Orion Sirius and EQDirect

[Likwid]

Hello, I am sorry if this has been asked before, but I was unable to find an answer and not sure how to word my search. I am just starting to get my rig ready for better weather and I just hit a big snag. I built an EQ Direct cable with a TTL-232-5v dongle that I connected a piece of Cat5 to and verified the pinouts twice before I soldered the connections. I am having issues getting EQMod to run because of a missing DLL file which is another issue, but in the meantime I am trying to get control with Stellarium. I have the right Com Port selected and Stellarium is able to connect to the mount, but I cannot get it to slew. Now, when I have the Synscan Hand Controller plugged in, I can hear the servos working as they should be. When I plug the EQ Direct Cable in (RJ45 side plugged in where the Synscan Controller would go, and the USB side into my computer), I hear nothing when I power up the mount. Am I missing a step, or is my cable not correct?

[Demonperformer]

First thing, sort out the installation so that you don't have any missing files. I don't know enough about the files to be sure, but missing files will not help and it is better to have only one variable when troubleshooting rather than two.

Now when you connect, you should be hearing the mount tracking (as with the handset) and you should get the new EQMOD box come up. Are you getting this box? If so, do you have any limits set in EQMOD that are blocking the slew (eg meridian or horizon limits)?

[stash_old]

9 hours ago, Likwid said:

I built an EQ Direct cable with a TTL-232-5v

Don know what your mount is but 5v may not be correct some are 3v only - using 5v will damage boards. EQmod web site shows most SW mounts corrrect voltage (some dont care and can use 3.3v or 5v)

Assuming you have the correct 5v cable then I guess that you are using a prolific chip as FDTI /CH340 chips integrate  easily on all versions of Windows. In any case until you sort out the missing DLL (why a DLL what do you mean and were are you seeing this) it will not work. IMHO if its a prolific chip get another one they IMO have a poor signal and its the one most people have trouble with.

You can test out EQMOD without using the cable this will test out the software is installed ok - do a simulation run using the EQMOD simulator (again assuming Ascom/windows - Indi also has EQMOD so you have to be more specific now days!). If the EQmod simulation  works then its the USB/TLL connection most likely.

Have you checked that TX goes to RX and RX goes to TX this is a common mistake (unless the doc says otherwise) and that Ground is connected.

What does your device manager say (again assuming Windows)  especially with regard to COM ports!

Even if you dont use it try CDC its easier to set up - you can go back to Stellarium later when its working. You have got Stellarium Scope loaded haven't you ?

Not being funny but you need to be more specific on your kit set up else people cant help ?

[Likwid]

Hello, thank you for the reply and sorry for the lack of detail. I am pretty new to all of this and just trying to sort it all out! My Orion Sirius is the same thing as the Skywatcher HEQ5 and according to the EQDirect website, I need the 5v chip. (From the Website: Please be aware that FTDI produce a similar product, the TTL232R3V3, but due to lower signaling voltages this will not work with the EQ6Pro, HEQ5 type mounts  (the mount expects to see a minimum 4V active high signal). I am using a standard Cat5 cable that I built for the RJ45 connection. I prototyped a connection (In the screenshot) just to make sure it worked before I start adding strain relief etc.

Solder Pin 4 of the RJ45 (Blue in the standard Cat5 pinout) to the Black wire (GND)
Solder Pin 5 of the RJ45 (Blue/White in the standard Cat5 pinout)to the Yellow wire (RXD)
Solder Pin 6 of the RJ45 (Green in the standard Cat5 pinout)to the Orange wire (TXD)

Now, EQMod will not even start because of a missing DLL file, which clearly is not missing. I even tried another version of the file and verified that the DLL was defined in the registry. I posted a screenshot of that and the file properties as well, it says that it is missing ComDlg32.OCX (In on Windows 7 64 Bit). The last screenshot I included was Device Manager showing that the USB Serial is on Com5, next to EQDIRCheck showing that the mount is connected on Com5 as it is able to pull the version from the mount. I tried getting a screen of Stellarium, but it didn't grab the Telescope Window for some reason. It shows my mount defined and connected.

Thank you!

[Likwid]

I think I have mostly everything working. The EQMod DLL issue is fixed now. I was trying to get Stellarium working without having EQMod connected and talking to the mount. I now realize that ASCOM and EQMod basically take the place of the hand controller and if they are not running, nothing will communicate. Once I got the settings right in EQMod, the motors fired right up. Thanks for the help!