Wifi gimbal or specific cable for computer control?

[Nigella Bryant]

Hi all, this has probably been asked before but what would be best to buy for computer control of a mount. Wifi gimbal thingy or a specific cable from mount to computer? 

Mount will be housed in a dome run off mains electric. Many thanks in anticipation of replies.

[Dr_Ju_ju]

I personally never use wifi for anything other than 'toys' i.e. phones & other devices that can tolerate a disconnection in service etc.

I always go for the wired connection, for reliability and easier fault finding if things are misbehaving, especially as everything is 'local' and mains powered, so why introduce something else to give you a headache.... 

[Nigella Bryant]

7 minutes ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

I personally never use wifi for anything other than 'toys' i.e. phones & other devices that can tolerate a disconnection in service etc.

I always go for the wired connection, for reliability and easier fault finding if things are misbehaving, especially as everything is 'local' and mains powered, so why introduce something else to give you a headache.... 

Thanks, that was my thinking. I'd never used wifi on a mount before so was just curious which way to go with the new one. I'll order the cable then. 

Much appreciated. 

[malc-c]

Personally, wired set up every time.  I have a cat 5 cable running to the observatory which also has mains power.  I have a windows PC in the warm room (now becoming more store room !) used for controlling the scope via an hard wired EQDIR cable.  Having the observatory PC on the network allows me to connect to it from the main PC in the house via remote desktop connection if I want to run an imaging session without getting cold

[Nigella Bryant]

29 minutes ago, malc-c said:

Personally, wired set up every time.  I have a cat 5 cable running to the observatory which also has mains power.  I have a windows PC in the warm room (now becoming more store room !) used for controlling the scope via an hard wired EQDIR cable.  Having the observatory PC on the network allows me to connect to it from the main PC in the house via remote desktop connection if I want to run an imaging session without getting cold

Hiya, yes, I've got cat 5 too so hopefully when I've set everything up I'll be able to remote connect from the house. 

[Dr_Ju_ju]

to make it easier to have multiple computers in the obsy, I'd recommend getting a gigabit network switch e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-Ethernet-Unmanaged-Internet-Splitter/dp/B07PYSNSDD , for more money, there are even some that have the power over ethernet capability e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-8-Port-Gigabit-Ethernet-Unmanaged/dp/B017LWQIZA  these can be useful for driving external cameras / weather stations etc.

[Nigella Bryant]

5 minutes ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

to make it easier to have multiple computers in the obsy, I'd recommend getting a gigabit network switch e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-Ethernet-Unmanaged-Internet-Splitter/dp/B07PYSNSDD , for more money, there are even some that have the power over ethernet capability e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-8-Port-Gigabit-Ethernet-Unmanaged/dp/B017LWQIZA  these can be useful for driving external cameras / weather stations etc.

Thanks, I've got a powdered Ethernet network switch too, lol. Just need to get it all up and running. The cat5 is already installed in the obsy. 

[Nugs]

9 minutes ago, Nigella Bryant said:

Thanks, I've got a powdered Ethernet network switch too, lol. Just need to get it all up and running. The cat5 is already installed in the obsy. 

Does 'powdering' your network switch make it any better for astro uses? 😇

[Nigella Bryant]

24 minutes ago, Nugs said:

Does 'powdering' your network switch make it any better for astro uses? 😇

Don't know but it sounds 😎, lol.