Skywatcher AZ GTi - Cannot Connect

[AstroNebulee]

10 hours ago, Nojus said:

some people saying that IP must be changed to 127.0.0.1 in static,but what else need to be changed,no idea..

Is this in the synscan app these settings? 

After you've done the factory reset, I'd also uninstall the synscan app and make sure no folders are left behind that can contain any information. Then reinstall synscan pro on your phone or tablet. 

10 hours ago, Nojus said:

And to update firmware need wifi connection between laptop and AZ-GTI, so it is not possible ,that's the my main problem ,no connection between head and laptop or tablet.

 

And also your laptop cannot connect  to the az gti mount either? I'm presuming your laptop is WiFi capable, sorry to sound funny if I do. I hope the reset does the trick let us know how you get on with it. 

I've looked in my synscan wifi settings and this option will only be accessible when the mount is connected to your device, I got this screen when I pressed synscan wifi settings. 

Edited June 23, 2021 by AstroNebulee

[AstroNebulee]

1 hour ago, malc-c said:

Seeing that this is simply a means to control the telescope from your phone via an app that emulates the handset then there is no need for it to join your main network.

Yes your right, I have this mount and there's absolutely no need to connect via the home WiFi as the AzGti creates its own WiFi spot to connect your devices to. It definitely sounds like a mount issue to me. 

[Gfamily]

Downloading the Windows app onto your laptop might be worth trying. 

If you're still on Android 10, you shouldn't need to download the new APK from the Skywatcher Downloads page, but if all else fails, again, it might be worth trying.

The only other thing I can suggest is to ask whether you have switched off mobile data on your phone? I can't think of any reason why this would make a difference, but since you're effectively stuck unless you can get a firmware update, it's worth trying as well. 

[powerlord]

So I've had that with one of mine.

Basically you are saying you cannot connect to the synscan's wifi hotspot yes ?

is it using batteries ? If so, change em and stick new ones in and try it.

If it's using a power adapter, check its putting out more than 12v. i.e. 12ish-14 or so.

stu

[Zermelo]

54 minutes ago, Gfamily said:

The only other thing I can suggest is to ask whether you have switched off mobile data on your phone? I can't think of any reason why this would make a difference

I can confirm (Synscan with a Star Discovery mount) that having mobile data on will prevent the connection; I've no idea why.
But if I forget and leave it on, the app does mention that as a possible cause in the failure message.

 

[adyj1]

6 hours ago, Nojus said:

Now trying to reset head wifi to factory settings by connecting to power for 4 h,lets hope it will works

The one complication is that if any device tries to connect to its WiFi during that 4 hrs (perhaps because the SSID has been tried before), then it will halt the reset.

I used to take mine to the far end of the garage away from the house when I did mine 😉 

[Nojus]

6 hours ago, powerlord said:

So I've had that with one of mine.

Basically you are saying you cannot connect to the synscan's wifi hotspot yes ?

is it using batteries ? If so, change em and stick new ones in and try it.

If it's using a power adapter, check its putting out more than 12v. i.e. 12ish-14 or so.

stu

I've tried batteries,power bank and 12.8V DC,not helpful.

Edited June 23, 2021 by Nojus

[AstroNebulee]

How did it go with the resetting of the mount? 

[Nojus]

so,I kept mount for more than 4 hours power ON, reinstalled synscan, but.. nothing happen ,I'm confused, thinking about buying new head..

clearly can see that head have wifi signal,but maybe something wrong with IP or I don't know..

Edited June 24, 2021 by Nojus

[AstroNebulee]

4 hours ago, Nojus said:

so,I kept mount for more than 4 hours power ON, reinstalled synscan, but.. nothing happen ,I'm confused, thinking about buying new head..

clearly can see that head have wifi signal,but maybe something wrong with IP or I don't know..

This is very strange, where did you purchase the az gti from, maybe you coukd email FLO @FLOas they have been very helpful with me in the past and may know of a solution or email skywatcher too, worth a try. Could you take the mount to someone else's place and get them to install synscan on their device and try that maybe. 

You could get the skywatcher USB dongle to connect your laptop to your mount wired the link is here I know it's UK though, this should allow you to connect wired and update the firmware 

Here it is at FLO 

"Sky-Watcher Synscan USB Adapter | First Light Optics" https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/sky-watcher-synscan-usb-adapter.html

Edited June 24, 2021 by AstroNebulee

[Nojus]

I got this from astroshop.eu   in 2018 and guaranty is covering anymore. Sure I will try to ask FLO about it..if not will buy another one.

I've tried to do it with other devices and my mount without success.so assume the mount issue here..

Edited June 24, 2021 by Nojus

[AstroNebulee]

1 minute ago, Nojus said:

I got this from astroshop.eu   in 2018 and guaranty is covering anymore. Sure I will try to ask FLO about it..if not will buy another one.

I've edited my last post to include a USB dongle to connect your laptop to mount to update firmware see what flo say first though. 

[cwis]

4 hours ago, Nojus said:

so,I kept mount for more than 4 hours power ON, reinstalled synscan, but.. nothing happen ,I'm confused, thinking about buying new head..

clearly can see that head have wifi signal,but maybe something wrong with IP or I don't know..

So what happens if you try and connect the the available SynScan network shown above? It looks like the reset worked.

You need to allow the unit to assign you an IP address  - setting 127.0.0.1 will not work.

[cwis]

8 minutes ago, cwis said:

So what happens if you try and connect the the available SynScan network shown above? It looks like the reset worked.

You need to allow the unit to assign you an IP address  - setting 127.0.0.1 will not work.

Oh yes - and turn off mobile data if your device has 3/4/5G ... That caught me out a few times....

[malc-c]

If you google the subject it seems quite common for these mount to be problematical when connecting.  One thing that comes up a lot in the previous post is interference from other wi-fi devices, mainly their home routers.  One person only resolved the connection by taking his mount out of range of his home router, and then was able to connect and go to the settings and change the default channel to something other than 6 

The problem here is that there seems to be confusion over IP addressing and networks.  When powered up the mount acts as a wifi hot spot.  It broadcasts its SSID for other wifi enabled devices to find and connect to.  When you try and connect it will request a password, much the same as any wifi device needs the password to connect to your home router.  When you enter that information it will normally provide an IP address and subnet mask for the device you are using.  This password, IP and subnet has nothing to do with your existing wifi router, and home network.   Once connected most devices can then be set up to connect to your home network if required.  It will typically have settings for you to entre the SSID and password of your wifi network, and then on rebooting the device (the mount in this case) it will then try and connect to the home network much the same was as your phone will when in range.

What's puzzling here is that the OP has performed a reset of the mount, which is showing up as a wifi hotspot on his phone, but he can't connect to it within the 15 minutes of powering the mount on (the SSID doesn't require any password).  Looking at other posts on this forum and other websites it seems that a firmware update, or the purchase of a wi-fi dongle resolves the issue, which seems to stem from the ESSP chipset used in the mounts.  The alternative is to use a handset and plug that into the mount, but that won't help if you wanted to use the PC version of the app and control the mount over your home network.

Updating the firmware presents a problem, a chicken and egg situation as you need a connection to the mount in order to update the firmware to fix a connection issue.... If you purchased a wi-fi dongle then you would use this to handle the connections rather than just update the firmware !  - Alternatively the use of an EQDIR cable would do the same, but then once the firmware has been updated and if that fixes the problem, then you have an EQDIR cable that is of no use to you other than as a backup should the firmware get corrupted once again.

Some of the older posts around 2018/19 seem to suggest it was a compatibility issue with newer phones at the time, namely a Galaxy model phone.  Another reported it worked when he took the head  to the middle of a field and could connect fine, but when he got back home the connection kept failing... even when he turned off wifi on his router, so came to the conclusion interference form his neighbours router was the issue, but as he had no idea who's and you can't aske them to turn off their wifi, he have up and looked for other options.  One guys mount would connect at the end of his road, but not when he got home.  He spent ages walking down the road, connecting and changing channels etc and then testing when he got home...to no avail.

From the past couple of hours I've spent reading up on this it makes me question the suitability of using wifi as a means to control a scope, especially if it's just to use the phone as a substitute for a handset.  I have no more to add that might resolve the OP's situation.  This issue has been around since the first incarnation of these mounts, and doesn't seem to be resolvable.  It's hit and miss, and for every post where someone says "yeah me too" there are posts form people who have had no issues with the same phone, app version and mount... 

 

[StevieDvd]

Try deleting the wifi setting for the synscan_ab43 from your device and scan for it again. The 'remembered' settings can differ from the current settings if anything sugnificant has changed. I had this problem when I reset my router back to factory settings, even though I set the same ssid & password as before none of the devices would connect without being removed & reset.

Can't be sure this is your problem but may be worth a try.

[cwis]

7 minutes ago, malc-c said:

 

The problem here is that there seems to be confusion over IP addressing and networks.  When powered up the mount acts as a wifi hot spot.  It broadcasts its SSID for other wifi enabled devices to find and connect to.  When you try and connect it will request a password, much the same as any wifi device needs the password to connect to your home router.  When you enter that information it will normally provide an IP address and subnet mask for the device you are using.  This password, IP and subnet has nothing to do with your existing wifi router, and home network.  

 

Exactly - except the mount does not ask for a password when in wifi hotspot mode - it allows unauthenticated connections. 

The sequence of events for connection should be:

Power mount on

Turn off data via 3/4/5G if you are connecting with a device that has this functionality

Open wireless networks (on your  device) - you should see the SynScan_whatever network. Connect to it.

This disconnects your current wifi network. You will be assigned a new IP address by the mount.

Fire up The SynScan app. Hit connect (on the app). It will look automatically at the first IP address on the subnet you are on for the mount. 

[malc-c]

2 minutes ago, cwis said:

Exactly - except the mount does not ask for a password when in wifi hotspot mode - it allows unauthenticated connections. 

The sequence of events for connection should be:

 

Yes I subsequently found this out in the course of researching the issue.

Although I don't have the mount in question, I have used ESSP devices to build wi-fil enabled projects, and it works along the same lines as discussed.  Once connected to the "hot spot" you can then go into the settings and make changes for the device to connect to the main network if required.  It will then work like any other device on the same network, in the last project this was a wi-fi enabled pulse proportional thermostat that I use in my incubator (I breed snakes).  It was a case of locating its SSID, connecting, entering the SSID of the home network and login in password, rebooting and then it connected to the home network.  I could then locate the IP address my home router had issues the ESSP device, and entering this in a browser displays the temp and humidity readings form any computer or phone on the same network.  Now form what i've read, once you have connected to the AZ-GTi mount I believe you can change the setting so that the next time it powers up it connects to the home network and will either use an IP address issued by the routers DHCP, or if you know the IP range and format (ie if it use 192.168.1.0 or 192.168.0.1), can set the mount to use a static IP address.  I think this maybe where the confusion of the IP addressing came from ?

[cwis]

3 minutes ago, malc-c said:

Yes I subsequently found this out in the course of researching the issue.

Although I don't have the mount in question, I have used ESSP devices to build wi-fil enabled projects, and it works along the same lines as discussed.  Once connected to the "hot spot" you can then go into the settings and make changes for the device to connect to the main network if required.  It will then work like any other device on the same network, in the last project this was a wi-fi enabled pulse proportional thermostat that I use in my incubator (I breed snakes).  It was a case of locating its SSID, connecting, entering the SSID of the home network and login in password, rebooting and then it connected to the home network.  I could then locate the IP address my home router had issues the ESSP device, and entering this in a browser displays the temp and humidity readings form any computer or phone on the same network.  Now form what i've read, once you have connected to the AZ-GTi mount I believe you can change the setting so that the next time it powers up it connects to the home network and will either use an IP address issued by the routers DHCP, or if you know the IP range and format (ie if it use 192.168.1.0 or 192.168.0.1), can set the mount to use a static IP address.  I think this maybe where the confusion of the IP addressing came from ?

From the original post the connection to the mount SSID had been made, but the IP of the connecting device had been manually changed to 127.0.0.1.

I don't think this issue is anything to do with using station mode or any of the other functionality of the mount - just the issue above. Forgetting the wireless network and reconnecting should fix.

I've got this mount - the instructions could certainly be clearer (much much clearer!) but I've never had any issues connecting to it with a plethora of devices - including a joystick controller I made for it with an ESP32 running Micropython. I found looking at my phone to choose another goto target was destroying my night vision. IoT is certainly a rabbit hole... 

[Nojus]

54 minutes ago, cwis said:

From the original post the connection to the mount SSID had been made, but the IP of the connecting device had been manually changed to 127.0.0.1.

I don't think this issue is anything to do with using station mode or any of the other functionality of the mount - just the issue above. Forgetting the wireless network and reconnecting should fix.

I've got this mount - the instructions could certainly be clearer (much much clearer!) but I've never had any issues connecting to it with a plethora of devices - including a joystick controller I made for it with an ESP32 running Micropython. I found looking at my phone to choose another goto target was destroying my night vision. IoT is certainly a rabbit hole... 

funnies thing is that a month ago it worked with both my tablets android 4 and 10  just fine..

[cwis]

1 hour ago, Nojus said:

funnies thing is that a month ago it worked with both my tablets android 4 and 10  just fine..

True but changing your wifi settings as per your first message shouldn't have broken anything.

Try:

Turn off home router (just to remove it completely from the issue)

"Forget" Synscan_nnn network on one of your tablets (this will remove any remembered settings from previous experimentation) 

Turn on mount

scan for networks on the tablet

connect to Synscan_nnn one if it pops up (if not you have an issue but this should be fine because you did factory reset on the mount)

Then fire up the Synscan application.

 

Fingers crossed!

[Nojus]

I will do it again tomorrow,now at work,but guys how about hand controler use,perhaps this can solve my problem?

 

Edited June 24, 2021 by Nojus

[AstroNebulee]

4 minutes ago, Nojus said:

I will do it again tomorrow,now at work,but guys how about hand controler use,perhaps this can solve my problem?

 

Depends if you can find a hand controller as these are quite expensive. 

 

2 hours ago, cwis said:

Try:

Turn off home router (just to remove it completely from the issue)

"Forget" Synscan_nnn network on one of your tablets (this will remove any remembered settings from previous experimentation) 

Turn on mount

scan for networks on the tablet

connect to Synscan_nnn one if it pops up (if not you have an issue but this should be fine because you did factory reset on the mount)

Then fire up the Synscan application.

Try this suggestion first by @cwis  when your back home from work before doing anything else. 

Edited June 24, 2021 by AstroNebulee

[Nojus]

I did it already ,turned off router and started from begining,but sure will do it again,thanks for support guys..

[AstroNebulee]

4 minutes ago, Nojus said:

I did it already ,turned off router and started from begining,but sure will do it again,thanks for support guys..

In your device (tablet or phone) tap the synscan wifi and choose forget and then turned the mount off andc on and tried reconnecting as crws says. When you next reply coukd you give us a list of what you done and order just so it's refreshed in our heads. If this doesn't work I'd really get the skywatcher dongle and up date your firmware that way. It is strange though as your device is 'seeing' the mounts WiFi hot-spot.