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Problem with Celestron StarSense Hand Controller


CroftWeatherman

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Hi, My StarSense hand controller has developed a problem and I wonder if anyone else has encountered this.

After powering up and successfully finding all the correct elements, it all work fine until I go to change the motor speed.

As soon as I press Motor Speed button, followed by any numbered button, the hand controller freezes and I have to turn off and back on, very annoying 🙂

As you can see in the photo some very odd things appear on the second line of the display

I have tried factory reset and updating the firmware and it has not helped.

Any thoughts?

Thanks 

 

SSHC.jpg

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Whats interesting is that the two corrupted segments of the LCD  are displaying the same pattern of pixels., however I doubt that corrupted segments of a LCD would be the cause of the problem.  The fact you also updated the firmware and that went OK would suggest the processor(s) is (are) running OK , but without knowing how exactly the firmware runs when the fault happens it's impossible to tell if the issue is a result of a hardware issue with the motor drive chips.  Does the mount track, or does the mount advanced at the default speed when the directional buttons are pressed ?

How old is the scope / mount / handset ? 

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3 hours ago, CroftWeatherman said:

Any thoughts?

Thanks 

 

 

You could try powering up without the StarSense camera plugged in, then see if you can change motor speed.

Then power up again with camera plugged in again.

Also from the Manual:

The hand controller has a “double button” feature that allows you to instantly speed up the motors without having to choose a speed rate° Simply press the arrow button for the direction that you want to move the telescope° While holding that button down, press the opposite directional button° This will increase the speed to the maximum slew rate° When using the UP and DOWN buttons on the hand control.

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Hi Mick, very kind of you to reply, thanks.

The StarSense Hand Controller requires the camera, just scrolls "Waiting for camera" if not plugged in.

Even so I can ignore that message and drive the scope using the cursor buttons, but it still freezes when I go to change the motor speed.

It starts at maximum speed and I need to slow it down, otherwise things move far too quickly, Oh was that Jupiter?

I should say it all works fine if I totally ignore the Hand Controller and use the Sky Portal app, so its something wrong with the Hand Controller.

I am guessing its gone wrong and that I will need to buy a new one, which is an expensive pain at around £160!

So wanted to see if anyone else had had this issue and knew of a fix 🙂

Also anyone care to suggest a good place to buy a new StarSense Hand Controller from in the UK?

Thanks 

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Hi Croft, I know you said you have tried factory reset, but did you try powering up holding down the celestron key (bottom left).

Might help, also could be a loose cable.

StarSense Hand Controller from in the UK:

https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/celestron-starsense-hand-control-usb.html 

£185.00 😡

 

Edited by Mick H
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14 minutes ago, CroftWeatherman said:

Hi Mick, when I power up whilst holing the Celestron button I get into the screen that says " BOOT LOADER Serial Debug or Forced" I think this is the screen I get when I want to do a CFM update

 

Sorry I meant the 0 key (bottom middle key), also how are you powering the scope?

Edited by Mick H
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I think to run CFM you hold down the Celestron button and the number 7 / menu buttons whilst powering up.

Currently CFM tells me I have this 

StarSense HC   on Link: SERIAL using portal: COM4
Boot Version = 3.4.2187

Evolution   on Link: PTE_HC using portal: Motor Controller
App version = 7.17.98  

StarSense Accessory Camera   on Link: PTE_HC using portal: SSA camera
App version = 1.2.13343  

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Croft--I had this exact same issue with my SS HC freezing and displaying strange symbols when trying to change the motor rate.  Everything up to pressing those keys seems to work normally and the mount (AVX) is still controllable using CWPI even with the HC in the frozen state.

I reported the problem to Celestron a couple of weeks ago and they responded that they were working on a SS HC firmware update that should fix this issue.  Today I received a follow up email stating that the new HC firmware (1.22.22307) had been released and could be installed via CFM.

I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but will try it and report back.

Regards,

Jeff

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That sounds excellent. I have been speaking with the tech team at Celestron UK and USA and they have had my handset for a couple of weeks now and managed to reproduce the error.

They told me they would release a firmware update and it sounds as if they have.

Celestron UK will do the update and if it passes tests send me back my HC, which will be nice.

Maybe I have managed to help a number of people beyond just myself, so that's excellent 🙂 

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22 hours ago, CroftWeatherman said:

That sounds excellent. I have been speaking with the tech team at Celestron UK and USA and they have had my handset for a couple of weeks now and managed to reproduce the error.

They told me they would release a firmware update and it sounds as if they have.

Celestron UK will do the update and if it passes tests send me back my HC, which will be nice.

Maybe I have managed to help a number of people beyond just myself, so that's excellent 🙂 

Pleased to hear you guys have had a positive outcome.  Brownie point to Celestron as well for them to recognise a bug in the firmware and hopefully an update will be made available for others to download.

"Maybe I have managed to help a number of people beyond just myself" - by documenting your experience here and the result you most certainly have done as both you and the rest of the community can link to this thread or instruct those affected to update their handset firmware.

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