Sharpcap 4 and Celestron Nexstar mounts

[Cosmic Geoff]

I hope this is the best section for asking this question. I have recently acquired a more recent and powerful laptop, mostly for astro use, and have been installing and commissioning various bits of software.  Sharpcap 4, I discovered, includes platesolving and re-positioning.  The platesolving (aided by an i5 processor) works great with ASPS, but I am struggling to connect Sharpcap to a Nexstar mount.

The Sharpcap instructions do not include the words "Celestron" or "Nexstar" and mention the need to install the ASCOM platform.  I have ASCOM installed, but regardless I cannot figure out how to make the connection work.

I know that I do NOT need ASCOM to connect Stellarium or Nexstar Observer List to a Nexstar mount, but I do need it to connect Stellarium to a Skywatcher Synscan mount (I never installed ASCOM till I tried out my Synscan mount with the old laptop).

I have the serial cable and USB/Serial cable I used to connect the mounts to the old laptop, and the USB/serial has the driver installed.

I have not tried connecting the new laptop to the Synscan mount yet...

Edited October 18, 2021 by Cosmic Geoff

[Cornelius Varley]

You also need the Celestron Unified Ascom mount drivers Telescope/Mount Drivers (ascom-standards.org)

[Cosmic Geoff]

20 hours ago, Cornelius Varley said:

You also need the Celestron Unified Ascom mount drivers Telescope/Mount Drivers (ascom-standards.org)

Thanks. I installed this driver, and "Celestron" now appears in the relevant Sharpcap setup menu. I await a clear night so I can proceed to the next stage of testing and debugging.

[01012f]

On 19/10/2021 at 09:57, Cosmic Geoff said:

I await a clear night so I can proceed to the next stage of testing and debugging.

Good luck 👍

Let us know how you get on

[Cosmic Geoff]

Finally got a clear night so I could try it out.  Connected up a laptop, Startravel, camera, etc on the SLT Celestron mount and once I checked the settings it all worked.  The Goto put M57 in the camera field, and a Platesolve & Realign put M57 dead centre.  Same with M31 - very impressive.

I took everything down and re-erected it on the EQ-5 Synscan mount, selecting Sky-watcher Telescope in the setup. This also worked, centering M57 and M31 impressively, but it struggled with M52, doing a meridian swap and not getting within 3 degrees of the target.   The polar align and GoTo align were both very bad (it would not place the telescope anywhere near Jupiter) but the Platesolve & Realign still worked.

The All Star Plate Solve works quickly with my newer laptop, and I have still to try the ASTAP option.