Connect to AZ GTi via Sky Safari or Stellarium (android)

[Elp]

Your controlling device can only be connected to one WiFi network at a time (ie one azgti) so you physically select which one to connect to in your WiFi settings. Each mount should have its own unique IP address (eg 192.168.0.4 then the second 192.168.0.5 or any address which is not the same as the first one subject to you not having any local WiFi devices with the same IP addresses). I've used as others have two azgtis at the same time, controlling them both benefits from having an individual controlling device for each if you're using them for manual (synscan app) visual use.

Edited February 14 by Elp

[Orange Smartie]

Hi all. Further testing with Sky Safari Pro shows that control of the mount is possible, but only for a few minutes. The telescope then disconnects and when I try to reconnect via Sky Safari, I see the message "skysafari pro can make a wireless connection to the scope, but the scope is not responding. make sure the scope is powered on and connected correctly. Also make sure you selected the correct scope type."

If I then go back to SynScan and find an object (e.g. Jupiter), when I go back to Sky Safari, lo and behold - the scope is connected and pointed at Jupiter. But the connection is really unstable and it's not very usable this way.

As @AstroNebulee says, I'm sure this is indeed an issue with the way apps are handled in the background. As I typed this, for example, the telescope disconnected again and I got the warning on Sky Safari. Revisiting Syn Scan and clicking on Alt-Az mode reestablished the connection so when I went back to Sky Safari I could control the scope through that.

So it kind of works, but not very satisfactorily. Unfortunately, I don't have exactly the same options for controlling battery usage as AstroNebulae showed in their response - I have a simple choice of "unrestricted", "optimised" and "restricted". Unrestricted doesn't stop the telescope disconnecting.

 

[Zermelo]

If it's connecting initially and then disconnecting, have you told your device not to go looking for a WiFi with Internet access? I've had that before, and I needed to tell my phone that it was OK to stay connected to my mount WiFi even though it had no Internet connection.

[Orange Smartie]

I haven't tried that specifically and I'm not sure exactly how I would do that. I believe I'm staying connected to the WiFi but it's difficult to test it. Syn Scan doesn't appear to drop off the WiFi as when I go back to the Syn Scan app, I don't need to reconnect to it. The issue really seems to be with what happens to Syn Scan when I'm sitting in Sky Safari. As I type, I'm running a test where I find something in Sky Safari but then have the Syn Scan app open in front of me; it's been running for a few minutes so far and as yet hasn't dropped out. I can hear the mount gently clicking as it tracks the position.

So it looks like a bodgy fix would be:

Open Syn Scan and connect. Align. Open Sky Safari and GoTo selected astronomical object. Keep SynScan in front to maintain active WiFi connection.

Not particularly satisfying but already a whole lot better than where I was yesterday evening.

[Elp]

I had the same issue as described in my previous post. My WiFi never disconnected from my azgti but synscan pro wanted to hang or crash completely whilst I was in SS, but I've seen today there's a Feb update to synscan pro which I haven't installed and tested yet.

[Orange Smartie]

I think my version of synscan pro is up to date - it should be, I only installed it yesterday.

 

[AstroNebulee]

3 hours ago, Orange Smartie said:

So it kind of works, but not very satisfactorily. Unfortunately, I don't have exactly the same options for controlling battery usage as AstroNebulae showed in their response - I have a simple choice of "unrestricted", "optimised" and "restricted". Unrestricted doesn't stop the telescope disconnecting.

 

Hi

What device are you using? Is there a way of keeping the synscan app running in the background? 

Also is the 'keep screen on' slider on in synscan pro in settings-user interface - keep screen on. 

Have you tried the set up with Stellarium on your device? 

Lee 

Edited February 14 by AstroNebulee

[Zermelo]

2 hours ago, Orange Smartie said:

So it looks like a bodgy fix would be:

Open Syn Scan and connect. Align. Open Sky Safari and GoTo selected astronomical object. Keep SynScan in front to maintain active WiFi connection.

This is how I use it. I sometimes think it's fixed, but I've gotten used to it.

[Orange Smartie]

42 minutes ago, AstroNebulee said:

Hi

What device are you using? Is there a way of keeping the synscan app running in the background? 

Lee 

It's a Pixel 6a. I haven't been able to find a way of ensuring it's running in the background.

[Elp]

I think the option was removed around android 11/12. Pixel 6a will be on android 14 if its up to date, android 12 in an as new un-updated state. The three options you've stated are the only options I can see on my phone too.

Edited February 14 by Elp

[AstroNebulee]

51 minutes ago, Orange Smartie said:

It's a Pixel 6a. I haven't been able to find a way of ensuring it's running in the background.

I had a mooch about and seems it's a common issue that pixels and phones running Android 12 and above kill apps running in the background. 

I did see this if it helps? 

Under Developer Options under "Standby apps" you can manually set the app as "ACTIVE."

To get developer options on your phone this video shows how. 

Worth a try. 

Another possibility is to see if anyone has an old phone running Android 10 to buy cheaply and use that for your mount and apps alone. 

Lee 

 

Edited February 14 by AstroNebulee

[Orange Smartie]

10 hours ago, AstroNebulee said:

I had a mooch about and seems it's a common issue that pixels and phones running Android 12 and above kill apps running in the background. 

I did see this if it helps? 

Under Developer Options under "Standby apps" you can manually set the app as "ACTIVE."

 

 

Thank you for this. SynScan Pro is listed in Standby apps as EXEMPTED from app standby state. Edited to say that it's greyed out and I can't change it directly.

Edited February 15 by Orange Smartie

[AstroNebulee]

@Orange Smartie on another search this cropped up. 

'Turn off Suspend Execution of Cached Apps in developer settings. Apps don't seem to be able to handle it. I did that, and immediately stopped losing apps that I hadn't checked for a minute or so.' 

Not sure if this'll help you. 

I did also see a don't kill my apps app on Google play store, not sure how that works though. 

Lee 

Edited February 15 by AstroNebulee

[Orange Smartie]

Thanks for that. I'm in the process of trying it as I type, so I will feedback on what happens. Interestingly, when I switched the mount on this afternoon, I found that the normal settings for Sky Safari connection don't work (that is 192.168.4.2). Weirdly, I tried connecting with 127.0.0.1 and that did work. Where does that IP address even come from?

[Orange Smartie]

Update: using the method that AstroNebulee suggested above, in developer options I set "suspend execution for cached apps" to "disabled" and the mount has been running without issue for several minutes, in spite of Sky Safari being "in front". So thank you once again Lee, for your patience and help, it is very much appreciated!

Just need some clear skies now......

[Orange Smartie]

It's just disconnected. I expect that's due to the phone going to sleep as I've been on my laptop for the last few minutes. Otherwise things seem to working fairly stably (with the odd caveat that I can't connect to the IP address I was originally using, as I described above).

[AstroNebulee]

1 hour ago, Orange Smartie said:

Interestingly, when I switched the mount on this afternoon, I found that the normal settings for Sky Safari connection don't work (that is 192.168.4.2). Weirdly, I tried connecting with 127.0.0.1 and that did work. Where does that IP address even come from?

I'm not sure where the 127.0.0.1 ip address comes from (it maybe an address from synscan? I can't quite remember now but I will) but I found it on the other site and works. I've tried my own ip address and like you doesn't work, so I just use 127.0.0.1 now. 

I found this on sgl relating to the 127.0.0.1 ip address. Over halfway down the thread is an explanation. 

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/326590-the-£5-wifi-adapter/#:~:text=January 23%2C 2019-,127.0.,means the device running skysafari.

36 minutes ago, Orange Smartie said:

It's just disconnected. I expect that's due to the phone going to sleep as I've been on my laptop for the last few minutes. Otherwise things seem to working fairly stably (with the odd caveat that I can't connect to the IP address I was originally using, as I described above).

 

 

47 minutes ago, Orange Smartie said:

Update: using the method that AstroNebulee suggested above, in developer options I set "suspend execution for cached apps" to "disabled" and the mount has been running without issue for several minutes, in spite of Sky Safari being "in front". So thank you once again Lee, for your patience and help, it is very much appreciated!

Just need some clear skies now......

It's great something seems to be working now. Maybe just keep your screen alive and not let it sleep and all should be ok. Let us know how you get on when the skies ever clear again. 

Lee 

Edited February 15 by AstroNebulee

[Elp]

That's not how IP addresses and networks work. If you're trying to connect to another device with its own IP address, that is the address you use, you never use the controlling devices IP address as that is uniquely assigned to that device. In synscan pro, the fixed IP address is listed, fixed IP means every time you power the device on, its IP address remains the same and not randomly generated say like if DHCP was enabled like it usually is in your home router when the router wants to connect to the internet (DHCP is not applicable in this usage scenario with Synscan).

What you may find is both controlling device and mount may have the same first three digits in its IP address per device (ie 192.168.4. then whatever number last, this means they're on the same network and the last digit is unique to each device up to 255).

Edited February 15 by Elp

[Orange Smartie]

2 minutes ago, Elp said:

That's not how IP addresses and networks work. If you're trying to connect to another device with its own IP address, that is the address you use, you never use the controlling devices IP address as that is uniquely assigned to that device. In synscan pro, the fixed IP address is listed, fixed IP means every time you power the device on, its IP address remains the same and not randomly generated say like if DHCP was enabled like it usually is in your home router when the router wants to connect to the internet (DHCP is not applicable in this usage scenario with Synscan).

Appreciate what you're saying, however the IP address 192.168.4.2, which is the IP address given for my synscan, definitely doesn't work reliably. The address 127.0.0.1 does seem to work. 

[Elp]

Just a thought. You are using mains power or a 12v battery pack with the azgti and not AA batteries?

[Orange Smartie]

I'm using a Celestron power tank, 12v as far as I know.

[Orange Smartie]

Weirdly the port number on some of my presets (in Sky Safari) has changed. If I set back to 11882, it works ok on 192.168.4.2. For the time being...

[happy-kat]

thanks Lee, made the change mobile reboot, just been switching between stellarium, synscan, Ascom and skysafari 7 plus using PC and mobile and mobile has 15 second screen off. 

turned change off back to issues

 

Edited February 15 by happy-kat

[AstroNebulee]

38 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

thanks Lee, made the change mobile reboot, just been switching between stellarium, synscan, Ascom and skysafari 7 plus using PC and mobile and mobile has 15 second screen off. 

turned change off back to issues

 

I'm pleased it is working for you now too. Took some trawling through to find a workaround. 

Lee 

[Robthepiano]

2 hours ago, Elp said:

Just a thought. You are using mains power or a 12v battery pack with the azgti and not AA batteries?

I respectfully think this may be a blind alley. I have never used anything but new or rechargeable AA batteries and not had a problem.