HELP - CELESTRON STARSENSE 8 DOB - PROBLEM IN USING THE APP TO SET UP.

[paulastro]

I have a problem using my Galaxy A52s 5G that prevents me setting up the app.  When I get to the two stages on the screens below, as you can see, they remain blank screens. Of course this means it can't be set up. I've uninstalled and re-installed the app, but this made no difference.  The only thing I can think of is that there is some setting on the phone, or the app responsible, but I've not found anything.

I should also say that in desparation I loaded the app onto my older Galaxy A40, and it seems to work fine!  It failed to find it's position on the one night I tried it out, but it was rather cloudy and murky, which was probably me being over optimistic.

Anyone any ideas?

 

 

[DaveL59]

Doesn't seem to be listed in the supported phones but your A40 is.

StarSense Explorer Smartphone Compatibility (simcur.com)

I tried to be cute and loaded a newer android onto my old Note-3 and while the phone worked fine the starsense app didn't like it, no camera image being one of the effects. I assume you are running the regular Sammy OS release rather than running a mod'd one from XDA or elsewhere and I'd expect the Celestron app will only have been verified against the OEM OS release so it probably ain't worth doing otherwise.

PS: ya did remove the big black cover off the cradle? 😉 

Edited June 29, 2022 by DaveL59

[JeffC]

If you are trying to set up at night, try enabling the "night mode" box at the bottom of the screen. 

[paulastro]

5 hours ago, DaveL59 said:

Doesn't seem to be listed in the supported phones but your A40 is.

StarSense Explorer Smartphone Compatibility (simcur.com)

I tried to be cute and loaded a newer android onto my old Note-3 and while the phone worked fine the starsense app didn't like it, no camera image being one of the effects. I assume you are running the regular Sammy OS release rather than running a mod'd one from XDA or elsewhere and I'd expect the Celestron app will only have been verified against the OEM OS release so it probably ain't worth doing otherwise.

PS: ya did remove the big black cover off the cradle? 😉 

Many thanks Dave.  I knew it wasn't on the list, but I thought any recent phones were supposed to work.  I'm afraid I've no idea about releases including Sammy OS can I check?  From what you've said, is there a possible solution, or does it mean the A 52s probably won't work with Starsense?

I actually did manage to remove the cradle cover 😊.

Many thanks.

 

[paulastro]

3 hours ago, JeffC said:

If you are trying to set up at night, try enabling the "night mode" box at the bottom of the screen. 

Many thanks Jeff, I'll give that a go as soon as I have some clear sky.

[DaveL59]

5 minutes ago, paulastro said:

Many thanks Dave.  I knew it wasn't on the list, but I thought any recent phones were supposed to work.  I'm afraid I've no idea about releases including Sammy OS can I check?  From what you've said, is there a possible solution, or does it mean the A 52s probably won't work with Starsense?

I actually did manage to remove the cradle cover 😊.

Many thanks.

 

in theory it may work but as they've not tested then its pot luck unfortunately. Could be down to the camera installed or some other feature that's not present in the model you used. Worth pinging Celestron support tho to see if they can advise and maybe get it added to their supported list, maybe with the next update.

 

[paulastro]

3 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

in theory it may work but as they've not tested then its pot luck unfortunately. Could be down to the camera installed or some other feature that's not present in the model you used. Worth pinging Celestron support tho to see if they can advise and maybe get it added to their supported list, maybe with the next update.

 

Many thanks for getting back to me so quickly Dave, I'll do as you suggest.

Thanks again.

[Astro_Dad]

This is frustrating. I can’t easily advise as using iOS and not overly familiar with Android. Just checked though - is the A52 5G listed as A526B…?

 

Seems odd it won’t work if the basic criteria are met?

Edited June 29, 2022 by Astro_Dad

[paulastro]

Hi Andrew.  I've not seen mention of the A562B.  Perhaps the phone has another name in the USA, as many cameras have?  When I entered my code when I installed it, it indicated the camera was supported.

I'll see if anyone else comes up with any ideas, and I've just sent a message to FLO for advice.  At least it's looking as if it's all set up on the A40 ok,  -  just waiting for a clear night to see if it works in practice.

I would like the newer phone  to work though, it's a zillion times quicker and the screen is much clearer.

Thanks again Andrew.

Edited June 29, 2022 by paulastro

[DaveL59]

The SM-A526... is the makers full designation for the phone, you should see that come up when you power it up or in settings -> about phone under model number. There's a number of sub-models depending on the market they were sold into which determine specifics around firmware, radio frequencies, supported carriers etc. 

My phone, Galaxy Note 10+ 5G is also known as the SM-N976B for example.

Does look as it it may be supported then, I wonder if you make changes to the camera settings (pro mode etc) if that'd affect how Starsense can access/control it?

Edited June 29, 2022 by DaveL59

[paulastro]

Many thanks David, I'll look into the camera settings and see if I can jump start it into life !

[paulastro]

Well, things haven't got any better I'm afraid.  The problems with both cameras persist when trying to use the StarSense on the dob.

Last night I had some Starlight and tried the A40 again, and it still could not find the telescopes position. I tried many times and there were plenty of stars visible unlike in my first attempt..  It's all very frustrating as it should be so easy.  

The problem with the A52s also persist, the sane as my first post.

I contacted Grant at FLO, and he said it would be better if I contacted Celestron myself as they will probably need to ask me more questions, which  is fair enough.  I'll be doing this in the next couple of days.

 

[DaveL59]

might be worth trying a re-install of the app and see if that makes a difference.

[markse68]

45 minutes ago, paulastro said:

Last night I had some Starlight and tried the A40 again, and it still could not find the telescopes position. I tried many times and there were plenty of stars visible unlike in my first attempt..  It's all very frustrating as it should be so easy.

Hi Paul, in my light polluted sky I have to point it upward near zenith initially for it to find position and then it’s usually fine if transparency is ok going down towards the horizon. Did you try it pointing upward and it still failed?

Mark

[paulastro]

1 hour ago, markse68 said:

Hi Paul, in my light polluted sky I have to point it upward near zenith initially for it to find position and then it’s usually fine if transparency is ok going down towards the horizon. Did you try it pointing upward and it still failed?

Mark

Many thanks  Mark.  I did point it to the zenith and it made no difference.  Thanks anyway.

[paulastro]

1 hour ago, DaveL59 said:

might be worth trying a re-install of the app and see if that makes a difference.

Thanks Dave,  I did that for the A52s and it made no difference for that paticular problem.  Haven't done it with the A40, I'm a bit concerned that each  installtion  counts as on of the five installations you are allowed?

[DaveL59]

1 minute ago, paulastro said:

Thanks Dave,  I did that for the A52s and it made no difference for that paticular problem.  Haven't done it with the A40, I'm a bit concerned that each  installtion  counts as on of the five installations you are allowed?

I think you can re-install on a device that is registered with no issues, I did that with mine when I heard they'd updated the object database as I hadn't seen it auto-update. It didn't ask for the registration code as it already had that in registry I expect so I doubt it gets counted. Pity there's no option for us to manage our registered devices other than going to Celestron support, something they should maybe have thought to offer.

How's the light levels in the area you're trying this out in? If there's lots of stray light that can hit the mirror then that would affect the ability to grab star images. Have you taken a look on the phone files to see if it has anything in the logs or saved images? You enable that in the starsense menu under location tho can't remember where it'd store them. I expect support would want you to do that anyway to see what the app is reporting.

[paulastro]

20 hours ago, DaveL59 said:

I think you can re-install on a device that is registered with no issues, I did that with mine when I heard they'd updated the object database as I hadn't seen it auto-update. It didn't ask for the registration code as it already had that in registry I expect so I doubt it gets counted. Pity there's no option for us to manage our registered devices other than going to Celestron support, something they should maybe have thought to offer.

How's the light levels in the area you're trying this out in? If there's lots of stray light that can hit the mirror then that would affect the ability to grab star images. Have you taken a look on the phone files to see if it has anything in the logs or saved images? You enable that in the starsense menu under location tho can't remember where it'd store them. I expect support would want you to do that anyway to see what the app is reporting.

Hi Dave.

Many thanks to getting back to me again, it's very kind of you.  Thank you for the information on re- installing, that's put my mind at rest.

The light levels are fairly good - that is  this shouldn't be a problem.  If it was, there would be many people having problems.

No, I haven't had a look at the phone files.  I'll try a d locate them and take a look.

Many thanks again for your support Dave.

Best regards, Paul

[DaveL59]

23 minutes ago, paulastro said:

Hi Dave.

Many thanks to getting back to me again, it's very kind of you.  Thank you for the information on re- installing, that's put my mind at rest.

The light levels are fairly good - that is  this shouldn't be a problem.  If it was, there would be many people having problems.

No, I haven't had a look at the phone files.  I'll try a d locate them and take a look.

Many thanks again for your support Dave.

Best regards, Paul

no worries Paul, its worth getting it to work as it is surprisingly good in use. This post may help you locate the log files when you have that enabled:

 

and this post further in the same thread

 

Edited July 4, 2022 by DaveL59

[paulastro]

Thanks Dave, I'll take a look.

Regards, Paul

[paulastro]

Possibly a breakthrough with the A52s, or at least some degree of optimism.  I was fiddling around with this phone, checking permissions etc and to my amazement, both the 'centre camera over mirror' and 'drag the image to the crosshair screen' showed the pic from the phone!  I couldn't believe it.  Several times over a few minutes  they worked as they should.  However it then stopped working and they were as my original post - no camera pic.  I then tried many times and couldn't get it to work again.

I though about it, and remembered when the camera pic doesn't show in the first of these screens, a green light flickers on for about a second.  It seemed as if the camera was 'trying' to come on. So with no real expectarions I went to my phone app and switched it on. Back to Starsense and the picture was back on these two screens, along with a steady green light in the top right hand corner!  Now this may have been a coincidence, I didn't wait to find out.

Went outside and quickly set the dob up, centred the mirror image and aligned the camera pic on the crosshairs to the view through the telescopes.  So it's all aligned ready to try on the night sky I won't go near the app gain until its clear - which could be a few days.

It would seem strange that actually turning the camera on would make it  work. It feels rather like jump starting a car rather than high tech!

Hope it's clear soon!

[Astro_Dad]

23 minutes ago, paulastro said:

Possibly a breakthrough with the A52s, or at least some degree of optimism.  I was fiddling around with this phone, checking permissions etc and to my amazement, both the 'centre camera over mirror' and 'drag the image to the crosshair screen' showed the pic from the phone!  I couldn't believe it.  Several times over a few minutes  they worked as they should.  However it then stopped working and they were as my original post - no camera pic.  I then tried many times and couldn't get it to work again.

I though about it, and remembered when the camera pic doesn't show in the first of these screens, a green light flickers on for about a second.  It seemed as if the camera was 'trying' to come on. So with no real expectarions I went to my phone app and switched it on. Back to Starsense and the picture was back on these two screens, along with a steady green light in the top right hand corner!  Now this may have been a coincidence, I didn't wait to find out.

Went outside and quickly set the dob up, centred the mirror image and aligned the camera pic on the crosshairs to the view through the telescopes.  So it's all aligned ready to try on the night sky I won't go near the app gain until its clear - which could be a few days.

It would seem strange that actually turning the camera on would make it  work. It feels rather like jump starting a car rather than high tech!

Hope it's clear soon!

A breakthrough indeed! Fingers crossed for more progress tonight. 

[paulastro]

Thanks Andrew, though I'm not  so optimistic re tonight's  weather.  From midnight to 4am, AccuWeather indicate 45% cloud cover.  Fine if it means there's a large clear patch of 55%, but it's quite possible it will be a covering of patchy cloud such that the StarSense won't work anyway 😁. Mind you, I'll still be checking on it 😊.

[Astro_Dad]

@paulastro have you managed a first light ? I wanted to test the ability of the StarSense last night even though the conditions were quite poor - interesting to note that it worked brilliantly with fairly high cloud cover and only 3-4 naked eye visible - I hope you’ve managed to test and the phones are playing ball!

Andrew

[paulastro]

Thanks Andrew.  No, it was sunny all day, and then clouded up before it was dark enough to try it out.  Will try again as soon as there's a chance and report back.  I can't try both phones on the same night as they require to be aligned with the telescope beforehand of course in daytime.