Connecting an EQ3Pro mount to PC/laptop with EQDIR FTi cable

[2cool4school]

Hello i got an EQ3 Pro mount and i just go my EQDir USB cable . I am unable to connect my scope to Stellarium or N.I.N.A .

 

 

 

I start off by picking my com port (in my case it is COM port 4) after which i i connect my mount to EQMOD and i am also able to control/slew it from the EQMOD's control panel. Now i tried to set up Stellarium with EQMOD following this guide "https://www.youtube....h?v=mYTD7RuF3x8" but whenever i click on connect i get a pop up window from EQMOD saying "port not available" .

 

 

 

I also tried connecting my scope to N.I.N.A but as soon as i press the connect icon it says "Telescope Connection Lost" .

 

Also one thing i noticed was no matter to which USB i plugged in this cable it always displayed it in my Device Manager as "COM port 4" .Another thing i noticed was that under the ports expandable tab mine was displayed as "COM port 4 " and i've noticed that on a lot of other people the connection was named something like "Prolific USB COM 4" .

I am using windows 10 and i read that there might be a problem with the supported drivers.

https://pegasusastro.com/products/eqdir-usb-stick-for-eqmod/

This is the cable i am using to connect my Skywatcher Synscan  module  to my PC.

Thanks.

Edited June 10, 2023 by 2cool4school

[malc-c]

If you can open EQMOD, and manually slew the mount using the NSWE buttons on the EQMOD GUI then physical connection and communications are fine and there is nothing wrong with the hardware.  In order for EQMOD to communicate the port has to be set to 9600 baud in the properties tab, which is default and confirmed as you can make the mount move as mentioned above.   The reference to Prolific is the chipset used to convert USB to TTL serial.  Your cable uses FTDI which is natively supported in windows.  Device manage will allocate a port number for that cable, and it won't matter what USB port you use it will always give the device the same com port.

I presume you have installed ASCOM 6.x on the PC.  https://ascom-standards.org/Downloads/Index.htm  This is needed to allow astro applications to talk to each other including EQMOD and whatever planetary application you use to select the targets 

[2cool4school]

Yes i have the latest ASCOM driver installed.

Today i managed to get N.I.N.A to work with EQMOD after changing some of the options in EQMOD but after i disconnected and tried again to see if it would work i got the same error saying that the connection was lost.   

.__.

[malc-c]

What's the spec of the computer are you using? -  If you power up the computer with the mount powered on and the EQDIR cable connected, then run the attacked application it will confirm if the communications between PC and mount is fine.  No need to install, just run the exe.  Select the com port and click connect.  The software interrogates the mount by sending raw commands in the Synta protocol, eg :e1 to obtain the firmware version from the processors.  Once run you can click the convert log button and save the file as a text file if needed.

If you get errors then the issue could be the PC, the EQDIR cable or the mount.  The only way to narrow it down is to use a different windows PC, purchase a new EQDIR cable from a different retailer (such as First Light Optics or Rother Valley Optics) and if they proves the case then return the original back to the retailer for a refund.  If after trying different computers and EQDIR cables the problem still occurs then it could point toward the mount being faulty.

When you get these errors is the com port still listed under device manager ?

One other thing, are you connecting anything else like large format imaging cameras to the same machine - if so try removing them so that only the EQDIR cable is connected.  Connecting through hubs can also lead to similar issues.

SyntaTester.zip

[2cool4school]

Hey i am using Windows 10

GPU RX vega 10 8GB

CPU Ryzen 3 2200G

for RAM i got 2 sticks of 8GB @ 2666Mhz

c4.rar

 

I just tested it again in N.I.N.A and i was able to reconnect the mount 3 times without error and now i will try Stellarium.

I will later test the cable on my laptop and see if i get errors there.

No i do not have any cameras connected.

[malc-c]

Looking at the log it states the motor control board is an MC019, which I believe has a USB-B type port fitted.  If you have issues with your EQDIR cable, you could always try using a standard USB A-B cable instead.  You will need to download the Prolific drivers as the mounts fitted with USB ports use the 2303 chipset in them.  The baud speed for the resulting port in Device manager needs to be set to 115200 when using the USB cable.   But it seems you are having progress