SeeStar - Dead !!

[GasGiant]

Hi folks

So after weeks of what seems like endless rain and clouds i opened up the seestar just now and ........... dead ! no power up, no lights, nada.

 

A week ago or so when I thought I might get an hour in it was fully charged and ready to go.  However clouds rolled in and I shut it down and put it away. Tonight, went out and screwed it to the tripod and nowt..

Anyone else had this ?

Its plugged in now but zero lights are illuminating 😞   

Im sure Flo will sort it but thats a real bummer, seeing as its had so little use since I bought it !! 

 

any ideas ? 

 

Carl

[AstroKeith]

Plug it into a charger / battery and see if the LEDs light up. It may have not been switched off and hence flat. or the battery management system (BMS) has gotten confused. 

[M40]

What happens if you press and hold the seestar on/off button?

[Cosmic Geoff]

This is the first report I have seen of a dead Seestar.

I had a bother with mine a couple of weeks ago when I plugged the charger into it via ZWO's lead and nothing happened. I bought a USB to USB -C lead which charged it OK. Now I find the original lead works. I an still unsure if it was an intermittent fault or was I plugging in the blood pressure monitor lead by mistake. 🙄 

[Neil H]

It does say in the manual if it will not turn on the battery is flat , if you have a volt meter pop the battery out and see if there is voltage in the battery 

[Carbon Brush]

If a lithium cell is deep discharged for any reason,the charger will only allow a small current to flow.
The actual values are determined by cell manufacturers and used by the equipment manufacturers. This is for your safety, and cell longevity.
A further safety feature in a charger is a timer. If the cell is not fully charged after a few hours, the charger turns off.

Often charge current is limited to only 50mA until the cell reaches 3V. In other words 20 hours to put 1Ah of charge in!

As @Neil H says, grab a voltmeter and check the situation. Write down the cell voltage.
If the cell is low, just recharge for a few hours. If you don't see recovery switch off for a few minutes and repeat.
It can take several retries (timer above) to restore high current charging.

Another useful cheap tool is one of the USB volt/ammeter boxes.
You should see a low charge current that at some point changes to high, when cell voltage is high enough.
These boxes are very handy for diagnosing dodgy charging cables!

HTH, David.
 

[Neil H]

The see star is going to be a low charge rate due to the charger being usb 5 volts 1amp possible 2 amps so what Carbon Brush said is spot on 

[AstroKeith]

Actually the Seestar charging socket is USB C PD. So if connected to a suitable charger it draws 12V at well over an amp.

We seem to have lost the OP along the way!

[GasGiant]

Hi Folks 

Update ! 

So later last night I got the four red lights to come on ( so its fully charged )  but not the main 'on' button light ! 

After a few more attempts and button pushing the main on button light came on and I fired up the software on my tablet. I then had to do a firmware update after which It didn't connect the wifi. 

Every time I turn on now and connect its asking me to press the reset !  It does this every time. Gggrr

 

Im now trying to uninstall and then reinstall the software 

Edited April 29 by GasGiant

[DaveL59]

On mine I typically have to do a reset before it'll take the firmware update and likewise have to re-pair it to my home WiFi after switching it to the 2.4G band. Worth stating which app and firmware version you currently have.

[M40]

I don't think I've ever done a reset on the seestar, I have had to restart the phone after a seestar update though. @GasGiant keep us to speed on how it goes

[Cosmic Geoff]

IIRC I only had to reset my Seestar once, and that was when I started it up for the first time, and there was an instruction to press some button on the underside. 

The system for updates has changed - sometimes when powered up, it insists on a firmware update being performed before allowing me to continue. I've no idea what happens with the updates to the iphone app - does it get updated at the same time, or what? There seems no way to tell what version of iphone app is installed.

[PeterStudz]

17 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

 I've no idea what happens with the updates to the iphone app - does it get updated at the same time, or what? There seems no way to tell what version of iphone app is installed.

I haven’t got a Seestar but I have an iPhone. On iPhone apps get updated automatically by default, usually when on WiFi, unless you switch off automatic updates in Settings.

You can see the version of any installed app by going to…

Settings > General > iPhone Storage

There you’ll see a list of all installed apps. Select the Seestar app from the list. At the top of this page, to the right of the app icon, you’ll see the app version number. 

[Cosmic Geoff]

5 minutes ago, PeterStudz said:

There you’ll see a list of all installed apps. Select the Seestar app from the list. At the top of this page, to the right of the app icon, you’ll see the app version number. 

Thanks. Says 1.18.0, same as on the Seestar downloads page.