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Problem connecting EQMOD to EQ6-R


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Some suggestions for you, assuming that the EQDIR adapter has installed correctly with the right driver (which chipset is displayed under device manager ?)

With the EQDIR cable connected directly to the laptop connect it to the mount.  Check in device manager that the port is set to the default 9600 baud, 8, no parity.  Open up the EQASCOM toolbox from the EQMOD programs folder.  Try clicking on the register button to set the driver in association with ASCOM platform.  Click on the Driver set up button and in the EQASCOM  window select the port that the EQDIR cable is using, followed by OK.  Now click the ASCOM connect button, hopefully EQMOD will launch without complaining.

If this works, then power down the laptop, disconnect the EQDIR cable from the laptop and then place the active USB cable between the EQDIR cable and the laptop and repeat the above.  If this works then it proves the active cable is OK.  Powerdown and repeat, but this time install the hub.  Again power up and repeat the above.  If you get this far and you can still control the mount using the NSWE buttons (with the steps set to 4) then it would prove your hardware set up is OK.

To identify if Stellarium is the issue, download and install CdC ( Cartes du Ciel ).  Set up the location data based on where in the world you are.  Open up the telescope settings and select ASCOM, and then close.  Then select Telescope control box and click the select button.  In the telescope chooser, select the mount and click OK.  Then click on the "connect" button which should then bring up EQMOD and connect to the scope.  You can then test by right clicking on a target, select telescope and slew.  All being well the scope will start to move to the position of the target.  Obviously at this point you've proved all the hardware and a software application that uses the ASCOM platform to communicate the the mount.  So this just leaves Stellarium as being the issue.  Now I haven't used this application in years, and then you had to download and install a 3rd party plugin to get it to talk to the SW mount via ASCOM and it was flakey back then.  So I'm not best to advise how to set this application up and test. 

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15 hours ago, malc-c said:

Some suggestions for you, assuming that the EQDIR adapter has installed correctly with the right driver (which chipset is displayed under device manager ?)

With the EQDIR cable connected directly to the laptop connect it to the mount.  Check in device manager that the port is set to the default 9600 baud, 8, no parity.  Open up the EQASCOM toolbox from the EQMOD programs folder.  Try clicking on the register button to set the driver in association with ASCOM platform.  Click on the Driver set up button and in the EQASCOM  window select the port that the EQDIR cable is using, followed by OK.  Now click the ASCOM connect button, hopefully EQMOD will launch without complaining.

If this works, then power down the laptop, disconnect the EQDIR cable from the laptop and then place the active USB cable between the EQDIR cable and the laptop and repeat the above.  If this works then it proves the active cable is OK.  Powerdown and repeat, but this time install the hub.  Again power up and repeat the above.  If you get this far and you can still control the mount using the NSWE buttons (with the steps set to 4) then it would prove your hardware set up is OK.

To identify if Stellarium is the issue, download and install CdC ( Cartes du Ciel ).  Set up the location data based on where in the world you are.  Open up the telescope settings and select ASCOM, and then close.  Then select Telescope control box and click the select button.  In the telescope chooser, select the mount and click OK.  Then click on the "connect" button which should then bring up EQMOD and connect to the scope.  You can then test by right clicking on a target, select telescope and slew.  All being well the scope will start to move to the position of the target.  Obviously at this point you've proved all the hardware and a software application that uses the ASCOM platform to communicate the the mount.  So this just leaves Stellarium as being the issue.  Now I haven't used this application in years, and then you had to download and install a 3rd party plugin to get it to talk to the SW mount via ASCOM and it was flakey back then.  So I'm not best to advise how to set this application up and test. 

Thanks for the suggestions Malcom. I’m literally just about to reinstall ASCOM and EQASCOM, but as you suggested I’ve taken a look at the driver with the Lynx EQDIR cable connected. Windows 7 automatically downloaded and configured it. To be honest I’ve really no idea whether or not it’s the best driver for the job. The baud rate, data bits and parity match your suggestion. I’ll post a couple of pics of the driver properties below:

0B0F508C-1A3B-42BB-A2F7-A2692A8EF4D3.jpeg

7B2DE122-F375-4F0B-B5D2-295F96340992.jpeg

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The thing that is confusing me is there is an entry for a USB serial convertor and a USB Serial port, and the top set of images relate to the converter.  Most EQDIR cables just show up as a USB serial port with a single line entry in device manager.  You could always google the hardware ID (go to the details tab and select hardware ID from the drop down list, then copy and search for the character string.  It should list FTDI's site as the main entry and you could try downloading one of the 232TL 5v Drivers and see if that resolves the issue.

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13 minutes ago, malc-c said:

The thing that is confusing me is there is an entry for a USB serial convertor and a USB Serial port, and the top set of images relate to the converter.  Most EQDIR cables just show up as a USB serial port with a single line entry in device manager.  You could always google the hardware ID (go to the details tab and select hardware ID from the drop down list, then copy and search for the character string.  It should list FTDI's site as the main entry and you could try downloading one of the 232TL 5v Drivers and see if that resolves the issue.

Mine shows up as two lines, one being a USB to serial converter....👍

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Not sure if this will help, but I had the same issues, but when I actually opened my APT software and select mount and then EQMOD driver it worked fine, but testing with just the EQASCOM it would not work, so open your imaging software of choice and select EQMOD Ascom driver and try that ... 👍😀

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58 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

Not sure if this will help, but I had the same issues, but when I actually opened my APT software and select mount and then EQMOD driver it worked fine, but testing with just the EQASCOM it would not work, so open your imaging software of choice and select EQMOD Ascom driver and try that ... 👍😀

One thing that has often popped up on the EQMOD user group is that more than one instances of EQASCOM get launched by various applications, and (more applicable to windows 10) with differing levels of privileges, such as administrator rather than user.  

That's strange that you get two line entries as well.  With my FTDI based EQDIR cable I just get a single port listed in DM

FTDI.png.c9935ed89aa88472588e57c10faf101c.png

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2 hours ago, Stuart1971 said:

Not sure if this will help, but I had the same issues, but when I actually opened my APT software and select mount and then EQMOD driver it worked fine, but testing with just the EQASCOM it would not work, so open your imaging software of choice and select EQMOD Ascom driver and try that ... 👍😀

Thanks for the suggestion, and I’ve just tried that after reinstalling both ASCOM and EQASCOM. I tried with both APT and Stellarium, no joy.

However, while failing to connect APT did add the error message ‘Class not registered’ but I have no idea what that means.

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1 hour ago, malc-c said:

One thing that has often popped up on the EQMOD user group is that more than one instances of EQASCOM get launched by various applications, and (more applicable to windows 10) with differing levels of privileges, such as administrator rather than user.  

That's strange that you get two line entries as well.  With my FTDI based EQDIR cable I just get a single port listed in DM

FTDI.png.c9935ed89aa88472588e57c10faf101c.png

With drivers I’m into things I truly don’t understand. I’m using Windows 7, is there a way of safely clearing existing drivers out to perhaps reinstall them? 

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UPDATE

OK, I think I’ve found the problem and it’s physical.

Yes I have a Lynx EQDIR cable, but looking back at my order from FLO I think it’s this one:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/lynx-astro-ftdi-eqdir-usb-adapter-for-sky-watcher-az-gti-mounts.html

when it should have been this one:

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
 

DOH! Feeling pretty dumb atm. 

Just hoping that this won’t have damaged the mount board... is that possible?

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Hopefully the motor board will be OK.  Just plug your handset in and check it still responds and you can move the scope.  If there is a problem have a read of this thread.... https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/351363-any-ideas-on-repairing-a-slightly-blown-motor-board/  so far I've managed to fix 3 out of 4 motor boards (mainly for DOBS) plus my on HEQ5 board, and that forth board is still a work in progress!

 

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36 minutes ago, malc-c said:

Hopefully the motor board will be OK.  Just plug your handset in and check it still responds and you can move the scope.  If there is a problem have a read of this thread.... https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/351363-any-ideas-on-repairing-a-slightly-blown-motor-board/  so far I've managed to fix 3 out of 4 motor boards (mainly for DOBS) plus my on HEQ5 board, and that forth board is still a work in progress!

 

Everything seems absolutely fine. The handset initialises and goes through its usual lat-long, time and date inputs, and the motors respond as expected. Beyond that I can’t really check built-in alignment routines. 
Thanks for your help - hopefully all will work smoothly once I get hold of the right cable 👍

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On 07/12/2020 at 15:37, Ade Turner said:

Everything seems absolutely fine. The handset initialises and goes through its usual lat-long, time and date inputs, and the motors respond as expected. Beyond that I can’t really check built-in alignment routines. 
Thanks for your help - hopefully all will work smoothly once I get hold of the right cable 👍

This is the one I use.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B085WT9VZ6/ref=afx_dp_prime_egress?ie=UTF8&fpl=fresh

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Might not be the issue but when I first started using eqmod with an AZEQ6 I had a similar time out issue with my laptop,  it turned out that the USB ports were being turned off to save power..  for me the fix was...  Control Panel, Device Manager,  Properties  and then for each USB port disable power management 

HTH

Dave

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On 09/12/2020 at 10:02, Jm1973 said:

Thanks for the recommendation, but I’ve already ordered this one, just waiting for it to arrive 👍😁:

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

I’m hoping that it I really is just the wrong cable causing the connection issue. If it continues once I install the ‘right’ cable I might just start to pull out what’s left of my hair.

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On 09/12/2020 at 10:21, Laurin Dave said:

Might not be the issue but when I first started using eqmod with an AZEQ6 I had a similar time out issue with my laptop,  it turned out that the USB ports were being turned off to save power..  for me the fix was...  Control Panel, Device Manager,  Properties  and then for each USB port disable power management 

HTH

Dave

That’s interesting, thanks. I’ll investigate that if it carries on once I get the correct cable installed 👍

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