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GOTO for Skywatcher Flextube AUTO dobs is a reality !

johninderby

By johninderby
in Discussions - Cameras

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Marky

Marky

Posted
Posted

Hi all.

I've been watching this forum for ages now and finally decided to join. Mainly to share with you what I've done with my Skyliner 300p Auto.

Some of you may be aware of this chap and his work on computer control of a Supatrak mount,

supatrakmounthacking (rwgastro)

So I went to maplins, got my soldering iron out and installed his ascom driver on my laptop. 1 hour and £30 later my Skyliner is now fully GOTO!

Only tested indoors so far but it does appear to do what it should and would certainly be good enough to get you near your target with a wide eyepeice.

Cheers MARK....

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FLO

FLO

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Nick beat me to it.

Whilst it is possible to achieve GOTO, Skywatcher do not consider it a good idea (otherwise they would offer the upgrade themselves). If you do change the telescope's function in this way you might find it invalidates your warranty.

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NickH

NickH

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The people at Skywatcher are very smart, and have designed and developed some groundbreaking (both in terms of price point and quality) products. If they could deliver a 100% reliable working GOTO system on a massive aperture tracking dob for that money, do you not think they would?

I hinted in my review in AN of the possibilities...can't say any more, but that they made the right call in not releasing it for now

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johninderby

johninderby

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After testing the use of GOTO with the Auto dob and speaking to others doing the same thing the "problem" is with the drive/encoder units. There seems to a bit of variation in drive units from scope to scope in regards to play/sloppiness and response. It doesn't seem to be enough to cause a problem with the standard tracking hand paddle though. Some Auto dobs will work just fine with GOTO while others won't. With that degree of variation it's no wonder SkyWatcher had to cancel the GOTO option.

Producing a proper GOTO dob would be no problem for SkyWatcher, except that it might end up being too expensive to sell in quantity. Would customers pay perhaps £500.00 extra for a reliable GOTO version?

Comparing it to my 14" OO dob with the StellarCAT system wouldn't be a fair comparison as the drive units just on their own are worth more than a complete SkyWatcher 12" Auto dob. Not cheap but it WORKS !

John

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Marky

Marky

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"Producing a proper GOTO dob would be no problem for SkyWatcher, except that it might end up being too expensive to sell in quantity. Would customers pay perhaps £500.00 extra for a reliable GOTO version?"

Which would put it squarely up again the Explorer 300p on the EQ6 mount (£1450). They could do it but there simply isn't the market for them if they did. You want a good goto, buy the Explorer/EQ6, want a cheaper option, buy the Dob (sort of the whole point of dobs really)

My 'bodge' is good enough for me, I'm not planning to image with it or anything, as long as it gets me within half a degree of my target I'm happy. Also, I haven't altered the scope at all. The module just plugs into the handset socket and lets the PC send commands to the mount in place of the hand controller. Plug the handset back in and all is back to warrantied original spec.

M....

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Marky

Marky

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Also, before I forget, on the skywatchers own website (where you can get tech support etc)

TELESCOPE SUPPLIERS - SKY-WATCHER TELESCOPE

They appear to be offering the GOTO!

Quote "The Autotracking Dobsonian is also available in a computerized version that makes locating astronomical objects fun and easy. Using the renowned SynScan computer controller users can select objects to view from a database of over 40,000 celestial sights. Just select an object, press 'enter' and watch the telescope automatically find and track the object for you."

I think skywatcher has spoken....

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johninderby

johninderby

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Also, before I forget, on the skywatchers own website (where you can get tech support etc)

TELESCOPE SUPPLIERS - SKY-WATCHER TELESCOPE

They appear to be offering the GOTO!

Quote "The Autotracking Dobsonian is also available in a computerized version that makes locating astronomical objects fun and easy. Using the renowned SynScan computer controller users can select objects to view from a database of over 40,000 celestial sights. Just select an object, press 'enter' and watch the telescope automatically find and track the object for you."

I think skywatcher has spoken....

Sorry, but unfortunately not so any more.

The SkyWatcher website is well out of date in a few areas, particularly in the dob section. They should have removed any reference to the GOTO upgrade when it was cancelled last year.

John

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Marky

Marky

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Two months ago that specific section wasn't in there. I kept looking at the site whilst deciding whether to buy one or not. When I looked just before x-mas It appeared. It's possible they have dropped a clanger and re published some older data on the site, these things happen. Or... could they have changed their minds and are planning the upgrade after all?:)

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brantuk

brantuk

Posted
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I'm very interested in this and want to upgrade my flextube auto with goto. Don't care if it's official or not - just want to find the best, most accurate, and most economical solution, either by a proper Electrical company, or a sole "tinkerer" in his shed. Can anyone recommend what I should go for please?

Cheers

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rwg

rwg

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Once upon a year or two ago I designed an interface box to allow the connection of a Skywatcher SupaTrak mount to a PC - see this link : supatrakmounthacking (rwgastro) . I also wrote a basic ASCOM driver which allows the mount to be controlled as a GOTO mount by software like Cartes du Ciel - supatrakascomdriver (rwgastro) .

It's entirely possible that this would work with the Auto Dob mount too - the tracking hand controller looks the same as the one off of the SupaTrak mount, so I suspect that there's a good chance that the communications protocol is the same.

I'm quite prepared to pass on the interface box I built to someone who wants to give this a try - I don't use the SupaTrak mount any more, so the box is just sitting on a shelf gathering dust. The downside to this is that I'm unable to provide bug fixes or updates for the Ascom driver (particularly if I've given away the inteface box!). It'd be best if someone who was comfortable with programming in C# took this on so that they could fix any issues with the ASCOM driver.

Robin

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johninderby

johninderby

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The Hand Control from a SkyWatcher AZ GOTO mount will work with the Auto Tracking dob with no modifications needed. Also the hand control from the Auto Tracking dob mount will operate a SynScan AZ GOTO mount with no problems.

So it looks likely that your SuperTrak to PC interface would work.

John

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rwg

rwg

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Well, I'm fairly comfortable that it would be electrically compatible - it's just RS232 running at TTL level (5V), however it's just possible the protocol (what commands do what) may be different - I don't have a synscan AZ mount to test against.

However, given that the Synscan AZ hand controller works with the Dob, maybe I've missed the point here... Surely the upgrade 'kit' involves buying a Synscan AZ mount for the cheapest price you can find and throwing away the mount? Looks like it's available for ~£180 with a free 70mm refractor :). From experience, using a hand controller for goto is much more convenient than having to rig up a laptop.

Robin

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russ

russ

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Orion USA are about to release a full GOTO version of their dob range, it's called the XTG and will use the Synscan controller. Is it possible the Orion controller could be used with the Skywatcher Autotrack? Providing Orion offer the handset as a standalone purchase.

Also, as Orion have cracked the GOTO, does this mean Skywatcher will shortly announce their's is up and running too?

Russ

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johninderby

johninderby

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Yes the hand control is the simple option as there are absolutely no mods needed, just plug it straight into the dob mount and that's it. It even uses the same setup as the AZ GOTO mount. The GPS mouse also works with it, so you could have a GOTO dob with GPS by doing nothing more complicated by plugging the bits in..

John

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johninderby

johninderby

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Orion USA are about to release a full GOTO version of their dob range, it's called the XTG and will use the Synscan controller. Is it possible the Orion controller could be used with the Skywatcher Autotrack? Providing Orion offer the handset as a standalone purchase.

Also, as Orion have cracked the GOTO, does this mean Skywatcher will shortly announce their's is up and running too?

Russ

The problem with the SkyWatcher Auto tracking mount was the drive units. Apparently a small percentage of the drive units were a bit "sloppy" and GOTOs weren't very reliable on this small percentage. It would need redesigned drive units for the GOTO to work properly on all the mounts not just most of them. I would imagine that the Orion drive units are an improved version.

John

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brantuk

brantuk

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Thanks for the replies chaps - think I'll see if I can get a Skyscan AZ goto controller and flog/dispose of the mount - or adapt it for binos - time ain't an issue - but I'll check out the Orion USA XTG first.

You've all been very helpfull :)

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ZOG

ZOG

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Of course you could also get some DSC's for the Dob. Quieter and faster than goto and last forever on 4 AA batteries. It's strange to me that while I have the Argo Navis push to system on my dob and have been looking at (expensive) tracking options (£700 for a dec ent EQ platform and almost £900 for the Stellarkat) Others have the tracking but want a goto function.

Why the hell don't SW just produce a compatable set of DSC's for their dob range ? I'm sure they would sell like hot cakes.

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brantuk

brantuk

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Thanks Zog - just looked at the argo navis (hadn't considered that b4) - looks v.nice but a tad expensive.

Shame they didn't think the whole product thru in the first place - but I can see why and how it evolved from the arguments given in above posts.

Cheers

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