Sky safari 6 pro help

[Neil H]

Hi everyone , if this is in the wrong section can the mod move it , ok I got the Sky watcher Wi-Fi dongle and was going to use sky safari 6 pro  on my Samsung galaxy S6 , I downloaded from Google play last night it said there are 18 data files to download and it started to download 14 hours later still not done , on cloudy nights the writer of the programme said to uninstall and reinstall still not working , has any one on here got any ideas before I got for a refund 

I have stellariaum on my phone will this work ok to operate the scope ok ?

I also have the synscan  app does this have the same into as the hand set ?

[Avocette]

Perhaps you would be better off asking for help on the SkySafari community forum directly.

https://support.simulationcurriculum.com/hc/en-us/community/topics/115000039847-SkySafari-Android-Apps

[wookie1965]

Perhaps someone on here maybe has had the same problem may have the answer and could post it here rather than waiting for a reply from support@ simulationcurriculum. 

But yes write the problem on the support site as well just in case no one has a reply. 

[faulksy]

your phone might be to old ?

[Jiggy 67]

15 minutes ago, faulksy said:

your phone might be to old ?

Yeh, given that the S6 is 7 years old, that could be the problem 

[Neil H]

Yeah I think we worked out it's a memory problem  

[iapa]

SkySafari for Android requires Android version 4.0 or later, running on an Android phone or table with a 1 GHz or faster processor. It may run on slower devices, but performance will be extremely sluggish.

SkySafari requires a Google Play account, and will not run on devices which do not have Google Play access.

https://skysafariastronomy.com/support/faq/skysafari_android.html

there is also a reference to internal/external memory - downloads go to internal only, not configurable.
 

[Neil H]

Thanks for the info I will have a look at a tablet what sort of spec would you say I need sorry in thick mode today 

Edited January 8, 2022 by Neil H

[cwis]

I use SS6 Pro on an S6 - it runs fine but the downloads/updates of files if you've not started it for a while take AGES. I just fired it up a few times and closed it down and eventually it shows fewer files to download and the process completes. Make sure you're on your Wifi - some of the files are HUGE and look out for alerts and confirmation boxes from the google store app etc as this can hang the process. One dialog box in particular I remember I had to answer but it only showed on the status bar - it didn't pop up. I forget what it was asking - sorry! 

Having said that: my phone ONLY has SS6 and SynScan on it (it's an old phone I use just for astro stuff) so if you've less storage space available maybe it will run even slower..

If you persist with the S6 fire up SS6 every week or so to let it update - even if it's cloudy!

[Gfamily]

I read somewhere that SS6 Pro had about 1.9Gb of data to download, and it has to go in main storage (it can't download to an SD card).

I have SS6 Plus, and this seems to be about half the size of Pro - but it can also be used to control Synscan devices.

An alternative app for this is Stellarium Plus, but I think I prefer SS6+

[Neil H]

I do have stellariaum plus so will use that for now , the best route may be a second hand smart phone I can get a galaxy 8+ for about 160  

[Gfamily]

As you may be aware, the battery optimisation may need to be disabled against the Synscan App - otherwise it stops controlling the mount when you swap from using Synscan to Stellarium. 

Edited January 8, 2022 by Gfamily

[Neil H]

No I didn't thanks for the heads up 

[happy-kat]

The synscan 4 plus app by skywatcher works very well on this samsung note 4 to control a mount via the wifi dongle. I'm also using skysafri 4 plus and was able to connect to the mount as well. Maybe it's working as I'm using version 4 of the app, I don't know.

Edited January 9, 2022 by happy-kat
checked again and it was plus and not pro

[Neil H]

Hi thanks for info I think my phone memory is tiny and it won't load , so I am looking at a tablet just to run telescope and astronomy apps , I think this one may be a good bet 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TECLAST-P20HD-Processor-Acceleration-1920x1200/dp/B08BZL81QZ/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2LM59LBBH2VH2&keywords=android+tablets+10+inch&qid=1641722323&s=computers&sprefix=Android%2Ccomputers%2C209&sr=1-3

[happy-kat]

I checked again and it is the Plus version I use and not Pro. I haven't followed tablets enough to comment on that one, though for using I think something to look out for would be separate power from micro USB.

[Dakuwaqa]

Could someone explain to me who sky safari pro is aimed at?

If you had a goto mount (AZ Gti) is there anything you’d gain from the app? 

[happy-kat]

From memory it had a much larger database, but I am happy with Plus version and it can control my virtuoso mount. For me personally I anticipate the pair will make set up easier as I can't see stars to easy to choose for alignment from light pollution. Hope to test this very soon.

[Neil H]

Hi yes has a really big data base , also gives you what's best targets for the night your out , you can also add your own list of targets to work through plus it can link to your telescope so no hand set is needed

[Doasqa]

Do you have enough storage on your gone to download the files?

[Starwatcher2001]

There's a bug in the latest version of Sky Safari Pro (6.8.6.14 - to do with it continually looping whentrying to download files). It's also biting me as I needed a re-install and can no longer load it on a tablet that was running it previously.

They are working on a fix:

https://support.simulationcurriculum.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/4413130579991

 

 

Edited January 23, 2022 by Starwatcher2001

[Zermelo]

On 09/01/2022 at 18:12, Dakuwaqa said:

Could someone explain to me who sky safari pro is aimed at?

If you had a goto mount (AZ Gti) is there anything you’d gain from the app? 

There's a comparison of features for the different versions here. (scroll down and click on the button)

[Neil H]

Hi guys I did uninstall and reinstall then loaded ok but still says Polaris ok but any other star in the plough is a no go due to out of altitude default is 75% I tried 60% which as low as it will go and 90%  still no joy 

Giving up now every night last week I tried things but still no joy