Aygen Erkaslan
Apr 21, 04:17 EDT
Good morning from Switzerland,
I have been desperately trying to connect to skyfi via my iPhone. Maybe I am missing something, but is it possible to connect via bluetooth (4g) without a wifi connection ? For instance, let's say that I am not at house, and want to monitor my telescope via my smartphone but using my 4G connection.
Thanks in advance for your kind support.
Best regards,
SkyFi is not a Bluetooth device, you have to use WiFi. However, SkyFi sets up its own WiFi hotspot that you join from the iPhone. You don't need to have a regular internet connection. Did you join the SkyFi network connection from the iOS Settings? That is the first step.
The SkyFi is wi-fi only ... no bluetooth.
However, the whole point of the SkyFi is to let you use it anywhere -- you don't need to be near your house, nor do you need to have an internet connection.
You didn't mention which model you have. The original and 2nd generation both had user-installed batteries. The third generation has an internal rechargeable battery. Do you know which version you have?
Power up the SkyFi (give it a minute to startup and begin advertising it's network) and then use your iPhone to search for (and join) a network named "SkyFi".
After you join it, go into the Sky Safari app (Sky Safari Plus or Sky Safari Pro) and the Telescope Setup menu should have an option to Auto-Detect SkyFi (which you want to enable).
The SkyFi also has a built-in web page (by default the URL is http://10.0.0.1 ) and you can use this to change the name of the network (if you are at an observing site with other astronomers who ALSO have SkyFi and want to avoid confusing the networks where they mistakenly control your scope) and also give it a password.
My own SkyFi is configured to "attempt" to join my home network (if I'm observing from home) but if my home network is unreachable (and it would not be reachable if I'm out at one of my remote observing sites) it will fall-back to creating it's own network. This gives me the best of both words as it joins my network when at home, but creates it's own network when I'm away. This is configured via the web page. This is not the default behavior of the SkyFi... I had to use that web page to configure this.
