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Starsense Autoalign for Skywatcher with Skyportal


Astro-Geek

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Has anyone had experience of using the Celestron Starsense Autoalign for Skywatcher with the Celestron Skyportal wifi adapter ?

I believe that it does work with it, but I'd like to make sure.

So if a Skyportal was plugged into one of the aux ports of the hub that comes with the Starsense Autoalign for Skywatcher does it enable the skyportal app to control the skywatcher goto scope just like a Celestron ?

Is a particular model/version of the Skyportal needed ?  (eg the SkyQ Link 2 )

...also, as the skywatcher version of the Starsense Autoalign appears to be the same as Celestron version, but with the addition of the connecting hub, would the skywatcher version also control a Celestron scope if it was plugged in without the hub ?

All replies appreciated, my poor old brain gets confused with some of the conflicting info on it that I've so far gleaned from the web.... 🥴

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13 hours ago, Astro-Geek said:

Has anyone had experience of using the Celestron Starsense Autoalign for Skywatcher with the Celestron Skyportal wifi adapter ?

I believe that it does work with it, but I'd like to make sure.

So if a Skyportal was plugged into one of the aux ports of the hub that comes with the Starsense Autoalign for Skywatcher does it enable the skyportal app to control the skywatcher goto scope just like a Celestron ?

Is a particular model/version of the Skyportal needed ?  (eg the SkyQ Link 2 )

...also, as the skywatcher version of the Starsense Autoalign appears to be the same as Celestron version, but with the addition of the connecting hub, would the skywatcher version also control a Celestron scope if it was plugged in without the hub ?

All replies appreciated, my poor old brain gets confused with some of the conflicting info on it that I've so far gleaned from the web.... 🥴

I thought the Skyportal was specific to Celestron telescopes - certainly a quick look at the Celestron website does not show compatibility with any non-Celestron mounts. There is the SKYFI III from simulation curriculum that is compatible with a range of telescopes, but that seems to cost around twice the price of the Skyportal device (although I have seen it on sale with significant discounts).

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9 hours ago, Shimrod said:

I thought the Skyportal was specific to Celestron telescopes - certainly a quick look at the Celestron website does not show compatibility with any non-Celestron mounts. There is the SKYFI III from simulation curriculum that is compatible with a range of telescopes, but that seems to cost around twice the price of the Skyportal device (although I have seen it on sale with significant discounts).

You're quite right Shimrod, it cannot be plugged into a Skywatcher Synscan mount, only a Celestron Aux port.

The reason for my question though is that the Celestron Starsense Autoalign for Skywatcher includes a hub which provides the neccessary "transalation" to skywatcher synscan mounts.  That hub plugs into the Synscan hand controller socket, and the control of the scope is then handled by the Celestron Starsense hand controller, which is also plugged into the hub. 

I posted this thread to see if anyone using the Starsense Autoalign for Skywatcher had also tried plugging the Celestron Skyportal wifi adapter into another of the Hub's aux ports to confirm that worked with the skywatcher version as well, (because it does work with the Celestron Starsense Autoalign when used with Celestron scopes, and actually enhances the functionality too).

I guess it sounds like a "mix and match" too far, but if it does all work together then it would be a perfect solution for a big skywatcher goto Dob, giving Starsense autolignment, wireless control and hand control (at the same time), and Ascom connectivity to Planetarium and AP control progs.

I've also been experimenting with the SkySafariPro Android app, together with Celestron's subset Skyportal Android app, which I'm really impressed with, especially now that I've found they work really well on my Obsy's desktop PC, via an Android emulator. 🤓

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10 minutes ago, Astro-Geek said:

I posted this thread to see if anyone using the Starsense Autoalign for Skywatcher had also tried plugging the Celestron Skyportal wifi adapter into another of the Hub's aux ports to confirm that worked with the skywatcher version as well, (because it does work with the Celestron Starsense Autoalign when used with Celestron scopes, and actually enhances the functionality too).

I guess it sounds like a "mix and match" too far, but if it does all work together then it would be a perfect solution for a big skywatcher goto Dob, giving Starsense autolignment, wireless control and hand control (at the same time), and Ascom connectivity to Planetarium and AP control progs.

I've also been experimenting with the SkySafariPro Android app, together with Celestron's subset Skyportal Android app, which I'm really impressed with, especially now that I've found they work really well on my Obsy's desktop PC, via an Android emulator. 🤓

There's a thread from 2017 on Cloudy Nights which states they are not compatible. Possibly there has been an firmware update since, but I would expect to see the compatibility mentioned on the Celestron website if that was the case.

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Thanks for the link Shimrod.

That's exactly what I was searching for, though not the bad news aspect ! 🙂

While I was blundering around in Google I found something that looked as though only the very latest Skyportals worked with the Starsense's SW Hub, but now I can't find it again.

...I'll try searching again.

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1 hour ago, Astro-Geek said:

Thanks for the link Shimrod.

That's exactly what I was searching for, though not the bad news aspect ! 🙂

While I was blundering around in Google I found something that looked as though only the very latest Skyportals worked with the Starsense's SW Hub, but now I can't find it again.

...I'll try searching again.

If you have an account on TeamCelestron, there is a post from a firmware engineer from April this year confirming Skyportal is not compatible with the interface box:  TeamCelestron 

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Thanks Shimrod, I'll set up a login with them so I can read it.

Funny thing though, Celestron's own page currently advertising SkyPortal has a selection of linked products at the bottom that they say are "Compatible with SkyPortal", and in amongst them is the Starsense AutoAlign for Skywatcher.

They must get quite a few disgruntled returns if it still isn't compatible.

The other thing that intrigues me on that page is that the Starsense Autoalign for Celestron has an RRP of £359, and yet the Skywatcher version has the same RRP and is even reduced ( £359 down to £299), and yet surely they're exactly the same, but with the cheaper Skywatcher version also including the SW connecting Hub..... 🤔

https://www.celestron.co.uk/technologies/celestron-sky-portal/

 

 

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On 23/05/2020 at 15:30, Astro-Geek said:

Thanks Shimrod, I'll set up a login with them so I can read it.

Funny thing though, Celestron's own page currently advertising SkyPortal has a selection of linked products at the bottom that they say are "Compatible with SkyPortal", and in amongst them is the Starsense AutoAlign for Skywatcher.

They must get quite a few disgruntled returns if it still isn't compatible.

The other thing that intrigues me on that page is that the Starsense Autoalign for Celestron has an RRP of £359, and yet the Skywatcher version has the same RRP and is even reduced ( £359 down to £299), and yet surely they're exactly the same, but with the cheaper Skywatcher version also including the SW connecting Hub..... 🤔

https://www.celestron.co.uk/technologies/celestron-sky-portal/

 

 

I understand the confusion - there are two products both called Skyportal - Skyportal the software (compatible with starsense for skywatcher), and Skyportal Wi-FI module, which is not compatible with Skywatcher mounts.

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5 hours ago, palatine said:

May I ask. 

How is the software compatible if you can’t connect to it? 

Sorry if this is a dumb question but I’m new to this sort of tech. 

You can get a sky fi adapter ( SKY FI)  that is compatible with skywatcher mounts. Skyportal (the software) is a version of the Sky Safari  from the same company with built in Celestron telescope control.      

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Shimrod, thanks again for the heads up with the Skyportals incompatibility with skywatcher. 👍

I've now researched it on the web a lot more, and I think I understand the limitations now.

The Skyportal wifi dongle can control Celestron mounts connected via the Starsense Autoalign hardware.

The Starsense Autolalign hardware can control skywatcher synscan telescopes via the hub that comes with the Starsense Skywatcher version.

...However, it appears that when that SW hardware hub is used, it only works with the Starsense hand controller, and not the Skyportal wifi dongle.

It appears that the SkiFi 3 wifi adapter is compatible however, because instead of plugging into the celestron skywatcher hub, it plugs into the starsense hand controller, via either a USB lead or a serial lead (depending on which version of the starsense hand controller is used).

Not only that, but the SkiFi 3 seems to be quite universal, in that it can act as a wifi interface to most other manufactuer's  hand controllers, with it's serial and USB interfaces.  This is because nearly all of them can be controlled by hardware leads plugged into their handsets.

Having a Wifi "bridge" to the mount's wired serial or USB port makes things much easier with Andoid hardware and apps too, because their USB ports usually need "OTG" adapters, which add another layer of compatibility difficulty when used with serial to USB adpters at the telescope end.

...so, I now have a SkyFi 3 on order, which I'm hoping to use with my Celestron Starsense Autoalign for Skywatcher, and run the whole shebang via SkySafari 6 on my 10 inch tablet .

...what this space.... 👀

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  • 1 year later...

Hi everyone,

I have recently been heavily involved with this subject, I recently bought an EQ8R pro, but I have been predominantly a celestron user.

There is very little information out there about mixing systems,  I did after a lot of trial and error get my starsense to work with the skywatcher, but the WiFi module does not work.

I have found the program from skywatcher to be very primitive, I have found for the starsense I must retain the use of the handset, I have tried many programs like celestrons sky portal, stellarium, and NINA, none of them point accurately, they are always off, not by much but enough to make life difficult, the handset hits the mark every time, They all work but there seems to be some kind of offset difference.

I now use gs server with nina, but still use the handset to find my targets, the tradeoff is worth it, starsense saves me a huge amount of time, setting up is really quick.

I found I did need some patience but it works, but finally I can confirm celestrons WiFi does not work, it will not recognise the scope mount.

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  • 1 month later...

I do use plate solving, it does not help the backlash, the movement amount to correct will mean there will be no correction as it will always remain in the backlash zone, the scope simply cannot correct it self.

I use NINA.

But the backlash on a brand new mount should not be this far out, my AVX was better.

Cheers

David

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