barkis Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 Does anyone use, have knowledge of, or any relevant Info on the Blue Star Wi Fi Controller for the Meade LX Mount The LX90 in fact. I know scsastro have them at £125, but I would need to know their reliability before I jump. I think Starry Night have something to do with this device. Cheers. Ron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 Don't know if this helps Ron http://stargazerslounge.com/index.php/topic,20059.0.html Helen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barkis Posted January 3, 2009 Author Share Posted January 3, 2009 Thank you very much Helen. Kind of you to dig that out for me. You must have a keen memory, that goes back a year. Jarbi is using his with the EQ6 mount, but of course the device is available for others including the Meade LX90. I did a search, and found it available in the States for around $109 . SCSAstro are pricing it at £125. I would like to hear or read about the reliability of it before I commit to a spend. There are other Items in my list of future purchases, and the order of preference seems to change on a daily basis. :laughing2: Thanks again for your link Helen. I appreciate it. Ron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazOC Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 I've been umming and arrring over this item for my EQ6 for a couple of weeks Ron. I found an old Cloudynights review that was very positive. I've been out with my Palm for the last few sessions, its much more convienient than a laptop and I'd like to be able to control the scope through the Palm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beyond_Vision Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Ron you can buy a bluetooth to RS232 adapter for around £50 from places like Farnell or maybe Maplins that can do exactly the same job as the bluestar. I use an adapter to control my LX90. The same lead that you plug into the handset for updates that came with the scope plugs directly into the bluetooth adapters 9 pin D connector.http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=99180RegardsKevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazOC Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Kevin, is there any reason why that wouldn't work with the EQ6? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 I bought a cheap bluetooth adaptor just before Christmas (about £30 ish) and it pairs just fine with my Mac but of course I need to alter some of the settings, mainly the baud rate to match my EQ6 (9600 I think)... but can I do that on my Mac? For some reason the settings can only be altered by use of an obscure DOS based command line interface. Perhaps that's why it cost £30, not more...I'm hopeful after getting hold of Steve's laptop on my return to work that it should work fine...James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beyond_Vision Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Kevin, is there any reason why that wouldn't work with the EQ6?Cant think of any reason why it wouldn't work. It is effectively like replacing the cable. You will need a bluetooth adapter on the controlling PC which are readily available from any PC store. Then this RS232 adapter connected to the either an EQMOD unit or the handset. The adapter is initially configured by connecting it to a PC so that you can set it's Baud rate etc to the same as the mount. Regards Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazOC Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Cheers Kevin. I want to use Astromist on my Palm to control the scope via Bluetooth, looks like this could save me a bit of cash over the Bluestar option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beyond_Vision Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 James all you need is a terminal emulation program that can send ASCII characters out on the PC's RS232 output. On a windows PC you would use a program like HyperTerminal, there must be something equivalent on a Mac. In any case you must have access to a PC somewhere, once the widget is configured it does not need to be set again.RegardsKevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Thanks for that Kevin - Hyperterminal rings a bell. Is it something that'll be on a PC as standard or will I need to download it?James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beyond_Vision Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Thanks for that Kevin - Hyperterminal rings a bell. Is it something that'll be on a PC as standard or will I need to download it?JamesIt's standard on a windows based PC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Thanks Kevin. It turns out there are plenty of terminal emulators for the Mac but as the instructions I have are for HyperTerminal I'm not sure I can be bothered with my usual "got to use a Mac app" attitude James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barkis Posted January 4, 2009 Author Share Posted January 4, 2009 Thanks for the input Guys. Kevin, I noticed your advice to Jarbi regarding that adapter, of course Jarbi had already bought the Blue Star device. Having read that, I was going to get in touch with you, but your post here saved a Pm, so thanks for your valuable advice. Since you have already got it all working satisfactorily, I may become a pest at times when I get started on this. Ron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beyond_Vision Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Thanks for the input Guys. Kevin, I noticed your advice to Jarbi regarding that adapter, of course Jarbi had already bought the Blue Star device. Having read that, I was going to get in touch with you, but your post here saved a Pm, so thanks for your valuable advice. Since you have already got it all working satisfactorily, I may become a pest at times when I get started on this. Ron.No problem Ron, I will try my best to help RegardsKevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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