Connecting EQ6 to Starry Night

[froggy]

Hi,

I am trying to get Starry night and Maxim to work together on my EQ6.

So far Nothing seem to happen when I connect SN to the mount but the info seem to think that the mount is connected. I cannot do a goto action.

Any idea how I should connect all those things together.

Thank you for your help.

Vince

[barkis]

Did you follow the manuals instructions on connecting to your computer.? In Starry Night software, you have to choose Celestron Nexstar, or Celestron 8/9/11 GPS in the driver setup menu, then follow the instructions provided by the programme to establish connection to your telescope. Also, you must have gone through the alignment procedure before connection to the computer happens. If you have gone through all the preliminaries, including UNPARK the scope, then perhaps you should start from the beginning again. Are you using a Serial to USB converter?

Also, you might wish to consider EQMOD, which dispenses with your hand controller altogether.

Ron.

[froggy]

Hi ,

Thank you for that but I don't have the Celestron drivers in Starry Night but they are available in Maxim.

I am confused.

Vince

[barkis]

Vince, you have to download them from the Ascom site mate. It's under telescope drivers.

I know it's a bit mind numbing, I struggled along myself at first, and I'm still fumbling about, but I have gone over to the EQMOD system, which is highly rated among imagers all over the planet. So much better control afforded you. Even using a wireless gamepad to control it. Great stuff. Ron.

[froggy]

Hi Ron,

Thank you very much for your help.

This is the way I am trying to go but somehow I can't even get the software to talk to the mount. I have downloaded the drivers for the celestron telescope but once installed I cannot see them in the dropbox in Starry Night. I restarted the PC and still they are not there. I downloaded the drivers for Meade and no problem they are there.

I am totally confused.

Kind regards

Vince

[barkis]

You did say all the indications were that you were connected to the computer Vince, what indications did you have to come to that conclusion.?

Ron

[froggy]

Hi Ron,

The only indication I had was that when I clicked on connect in Starry night it seem to connect with no error message.

The connect button also changed colour I suppose to confirm connection. Obviously I could be totally wrong.

thank you

Vince

[barkis]

Have you checked your Com port number in device manager, and then set the port to that number in the scope setup in Starry Night?

Your serial device will show in Ports Com ports in the device manager. You would have got a failed to connect message I believe if the port could not connect. Check it out anyway, just to be sure.

[MikeP]

Hi Vince,

I use SkyMap with EQMOD and MaximDL because Starry Night runs very poorly on my laptop but I did have it working.

Just had a quick look in my Starry Night directory structure under Program Files\Starry Night Pro Plus 6\Sky Data\Plug-ins, I have three files - AscomFocuser.plug, AscomScope.plug and MaximDLPlugin.plug - do you have those files?

Mike

[barkis]

Hi Vince,

I use SkyMap with EQMOD and MaximDL because Starry Night runs very poorly on my laptop but I did have it working.

Just had a quick look in my Starry Night directory structure under Program Files\Starry Night Pro Plus 6\Sky Data\Plug-ins, I have three files - AscomFocuser.plug, AscomScope.plug and MaximDLPlugin.plug - do you have those files?

Mike

I think you may have nailed it Mike. Vince said he had downloaded the Celestron driver files, but they did not appear in the SN Scope setup. probably because the Ascom scope plugin is missing.

Ron.

[froggy]

Hi,

Thank you for the information.

I have all 3 files in plug-ins.

It is getting stanger and stranger.

In Starry Night when I select Configure I get the following options:

Ascom Dome Control

EQMOD ASCOM EQ5/6

EQMOD ASCOM Simulator

Generic Hub

Meade LX200 GPS/R (Which I added)

Pipe Diagnostic Tool

Simulator

Still I don't know what I am doing wrong.

Vince

[MikeP]

Vince,

Are you are simply trying to control your scope with Starry Night or are you trying to control it with Maxim?

You must have installed ASCOM 5 and EQMOD for the two EQMOD options to appear when you click Configuration in Starry Night, so to start with select the EQMOD ASCOM simulator. This should work whether your mount is connected or not.

Select EQMOD ASCOM simulator and then OK. Now click Connect, you should get two new windows appearing on top.

Try that and let me know what you get.

Mike

[dgs]

Hi,

I had this problem six months ago. Starry Night support were extremely helpful. In my case it was due to this:

This is due to an incompatibility between newer versions of Starry Night and older versions of Quicktime. If you have Starry Night 6, the problem can be fixed by updating to version 6.2.3:

http://www.starrynight.com/support/softwareupdates/

If you have Starry Night 5.8.2 or earlier, you will need to revert to an earlier version of Quicktime. We recommend 7.3.1.

First, remove Quicktime 7.4.x/7.5.x by clicking on Start -> Programs -> Quicktime and clicking the QuickTime uninstaller. (Do not use the Add/Remove Programs utility in your Control Panel, as it does not completely uninstall QuickTime.)

You should then install version 7.3.1, which you can download from:

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime731forwindows.html

Hope that helps,

David

[froggy]

Hi Mike,

I have done as you suggest and SN connected and the EQMod window open.

So far so good but I cannot select a star for the alignment.

Thank you

Vince

[barkis]

I think the solution to your problem is getting closer Vince,

However, you should still have the Celestron Scopes drivers in the scope drop down box under Starry Night's configure tab.

Heres the link to Ascom's download area for the drivers you need in there.

http://ascom-standards.org/Downloads/ScopeDrivers.htm

[MikeP]

OK Vince,

With the simulator selected, simply locate a star on the Starry Night window and right click it - you should get a menu appearing where the first entry is "Slew To xxxxx" where xxxx is the star you selected. Click it and then look at the simulator window - it should show "the mount" slewing to that star.

Mike

[froggy]

Hi

I downloaded the celestron drivers from EQMOD and installed them but they sre still not showing in the dropdown box.

I selected a star as advised and I click slew to and it would seem that the simulator is ahowing that the scope has moved. Unfortunately when the scope is moving the simulator windows disapear from the screen.

many thanks

Vince

[MikeP]

Sounds like SN, EQMOD and ASCOM are working.

How do you connect your computer to your mount? Is it via a USB -> serial connection to your handset?

Mike

[froggy]

Hi,

I connect the computer to the handset using a usb to serial converter from Astronomiser.

This set up works with Maxim.

Many thanks

Vince

[MikeP]

If you have your computer connected to your laptop, go back to Configure and select EQMOD ASCOM EQ5/6 and click on Properties.

Fill in the Port, Baud rate, Timeout and Retry (you can fill in your lat and long later) and clock on OK. Make sure the port is the one your mount is connected to.

Once you have finished Configuration, click on Connect ans see if it will connect - then try the right clicking on a star.

Mike

PS I use the Astronomiser USB - serial converter too.

[barkis]

Vince, did you check your version of Quicktime as Dave (DGS) suggested. It is a fact that Starry Night has a problem with one version, and it causes mayhem, so It's worth reading his post and making sure.

When you downloaded version 5 of the Ascom platform, did you uninstall version 4.1, or did you install over the top of 4.1.?

Do you live in France by the way. I'm making the assumption by your name, and also I visited your website. Some fine images on there.

Ron.

[froggy]

Hi Mike,

Many thanks for all the information and I will go in the observatory later tonight when the rain stop and I will try it. Hopefully it will work. Thanks again.

Hi Ron,

I didn't check the version of Quicktime yet but I will and I will update.

I can't remember what I did when I installed ASCOM. Would this affect the celestron driver not being visible in the drop box. I still am confused on this one. If I did installed it over an older version do I need to uninstalled and reinstalled?

Following Mike's instruction it would seem that the EQMOD is working but still no celestron option.

As you guessed correctly yes I live in France in the middle of nowhere with some nice skies. Unfortunately the weather is not always with me.

Thank you for your help.

Vince

[barkis]

When you downloaded version 5, you had to leave v 4.1 in place and install v5 over the top of it.

I'm sure you will get it working OK. It can be a long process getting to the root of a problem over the forum. It is difficult to keep a continuity. If you don't manage to sort it, I will let MikeP continue to solve the problem. He has more knowledge of the system than I.

And if you go the Eq mod route, then he certainly is the expert.

Good luck.

Ron.

[steppenwolf]

I am a little confused by one aspect of this. From what I can see, you are using EQMod so there is NO need for you to have the Celestron drivers in place at all as you will be connecting to the 'scope via ASCOM and the ASCOM EQMod driver.

Something to try:-

Go to the directory that stores the EQMod downloads and double click on EQMOD.EXE This will come up with an error message stating that it is an ASCOM driver and cannot be run 'standalone' ! This is quite rue but for some reason this procedure registers the EQMod driver with ASCOM beautifully. This also works with the EQMod Simulator if that doesn't appear in the ASCOM chooser drop down.

Next, go to Maxim DL and select the telescope control panel and choose 'POTH' as your telescope. Now configure POTH to use the EQMod driver (Options - Setup - Choose 'Scope). Now see if MaximDL will control the mount.

Assuming that all is well with MaximDL, turn to Starry Night and configure it using the ASCOM option to also point to 'POTH'. Both MaximDL and Starry Night should now have combined access to the mount and will freely share data from the mount and both will be able to control it - incredibly handy too!

Doing this will confirm at all times that the mount is working using ASCOM/EQMod so you will be able to fault-find Starry Night more easily.