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Help. Unable to control Synscan goto mount with SkySafari 6 pro in MacOS

chocksta

May 11, 2018 21:35

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Hello community.

Does anyone possess to power to get my scope working with SkySafari 6 Pro?

I have been trying for an age to connect my Skywatcher Synscan goto alt/azimuth scope mount using the supplied RS232  serial Cable. My MacBook Pro doesn't have a serial connection and so after some research, I purchased a Serial to USB adapter utilising the Prolific chipset and the latest Prolific driver for MacOS downloaded from the Prolific website.

A slight side step here to help build the picture:- Now, Skywatcher only appears to use a Windows solution for updating the scope mount firmware and so, using a virtual windows install on VMware, I was able to update the Skywatcher firmware using the Prolific USB to serial adapter connected to the Skywatcher supplied Serial cable, AND I WAS ABLE TO DO IT WITHOUT INSTALLING ANY WINDOWS DRIVERS BECAUSE THE VIRTUAL MACHINE USED THE MACOS INSTALLED PROLIFIC DRIVER. Because of this I know that the computer communicates with the scope mount using the installed driver and the cables that I have.

However, can I get my SkySafari 6 Pro to control my scope via this cable setup......aagggghhh. No I bloody can't!!! :-)

It is driving me up the wall lol. I recently had my hopes raised when, for the first time ever, SkySafari scope control reported "Connected" but my excitement was soon quashed when I attempted to use the direction controls and nothing happened.

I was never able to get my scope to work with my earlier version of SkySafari (version 1.8) so this is not a new situation but my knowledge of witchcraft is limited and I have now emptied that thin book of spells. It may be something simple that I just don't understand but whatever it is, I would love to resolve this issue if it is possible.

Now, some people would say to simply get a SkyFi box (which looks a super tidy and clean WiFi answer) but I cannot afford this option at present and so I am determined to solve the mystery of the cable setup and get my scope working with SkySafari 6 Pro but I will only be able to do it with help from others who have a better knowledge and understanding of how these things work.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Chocky

 

SkySafari Pro 6.1.0

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013); Processor 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7; Memory 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3; Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2 GB/Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB

Mac OS High Sierra 10.13.4

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12 comments

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  Bill Tschumy May 11, 2018 22:26

  Chocky,

  Sorry you are having problems. There are a couple of possibilities:

  1. Did you star align using the hand controller before trying to connect.  I believe the SkyWatcher mounts won't communicate until they have been star aligned.

  2. We have had mixed success with the Prolific cables on Mac.  I always recommend the KeySpan adapters.  I'm not convinced that the virtual machine was using the Mac drivers.  It is possible that your Windows installation had them preinstalled or they were downloaded automatically.

  3. Just to be clear, the serial cable is running into the bottom of the hand controller, right?

  We have lots of folks controlling the SkyWatcher mounts.  We should be able to get this going.

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  chocksta May 12, 2018 20:56

  Hello Bill.

  I sort of star aligned. The weather here in South Wales has been pretty rough until this last week and so what I did was; using SkySafari 6 Pro on my iPhone I went through the 2 star alignment process on the hand controller and roughly lined up the scope with the direction shown on the iPhone, so the process was done but the accuracy was a bit sketchy.

  my first usb to serial adapter used the winchiphead ch341 chipset which wouldn't even allow me to update the scopes firmware. It would only get 25-30% of the way through so that got binned and I moved on to the Prolific adapter which updated the firmware without missing a beat and really quickly so I am hoping that I can get that one working. I have to say that with so many different chipsets on the market; FTDI, Keyspan etc. it is difficult to know which is going to be the right choice when so many reviews say this one is best or that one is best!! We'll see how things go with this one and if it won't work, I'll have to reconsider down the line.

  The serial cable was plugged into the bottom of the hand controller and I plugged it in after I had carried out the star alignment.

  I hope all this information is helpful and I look forward to getting this sorted however long that might take.

  Thanks Bill.

  Chocky.

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  chocksta May 14, 2018 10:14

  Hello Bill.

  Ok. Further to my initial post, I have been tinkering today and have found that the message that my scope was connected appears when the settings under the scope menu are set for wifi or ethernet. If I look at the list of connections I have a USBSerial which only appears when the cable is plugged in which implies that the cable is being seen. However, if I click on connect I get a box saying Connection Failure; The scope is not responding.  Make sure it is connected and powered on.  Also check that your scope type is correct. If I put the scope into PC Direct Mode The process appears to take longer with the perception that there is an attempt to connect to the scope but ultimately, I get the same window and message back with Connection Failure........etc.

  I know that the scope is correct and that it is powered on so my guess is that it is something in the setup of the usbserial in network settings. Would this be the correct line of thought and if so, does anybody out there know how to resolve this network issue i.e. baud rate etc..

  Thanks for your continued time regarding my problems

  Chocky

  SkySafari Pro 6.1.0

  MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013); Processor 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7; Memory 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3; Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2 GB/Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB

  Mac OS High Sierra 10.13.4

  SkyWatcher Synscan Goto 127 Mak Cass, with Home Built Motor Focus and Power Tank.

   

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  Bill Tschumy May 14, 2018 14:53

  First off, you do not want to use PC-direct mode.

  It sounds like you are doing everything correctly, but the devil is in the details.  Could you please attach a screen shot of the Telescope Setup screen so I can see how you have it configured?

  Your fake star alignment is probably fine.

  You can also capture a Scope Log File and send it to me.  Possibly that will show something.  Just check the appropriate box in the Telescope Setup settings.  When you try to connect, it will ask where you want to save it.  Just save to your desktop.  After the failure, email it to bill@simcum.com.

   

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  chocksta May 14, 2018 18:14

  Hello Bill.

  OK. The first screenshot is taken before I plug the cable in to my MacBook Pro. As you can see, the connection setting shows usbmodem1421 in the list of choices.

  

  Once I have plugged the cable in, shut down SkySafari and then restarted SkySafari, that list of choices changes to show usbserial as shown in this second screenshot.

  

  Now, to me, that is an indication that the laptop and SkySafari are recognising the cable including the type of cable that it is.

  I select the usbserial connection but it refuses to connect.

  If I look at network preferences, the usbserial network is showing as not configured. I don't know if that is relevant but I thought I would let you know.

  I have attached the scope log file that you requested to an email which I have sent you but it has been returned by postmaster as can't be delivered. Could you confirm the email address that you would like it sent to please.

  Thanks.

  Chocky

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  Bill Tschumy May 14, 2018 21:48

  Oops.  The email is bill@simcur.com

  Yes, I would think the "usbserial" option is the one you should use.

   

   

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  chocksta May 14, 2018 22:04

  Thanks Bill.

  I have sent the email and log file via email and the usbserial option is the option I have been using, The log file relates to the attempted connection to usbserial.

  Thanks

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  Bill Tschumy May 15, 2018 13:46

  Got the file and we are looking at it.  Interestingly, it does show successful communication before it fails.  It also unfortunately doesn't show the cause of the dropped communication.  Stay tuned.

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  chocksta May 24, 2018 08:17

  Watchya Bill.

  Just thought I would ask if you have had any joy regarding this issue yet. Have you been able to figure out why the link fails after successfully communicating?

  I'm not hassling you and I am sure there are other things going on for you so there's no rush, I'm just staying tuned and thought I'd touch base :-)

  Thanks and kind regards

  Chocky

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  Bill Tschumy May 24, 2018 13:35

  Chocky,

  Thanks for the gentle reminder.  Yes, I discussed this with Tim.  There is communication but one response is coming back incomplete and this causes us to drop the connection.  We don't understand why this problem is happening but it seems related to using the Prolific USB adapters and have seen similar things in the past with them.   We have had no issues with the KeySpan adapters.

  This will be a hard thing for us to debug but maybe we can tackle it as some point.  I would ask Prolific if they are aware of any problems with their drivers on the version of macOS you are using.

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  Matt January 10, 2019 07:56

  I just came across this looking for help on another issue.

  We got one of these telescopes over Christmas and I managed to get sky safari on my Mac connected and working well last night, but via WiFi on the mount rather than a cable connection.

  If you have the WiFi mount and already using VMware you can install SynScan app on the VM, set the VM network settings to bridge the macs network, then in SkySafari setup the scope with the IP address of the VM and port 11882

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  Keiron Smith January 10, 2019 17:37

  Wow, Matt, thanks for sharing your solution!  Please consider creating a NEW post in the SkySafari SkyWatcher community forum that outlines your VMWare workaround.

  SkySafari | SkyWatcher Telescopes