first star, correct if necessary. Second star is never far from the centre, correct if necessary finishing with whichever direction is flashing red on the directions and alignment successful. off to DSO and choose a number goto is usually spot on, better than the handset for sure..

I use mine to move the mount from inside my shed, maybe 6-8 feet from the mount no problem. Best practice connecting during the day??

Cheers

Ron

[JOC]

1 hour ago, Ronclarke said:

Best practice connecting during the day??

LOL, the connection to the phone was about the only thing that I didn't have problems with.  It just wasn't accurate with the pointing even after correction and I am not quite sure why.

[Ronclarke]

Had you done a Polar align? Did you use the alignment stars the app suggested?

I've found it so accurate so far...

Cheers

Ron

[StaceStar]

I love the synscan wifi dongle. I use it to control my telescope wirelessly...whether that is through the synscan app, sky safari, stellarium or astrophotography tools I always do a 1 star align ( I use plate solving so this isn't a problem) though I reckon if I took the time to do a 3 star it would be even more accurate

[noah4x4]

Also in deepest Essex. I have been out twice since December and even then was beaten by cloud after barely an hour. 

Between October and January, I stayed at Kelling Heath for three seperate weeks. Not a single clear night. It has been awful for at least eight months.

The Jet Stream is interfering and there is odd weather everywhere, but it has just swerved North so the UK should have a fine Bank Holiday. Normally 'Tornado Alley' in the USA suffers an average of  28 tornadoes in April. But Nil in 2018.  Odd weather everywhere.

[JOC]

I'm clearly going to need to have another go with it.  Entering the data was far easier on the mobile and the whole thing seems easier to drive rather than using the synscan handset.  If I could solve the calibration nonsense I think I would be there.  I just can't work out why it won't play ball.  

[JOC]

NB.  I was picking from the suggested list of stars.

[JOC]

The synscan handset permits hand pushing the telescope, I was still doing the last night.  Does anyone know if  all the movements have to be entered via the mobile for the callibration to be successful or whether you can still push it for speed?

[cletrac1922]

Interesting guys

Might have to invest in SynScan Wi-Fi unit

Been southern hemisphere, the app uses Polaris for aligning, which is not visible from down under

There is no star either near the south celestial pole

Usually use Sirius and Canopus for 2 star alignment

 Cheers

John

 

[MarsG76]

WiFi, astrophotographes number 1 mistake.. nothing beats good old fashion cable.....

[Dazzyt66]

7 hours ago, JOC said:

I'm clearly going to need to have another go with it.  Entering the data was far easier on the mobile and the whole thing seems easier to drive rather than using the synscan handset.  If I could solve the calibration nonsense I think I would be there.  I just can't work out why it won't play ball.  

I’ve had one for a few weeks now and found it brilliant. Have used it with iPhone and iPad using sky safari and the app together as well as using it with Stellarium. I did two ‘guides’ in the reviews section on how I set mine up. Link to iPhone one below...

In both cases I had the initial testing done during the day to make sure everything worked, then at night you aren’t wasting any precious viewing time (especially in cloud ridden UK!).

HTH ?

 

[StaceStar]

10 hours ago, MarsG76 said:

WiFi, astrophotographes number 1 mistake.. nothing beats good old fashion cable.....

I don't think so had no problems so far here!

[wookie1965]

Tell your phone to forget your WiFi network the dongle does not have to fight with a stronger signal. 

Make sure your GPS is on when it connects it should all be set ready to align. 

Align from home position and your good to go. 

I have had several brilliant sessions using this and Sky Safari. 

[MarsG76]

4 hours ago, StaceStar said:

I don't think so had no problems so far here!

I'm glad that you didn't have any problems... personally I wouldn't rely on wifi unless I was next to the gear all the time. 

Since most of the time I'm away from the equipment while imaging, wifi is one bit of technology which I don't trust to stay connected flawlessly.

Too often I see dropouts on my VNC hookup which is on a full strength 300Mbps connection, but this Durant interfere with the imaging & guiding.

Knowing my luck, is come back to the gear and I would have wasted 5 hours due to a wifi disconnection so I'm a physical cable connect believer.

[JOC]

I've just been out and tried again.  Connecting to the phone is no trouble.  The Synscan software is so much easier to use on the phone than using the handset.  It also slews faster, I never could remember how to change the slewing speed on the handset.  However it still can't get spot on the targets.  Maybe a perfectly level ground is worth trying I am fairly flat, but it may be a little out.  It wouldn't even slew back to something unmistakeable like Jupiter.  Roughly OK in the right sort of direction, but still a very significant shove needed to bring it into view in the spotting scope.  The callibration seems to go OK, but it just isn't accurate enough to find things like galaxies (i.e. M95 and M96).  So far the only thing I've really viewed in two evenings is Jupiter! And that I've found myself!

[Dazzyt66]

6 hours ago, JOC said:

I've just been out and tried again.  Connecting to the phone is no trouble.  The Synscan software is so much easier to use on the phone than using the handset.  It also slews faster, I never could remember how to change the slewing speed on the handset.  However it still can't get spot on the targets.  Maybe a perfectly level ground is worth trying I am fairly flat, but it may be a little out.  It wouldn't even slew back to something unmistakeable like Jupiter.  Roughly OK in the right sort of direction, but still a very significant shove needed to bring it into view in the spotting scope.  The callibration seems to go OK, but it just isn't accurate enough to find things like galaxies (i.e. M95 and M96).  So far the only thing I've really viewed in two evenings is Jupiter! And that I've found myself!

Are you doing any kind of polar alignment before you start. Doesn’t need to be accurate if you are only observing but needs to be roughly aligned north even just with a compass? I did this the other evening with a single star alignment on Venus before it even went dark and it was still accurate enough to get other bright stars and the moon almost central to the finder every time?

You say you have to ‘shove it’ to bring it into view - you are doing this using the app and slewing rather than just moving the mount manually?

[JOC]

Well if I tell it go to Jupiter and it doesn't get there I push the mount manually to find it, but the book always said this was possible and that manual movement was compatible with automated movement.

[25585]

On 4 May 2018 at 04:02, MarsG76 said:

WiFi, astrophotographers number 1 mistake.. nothing beats good old fashion cable.....

If I bought the mount it would be to use with a handset and cable. Cable length is important.  

[Ronclarke]

I NEVER unlock and move the mount, the encoders get lost and that's where the problems start. A good, level PA and start at the Home position should work, when you finish use 'Hibernate' to remember the settings etc. Love my Wifi, the handset has been gathering dust since January!!

 

 

Ron

[Whistlin Bob]

I've had one since December. For the most part it's excellent- quicker to set up and more accurate as time and location are set very accurately. Interface to sky safari is great. 2 problems though:

-works great when home WiFi is either strong or not present, but struggles to switch between modes when the signal is weak.

- had some problems back in Jan/Feb in the very cold. Touchscreens don't seem to work so well below about -2/-3 or so- either not detecting a touch or responding to touches I didn't make!

So I don't use it at the bottom of the garden or when it's really cold!