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Scope control

i love SkySafari but I sometimes have problems pushing the virtual buttons on my iOS device.  I find it easier to use my celestron hand controller as I can find the control buttons without having to look at them. Is there any way you can either update the software to allow using the hand controller or offer you own controller with real buttons?

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8 comments

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    Bill Tschumy

    Steve,

    If you are connecting through the hand controller then you can already do this.  You can use either the on-screen buttons or the physical one.

    If you are using Celestron Wi-Fi then this is not possible.  This is the way Celestron designed the connectivity and I don't think it is easy changed.

    However, I hear you about the difficulty touching the buttons while looking through the eyepiece.  I have some ideas on other gestures to control the scope and hopefully they will get tried later this year.

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    Steve Wetzel

    Bill, 

    Gesture control would be awesome!  Great idea.  Regarding your other comment I I need some clarification - "If you are connecting through the hand controller..."

    I always leave the hand controller connected.  Are you saying do the alignment with the hand controller?  Please clarify, I am just not getting it.

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    Bill Tschumy

    Most people connect to the mount via a serial cable that plugs into the hand controller.  The other end goes to some wireless device (SkyFi or SkyBT) or a SkyWire.  It this case you can still use the hand controller to move the mount around and SkySafari stays in sync.

    I was wrong when I said you can't use the HC buttons to move the scope when using Celestron Wi-Fi.  You can use the HC but you can't do an alignment with the HC, you must use the SkySafari SkyAlign mechanism.

    If you are still confused, please tell me how you are connecting to the scope and I can clarify.

  • 0
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    Keiron Smith

    Hi Steve,

    I moved this post to the appropriate forum:

    SkySafari | Celestron Telescopes

    General Forum Discussion is to be used to post about how we can improve your support forum website user experience.

    Thanks for joining us in the New Community Forums!

  • 0
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    Steve Wetzel

    Bill, I have a celestron evolution which has built in wifi. My hand controller is plugged into the mount and that's it.   I think I must align with SS but after that I can use the HC to move, but not to use goto on it.  I should only use Goto in SS right

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    Bill Tschumy

    Right.  When connecting via Celestron Wi-Fi, the alignment model is in SkySafari, not in the HC.  This is why you cannot do a GoTo from the HC.  You also cannot align first using the HC and then connect via SkySafari.  SkySafari doesn't know about the alignment model in the HC.  If you align both with the HC and with SkySafari, they will fight each other and chaos will ensue :-).

    You can always use the HC to move the mount via the buttons.  This does not rely on an alignment model in the HC.

     

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    Michael Southam

    Gesture control of panning sounds like a great idea. I mainly use my SkyBT at star parties and would definitely make use of gestures to pan while looking through the eyepiece.

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    Skaiser3

    Steve

     Something to watch out for. It has only happen to me a few times out the tens of times I have controlled my Celestron Evo 925 but ,

    Sometimes the scope will keep slewing AFTER you release the touch on the Ipad. Not a big deal unless you are near a limit and moving at fast speed. Bill and Celestron know about this problem and are trying to fix it. You can stop movement by either touching a direction pad on the Ipad or the Hand control. 

    Just be aware if it happens. 

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