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Starmaster WiFi Control Problems

I have a 2 year old Starmaster FXQ20 and have controlled it with SkyFi and Sky Safari Pro with mixed results.

I purchased a new SkyFi a few months ago to replace a Scope Com wireless device that gave me the same problems.

Most times the scope preformed well controlled from the IPad and Sky Safari Pro, then on some occasions it just all goes wrong.

The Sky Safari program will start to be corrupted, the screen may bounce between to locations , there is an unusual brigh line at the top of the screen , the gotos on the scope will be erratic , the controll box for moving the scope will be corrupted , it may not move the scope when the buttons pushed and then after a delay the scope will move and stop, move and stop.

When this happens I shut down everything and restart with the same results, then when I power down the Sky Fi the Sky Tracer / Sky Comannder works perfect.

This is occasional , it may work fine next time out. 

Ive cleaned all the contacts and connections, batteries are charged and I’m frustrated.

Again this is the same situation that I had with a different wireless controller and I bought the Sky Fi thinking it would be a better choice.

Im frustrated as this just happened at a Starparty on the last and best night 

Any ideas would be helpful, please contact me if more info is needed

Dan

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7 comments

  • 0
    Avatar
    Bill Tschumy

    Dan,

    From you description, my initial guess is you scope is glitching out and sending us bad coordinates.  Not sure why this would cause display problems though.  Could you capture a screen shot of the corrupted display and attach it?

    Tell me more about your setup.

    1. Which release of SkySafari?

    2. What scope type have you chosen in SkySafari?

    3. Tell me more about the electronics on the scope.  This is a SkyTracker system?

  • 0
    Avatar
    Dan Mitchell

    Bill, thanks for helping out.

    I run Sky Safari 5 Pro 5.4.1.0

    Scope Type selected is
    StarMaster Sky Tracker

    Alt-Az GoTo

    This is a two year old StarMaster FXQ 20 with standard Sky Tracker drive and the new Sky Commander XP4
    I have an extra XP4 that I tried and the same thing happened

    I’ve taken the time and cleaned and checked all the connections after the last time out
    It’s strange because it will run perfect one night and then it will go crazy.

    I don’t have a pic of the screen will try and get it setup and see if it will happen and get a pic.
    When I take the Sky Tracker out of of the picture the Starmaster system will operate as it should . This is the exact same thing that happened with a Scope Com wireless control I have and ran before getting your Sky Fi, and when I removed it the scope operated as it should?
    Let me know what you think
    Thanks
    Dan

     

  • 0
    Avatar
    Bill Tschumy

    Dan,

    Is there any chance you could try controlling it with some other external software?  Trying to figure out if it is SkySafari specific.

    You also might try contacting StarMaster to see if they have heard of anything like this.

    Given that this is some what random, it might be hard, but if you could capture a scope communication log that might help me figure out what is happening.  Enable the option in the Scope Setup settings.  The Help for that page will tell yo how to retrieve the log.  Please send it to: "bill at simcur dot com"

  • 0
    Avatar
    Dan Mitchell

    Bill, what other software would work, not aware of anything else?

    StarMaster is pretty much shutdown and as the scope works fine on its own Rick would say it’s the software, I’ll post on the StarMaster Yahoo group and see if anyone else has any issues .

    I will set the scope back up in the next day or so and get the scope comunication log and see if the scope will act up again.

    Ill be in touch in a day or so

    Thanks 

    Dan

  • 0
    Avatar
    Bill Tschumy

    You would probably need to try something like Stellarium or SkyTools on Windows.  Something that uses the ASCOM drivers.  If you are not a Windows user then this is probably not feasible.  Maybe you have a fried that uses one of them to control their scope?

  • 0
    Avatar
    Dan Mitchell

    Bill

    Ive sent you some Log Files to the email you supplied.

    let me know if you got them

    Dan

  • 0
    Avatar
    Bill Tschumy

    I got them but haven't had a chance to look at them.  Maybe tomorrow.

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