Stellarium telescope control

[ThadeusB]

I have a Skywatcher EQ3/2 Pro mount with Synscan GOTO. Hand set version 4.15 with firmware v 4.39.10, upgraded from 4.39.04. I have Stellarium installed on a Windows 10 laptop, also installed on a Linux laptop with Ubuntu19.10 Eoan Ermine.

 

I was having trouble getting a connection to my EQ3/2 Synscan hand controller. It was a faulty HC.

I now have a replacement HC which connects properly to Stellarium. I can now slew the scope from Stellarium, however, it will only slew to targets in approximately half of the sky; if I try to get it to acquire a target in the problem half of the sky, Stellarium then loses lock, meaning that slewing to a target in the working half of the sky, it points entirely the wrong way. I have equatorial selected, and allow auto flipping in the Synscan HC: this occurs in exactly the same way on the Windows laptop and the Linux laptop . Very odd.

 

It seems to be always the Eastern half from roughly North West to South East, regardless of time and RA. I am in the Northern hemisphere. It is not possible to slew to any object on that sector.

 

I can't see how to correct this. Do you think it is a Stellarium or hand controller issue? Updating the Synscan to the latest version: 4.39.10, made no difference. Slewing with the HC is not a problem, it does what it is told.

 

The scope is properly balanced, so it is not a question of motors losing lock

 

Since this occurs on both the Linux and Windows laptops, it suggests to me that it may be a Synscan problem, but I can find nothing in the Syscan setup that controls this. When attempting to slew into the dead sector, I can hear the motors react a little, but there is no movement. So I don't think it is anything to do with the RS232 to USB connection. I have a Hitecastro FTDI USB cable.

 

There is this Skywatcher firmware which I may try:-

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Firmware: SynScan Relay V4, Version 4.2
This firmware allows the SynScan V4/V5 hand controller to work as a transceiver between a computer's serial port and a Skywatcher GOTO telescope mount's hand control port. It is for updating the motor controller's firmware, or controlling the telescope mount with the application "SynScan Pro for Windows". It provides better performance than the "PC Direct Mode" in the SynScan hand controller. To restore the original hand controller function, users just need to re-program the hand controller with normal SynScan V4/V5 firmware.

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Could someone offer a solution to this please?

Log files attached

log.txt log_TelescopeServer1.txt

[Dr_Ju_ju]

forget using the handset, drive the mount directly by plugging the PC into the port that the handset plugs into...

[ThadeusB]

Julian, that can't be done. The hand set connector is RJ12 and the Motor controller box has a RJ45 connector; unless I can get a suitable cable to do this. In any case I still want to be able to keep handset control for normal control functions, such as slew limits, horizon and so on.

[Dr_Ju_ju]

You need to get something like this https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/lynx-astro-ftdi-eqdir-usb-adapter-for-sky-watcher-eq5-pro-heq5-syntrek-pro-az-eq5-gt-az-eq6-gt-and-eq8-mounts.html which will connect your computers directly to the mount, by-passing the handset....

 

 

[ThadeusB]

Thanks guys, I am now away for two weeks. I think I may have a suitable cable at home. I'll post again when home and able to try things out.

[ThadeusB]

Hi all. I have now set up EQDIR with a cable and FTDI I had in my goodies box. I have ASCOM, EQMOD and PHD2 installed. I'm very pleased to say that it all works very nicely. I just need some clear nights now for getting everything calibrated.

The SYNSCAN hand controller is now back in its box.

Thank you for sending in this direction.

[wimvb]

19 hours ago, ThadeusB said:

The SYNSCAN hand controller is now back in its box.

... and that's where it performs best. I never liked that pcgcontrol-through-hand set solution of skywatcher. Glad it all worked out well.