Skywatcher WiFi adaptor - seen, does not connect

[Jim Franklin]

Hi all, I have now removed my LX90 from it's mount (then found the hand box I lost - typical) and have now mounted it on my EQ5 Pro mount - Skywatcher mount is better so changing was always a plan - however, I note that the WiFi module will not work with either the Synscan Pro app or Stellarium. I can see the adaptor, but cannot connect to the adaptor. In the Synscan you have to connect to adapt settings - I cannot even do that. I have a cable that links fine, but the WiFi would all me to sit in the conservatory and control the telescope remotely as the Lynx cable is only 2.5m long - I tried a network cable extender but this creates a communication problem on the cable - which is a pain. 

I can see the adaptor in my WiFi list on both my laptop and for my phone (Its an iPhone so I know that is likely the phone issue), but cannot connect directly as I need the WiFi key - and there is noway to get that unless the Synscan app connects - which it doesn't. 

I have not used this adaptor for a number of years, but it seems to be communicating OK, just nothing connects. (Yes, I have checked the basic settings in the app and Stellarium to ensure it is on Network!)

Has anyone encountered something similar and/or found a way to get this work?

Thanks in advance. 

[Tomatobro]

when in Stellarium and you can see its connected, if you then click on telescope does it offer up a list of telescopes to connect to?

[happy-kat]

I don't use  cable my self, I first connect my pc/mobile wifi to the synscan dongle wifi

then launch the  synscan app

I think you'll at some point need the ascom driver too for the communications to work on a pc

[Bignerdguy]

You might need to reset the WIFI unit to factory default.  Once this has been done then you can connect your smartphone to the dongle first in your WIFI settings section on the iPhone.  Once the phone shows connected THEN you can use Synscan application to connect.  Note the WIFI dongle was not designed to be used with other programs, only the SynScan application from your smartphone. and it must be plugged directly into the mount Hand Controller port, not the Hand Controller itself,  It replaces the hand controller on the mount.

 

FACTORY RESET—I recommend updating the firmware (now at version 1.04) even if you recently purchased the adaptor. The original wait time for reset was 24 h and that has been reduced to 1 hour! You might even try just cycling the power off and on. I find the wording on the "manual" could be better: to do a factory reset, I would say "turn the adapter off, wait one hour, and turn it back on."  Be sure the unit is plugged in to the mount directly and the mount is powered off but plugged into power for that whole hour. If your firmware is older than 1.04 then you will need to leave it all connected for 24 hours to get it to reset.

 

Here's where you get it: https://skywatcher.com/download/product/software/synscan-wi-fi-adapter/

 

ACCESS POINT MODE—This is the factory set default. The SSID of the adapter is of the form SynScan_WiFi_xxxx. Write this down on the "manual" sheet or store it somewhere. You can get into a state where ithe adapter does not show up in your WiFi and you need to type it in. Also, if you are doing that, it will want the password (if you set one). If you did not set a password, make sure the password field is set to "Open"and not simply blank. 

 

The IP address of the adapter is fixed at 192.168.4.1, and in Access Point Mode, it sets up the local WiFi network and assigns IP addresses 192.168.4.2, 192.168.4.3, etc. to devices that connect to it. These will be different than the IP addresses that would set up if the same devices were connected to different router, for example. This is especially important if you want to run SkySafari with iOS devices