Celestron Starsense Autoalign Firmware Update Experience

[Andy ES]

Today I’ve had a very successful afternoon updating the firmware on my Celestron Starsense Autoalign Hand Controller (HC) and Camera. This will be used on my CPC925. I thought I would write up some helpful notes in case you are going to attempt a similar  operation...

I purchased the Starsense Autoalign from a SGL member (thanks John). The unit is c2015 vintage and had not previously been updated. Looking on the Celestron web site it appears that a number of updates have been issued for the HC over the years, but possibly not for the Camera.

I got a lot of info from the Nexstar Resource web site which is extremely useful.

I downloaded the Celestron firmware manager (CFM) from the Celestron site. You have to extract the Zip file and must have java installed to then run it.

When  you run the CFM with nothing connected it brings up some on screen instructions, these get you to:-

Connect the hand controller and camera to the scope and PC with the scope turned off. I connected the kit together as per the diagram attached from Nexstar site. I had to buy a serial cable to USB for the hand controller as my unit has the original RS232 connector and the laptop doesn’t have a serial port. The cable was about £12 from Ebay.

Press and hold the menu and Celestron logo buttons while you turn on the scope, you then see Bootloader on the display.

The CFM should then find all the devices attached.

You can then press update and the devices are updated one by one, with a complete confirmation at the end.

I then switched off the scope and disconnected the PC.

When I switched the scope back on it all started normally and found the GPS time and location, so all looks good. You can then check the firmware versions on the handset against the Celestron web site. It appears that I have a later version than is listed on the web site

site: 01.22.21333 12/2021

scope: 01.22.22308 8/2023

Overall this was a lot simpler and easier than I would have hoped.

Now need some decent clear sky to test it out.😁

[Cosmic Geoff]

One can't help comparing this with the update procedure for the Seestar S50 device and its smartphone app.  In the latter a few pokes of the finger do the job - no cables, no special app installations etc etc.  Celestron and other astro equipment manufacturers need to join the 21st century.

Some months ago I updated the firmware on a Celestron C8 SE for my local astro club. It was a right pain, even though I had done firmware updates before.

[Andy ES]

I thought it was fun 😂 well it was when it worked!