PHD experts needed!

[swlloyd3]

So I began this evening with the aim of finally tinkering around with me HEQ-5-PRO to enable guiding through a laptop and PHD....

Basically couldnt get it to work

Does anybody know a 'proper' tutorial I could read / watch on how to actually connect the mount? I literally have no idea what to choose in the interface!

I did manage to get the phillips sp900 webcam to loop and so I reckon it will work... but without the mount connected or knowing if it is connected its not going to guide! (Using EQMOD)

Another thing im unsure of is do I need to do star alignments like on the handset once im connected?????

And what dslr software to use to capture via the standard camera > USB? or is that not possible? (free program)

Ste.

[swlloyd3]

*update* It seems that the webcam didnt actually connect it was on simulator mode

I think it has something to do with not recognizing the drivers? In the device manager page the USB ports have an exclamation mark over them and say no driver available (!).... this is the same for the phillips webcam even though I downloaded the drivers from the internet?

Do I have to manually assign and install the drivers to the correct device??

I got EQMOD to start but even with the mount connected via hitec EQDIR I cannot work out which com port to choose, COM 3 is the only one that comes up with a different method and this comes up as 'connection timeout'.....

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Ste.

[swag72]

I don't use EQMOD, but manage to guide and move the scope using the PC and PHD. I used Stellarium for the first time yesterday and despite a couple of hic ups, it now works a treat.

I am happy to write down what I do, but if you are using EQMOD I guess it won't help you.

[jgs001]

First off you need to resolve the driver issues shown in the device manager. Once that is done, you'll need to check the configuration of the eqdirect connection in the device manager. Then when you go to phd, select the eq5/6 option, there's a config screen/ option, select that and make sure the com port the eqdirect module reported is selected, then you should find t connects ok. I can't get to the machine in question I have it setup on at preset, but I'll grab you some screen shots when I can, if you still need them.

[Ant]

I got EQMOD to start but even with the mount connected via hitec EQDIR I cannot work out which com port to choose, COM 3 is the only one that comes up with a different method and this comes up as 'connection timeout'.....

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Ste.

Go into Device manager and in there it will tell you which com port the hitec EQDIR device is connected too... it's the one that says PROLIFIC.

HTH

Ant

[swlloyd3]

jgs001 the screenshots would be excellent!

On device manager it does not seem to say prolific it comes up with the USB devices but I think its something along the lines of 'controller D'... Still this has the (!) on the actual icon?

one thing to mention is that my USB hubs I think are 1.0? Do I NEED to update them to 2.0 in order to get the ports to connect?

Thanks for the help...

Ste.

[kellogg]

If device manager has the yellow exclamation mark then the driver is not installed correctly.

I had a similar problem with a cheap adapter I bought off of Amazon, I had to find a computer that had a cd-rom drive that would read those tiny cd's to get the correct driver off of it, the driver from the Prolific website didnt work as I dont think its a genuine Prolific chip on my cable.

Mat

jgs001 the screenshots would be excellent!

On device manager it does not seem to say prolific it comes up with the USB devices but I think its something along the lines of 'controller D'... Still this has the (!) on the actual icon?

one thing to mention is that my USB hubs I think are 1.0? Do I NEED to update them to 2.0 in order to get the ports to connect?

Thanks for the help...

Ste.

[Sp@ce_d]

The prolific drivers I use with for my HitecAstro EQDIR are here: Welcome to Prolific

Also, you can run the find COM port option in the EQMOD setup. Sometimes the COM port changes if you use a different USB port

[jgs001]

I've not had a chance to do any screen grabs yet, sorry... I need to get the laptop connected up to get the drivers to show.

[jgs001]

Sorry it's taken a while... bear in mind this is for an FTDI cable, but...

The computer device manager, showing the USB Com port... if you have the yellow exclamation mark, you have to sort out the drivers first.

PHD Ascom mount selection

PHD mount configuration tool, you have to go to this option and save at least once before you can activate the mount.

Hope that helps.

[swlloyd3]

Thank you for the screens there a massive help!

I guess it is the driver issue that is causing problems, I would guess the drivers for the EQDIR have not installed correctly...so also thankyou for the link to the driver downloads!

The only weird thing is that when I plug my webcam into the computer it does the same thing even though I downloaded and installed the driver for that....

I will attempt to install the prolific driver tonight and have a go to see if it fixes the issue with the USB port.

Thank you for all the help and I shall post up how I get on after manually installing those drivers and tinkering around!

Thanks again!

Ste.

[jgs001]

You should be able to see the webcam in windows explorer I believe... if so, click on it and it should display the view... it won't be an interesting view with no lens on the webcam, but that's ok, it's a check to see if the webcam is working correctly with windows. If not, then there's something odd going on with the USB drivers... All those with the yellow exclamation mark... you could try either removing them and reinstalling the hardware, or double click them, under driver, select update driver and point them to the correct drivers.

[swlloyd3]

jgs001... thanks I will attempt that but I am pretty sure the driver for it isnt installed properly trying to resolve this issue now!

I manually installed the prolific drivers and it recognised it ! :D really happy, description now reads 'prolific..... (COM 4)'

only issue is I have told EQMOD set up to use COM 4 and I get connection timeout message!!! arrggghhh so still wont connect

any ideas about this new message? Feels like im getting error after error

Ste.

[jgs001]

That's a good start... did you connect up the other end of the cable and have the mount powered up ?

[Beyond_Vision]

It would also be better to use a USB2 connection for performance reasons but that probably wont be the cause of your problems. Any chance of showing some pictures of your systems connections.

Regards

Kevin

[swlloyd3]

yeh the cable was plugged into the mount into the handset terminal and also powered up....

I will try and get some images posted up of the device manager and also of EQMOD screen showing the timeout etccc...

Ste.

Here is a screenshot... I changed the USB port in between this and last post and did change the setting to COM 5

[swlloyd3]

*UPDATE*

Finally ! Finally ! I managed to get the mount and webcam to connect!

I went and bought a 4x USB 2.0 hub of amazon for £7 (PCMIA SLOT) and connected my mount and camera through that and bingo connected first time!

Really happy so now all I need is clear skies!

I would like to thank everybody on here for the advice and also if anybody reading this has problems connecting etc.... MAKE SURE YOU HAVE USB 2.0!!!! this has made my life a whole lot easier!

Ste.