I am using a celestron skyprodigy 130 telescope with celestron skyportal wifi module. I purchased the Skysafari 5 pro and tried to use it to control my telescope. My version is IOS version running on IOS 11 system. I found whenever I connected it to my scope, it always lost the connection very frequently. I saw similar issue on Celestron Skyportal IOS/Android App before. But recently the Celestron version was uptated to Ver 2.4.1 on IOS and then I found it became quite stable. I am guessing the problem might be this software is Not 100% campatible with IOS 11 system. I am wondering when you are going to update your software to be fully compatible with IOS 11 and resolve this annoying issue. BTW in Celestron Skyportal I found I could do a manual align using my scope's bulit in camera but I couldn't found the same function in Skysafari Pro. This really surprised me because I paid a lot for this app and in theory, this app should be much better than the Free Celestron version (I know it's actually a lite version of Skysafari 5).
4 comments
-
Bill Tschumy Rui,
This is not an iOS 11 issue.
In the most recent SkyPortal we changed the frequency at which we poll the mount for its position from 4 per sec to 3 per sec. Celestron determined there were fewer disconnects at this rate. You can make that same adjustment in SkySafari in the Scope Setup settings (change the Readout Rate value).
SkySafari 5 Plus and Pro has all the same functionality's SkyPortal. If you have the StarSense camera plugged into the mount, there should be an option to do a StarSense align.
-
Rui Qiang Bill,
Thank you for the quick reply. I will take look at the Scope Setup settings to change the readout reate value but I really wish future Skysafari 5 Pro could change the rate too as what Skyportal did as default.
For the second question, yesterday when I connected the scope, I did see a automatic StarSense align but no manual aligh as I saw in Skyportal. I will post the image after I return home.
-
Rui Qiang Hi Bill,
I did a try again and for the StarSense camera part, as you said, I did find the manul option. However this manual option is not as powerful as the one built in the hand control. In that one it has solar mode. It is very useful if I only need to watch SUN or Moon. Will you add similar feature in the feature?
For the connection part, unfortunately changing data read out rate from 4 per sec to 3 per sec still not good. It was better but still lost the connection frequently. I even tried to use 1 per sec and still the same thing. I also re-test the celectron version and also got similar result. I really would ask Skysafari development group to do further deep test on their code to ensure the connection stability.
Thanks.
-
Bill Tschumy Celestron dictates the feature set in the Celestron Wi-Fi code. You will need to make feature requests to them. They have said they are not trying to implement all the features that are in the hand controller.
The connection stability is mainly due to the Wi-Fi radio that Celestron uses. There is really nothing we can do to make the connection more stable. Again, if you are having problems with dropped connections in either SkyPortal or SkySafari, you should report that to Celestron.
There is a new version of SkySafari of iOS that should get released today or tomorrow. Celestron has made some changes that they claim will enhance connection stability. These are the same changes that have been out in SkyPortal for a week or so.
I'm sorry I can't be more accommodating but Celestron is really responsible for most of the Celestron Wi-Fi code.