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SkyBT | Losmondy DSC Box Connection Fail (Solution: Unresolved?)

 Hello,

I bought a SkyBT to use with my Andriod A210 tablet. and my sky safari 5 plus using  a Losmondy DSC box.I have a Skywire for my Ipad.and also use the Losmondy box for it with no troubles.

I am having trouble connecting to the andriod tablet . The bluetooth connects but sky safari won't connect. 

is the pin out for the skyBT the same as for the Skywire? I made the wire from the Losmondy instructions and as I said it works fine on the ipad.

I have selected  the Losmondy DSC box and Alt/az push to in the settings menu.

The yellow light flashes 1 or 2 times but that is it.

any help would be Greatly appreciated 

Thank you

16 comments

  • 0
    Avatar
    Bill Tschumy

    The pins on the SkyBT are the same as the SkyWire.  The same cable can be used.

    1. So you have no trouble using the Losmandy DSC from the iPad via SkyWire, correct?

    2. Double check that you are using the same scope settings on Android as you are using on iOS (except for the bluetooth connection which will, of course, be different).

    3. When you try to connect, are you seeing a change in the flashing lights on the SkyBT?  If you do that means we are at least talking to the SkyBT correctly.

    4. Make sure not to changed any of the 4 DIP switches on the SkyBT.  They should all be pushed towards the red on/off button.

     

  • 0
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    paul weiler

    Hello,

    Thank you for your suggestions unfortunately I have checked and rechecked the settings I am using.

    What I get is the green light slows down or goes off and the yellow light flashes 1 or 2 times then I get the connection error.

    dip switches are all fwd.

    does my andriod version matter ? this is an old Iconia  A210 tablet with version 4.1?

    Thank you again

    Paul

  • 0
    Avatar
    Bill Tschumy

    Your Android version probably does not matter. 

    Given the change in the lights, it does sound like we are communicating with the mount.

    You might try turning the SkyBT off and then on again after physically connecting it to the mount via the cable.

    If the Set Time & Location setting is ON in the Telescope Setup settings, you might try turning it off.

    I assume you have retried connecting via SkyWire to make sure no problem has developed with the cable or the mount?

  • 0
    Avatar
    dc10jock

    Paul,

    Did you resolve your issue?

    I too had the same errors you mention when first trying the use a DSC box (Tangent/Lumicon Sky Vector) on a "Push-To" scope. In my case, SkySafari was wanting to "automatically" obtain the encoder steps per revolution from the box. In my setup, this would not work - I think SS was reading zeros?? - until I unchecked the "automatically get" setting and entered the values for my mount.

    You did say that your settings mirrored what you had for the iPad, but just to be sure, you might have another look.

    I am using SS Pro Version 5 and the inputs are made here:

    Settings>Telescope>Setup>Mount Type

    Bill, if you are watching this thread you may recall I asked to see if some error checking could be added to ensure that bad encoder values could be trapped  separately from "Cannot connect to the mount" errors which are reported when encoder values can't be automatically supplied.

    Regards,

    Paul Soper

     

  • 0
    Avatar
    Bill Tschumy

    Paul,

    Yes, I am watching this thread.  How can I tell that the encoder values are bad?  We get an error back from the DSC if we ask for the values, but the DSC doesn't support that option.  Otherwise, we assume they are correct.

  • 0
    Avatar
    Geoff Unworth

    Hi,

    I have a similar problem, recently upgraded to SkySafari 6 Pro, SkyBT and Android.

    #1 Old scenario (works):    iPad 2, Skysafari 4, SkyFi, EzDSC scope controller (digital setting circles from a small company in California.)

    #2 New scenario (does not work): Samsung Tab S3, Skysafari Pro, SkyBT, EzDSC. Error message something like “can make wireless connection, but cannot connect to scope …”

    To change from scenario #1 to #2, the only change was to disconnect SkyFi serial cable from EzDSC, and plugged in SkyBT.

    SkyBT green LED flashes to show Bluetooth connection, and maybe a few momentary flashes of yellow serial LED.

    SkySafari “Scope Setup” the same in each scenario: JMI NGC Max, Alt-Az Push-To, encoder steps … +8192, connect via Bluetooth in scenario #2.

    The EzDSC uses only 3 pins – Pin2 Tx, Pin3 Rx and Pin5 Gnd. It works in scenario 1. In desperation tried a null modem cable from SkyBT to EzDSC. Did not work.

    Any questions, please ask.

    Thanks, Geoff

  • 0
    Avatar
    Bill Tschumy

    Is the EzDSC (which I'm not familiar with) designed to use the same protocols as the JMI NGC Max?  

    The fact that you see a change in the flashing lights means that SkySafari is indeed talking to the SkyBT.

    I see two possibilities:

    1. When you set up the Scope Setup settings in SkySafari on Android, you have something slightly different from what you had on iOS.

    2. For some reason the EzDSC is not electrically compatible with the SkyBT.  I haven't heard of anything like this previously but you never know.  Have you asked the manufacturer if they have heard of a problem?

  • 0
    Avatar
    dc10jock

    Hi Bill,

    I’m sorry I missed your July response - here’s what I’m thinking.

    It seems to me that SS could simply “test for zero” regarding Encoder Steps per Revolution and pop a descriptive error message if it detects that condition in one or both values. “Zeros” can happen in one of three ways:

    1.) ‘Get Automatically’ == TRUE but the DSC cannot supply them (and SS is fooled into thinking the values are ‘0’)

    2.) ‘Get Automatically’ == TRUE and interrogated value(s) are in fact ‘0’

    3.) ‘Get Automatically’ == FALSE and the SS value(s) are set to ‘0’

    In any of these cases (though I cannot test them now), I suspect that SS will report “connection cannot be made with the telescope.” I think a better error message would lead the user to investigate the Encoder Steps portion of the setup. 

    If the Steps ARE non-zero and SS STILL  can’t make a connection to the telescope, the currently provided error message can suffice.

    Regards,

    Paul

     

     

  • 0
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    Bill Tschumy

    #1: This will return an error for the DSC computer.  I don't think we ever get 0 back.

    #2: I don't think this ever happens.

    #3: This also seems very unlikely.  The user would have to explicitly type 0 into the encoder steps fields.  Seems unlikely.

    I just don't see the point of putting more effort into this right now.  We have bigger fish to fry.

     

     

  • 0
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    Geoff Unworth

    Hi Bill

    Thanks for your support!

    In relation to iPad / Android / SkyFi / SkyBT / EzDSC - Problem solved.

    Sent the settings from the iPad to the Android and problem disappeared.

    Now I know what you are thinking, another Muppet who cannot enter 6 easy parameters. But I reckon I checked them a dozen times before contacting you.

    BTW I am not surprised you are unfamiliar with the EzDSC, made by a lone engineer operating out a home in L.A. My EzDSC has worked flawlessly since SkySafari and iPad 2s came on to the market. He puts a series diode in the external power supply connection, which saves blowing up the device thru inadvertent connections in the dark. Recommended!

    Thanks again

    Geoff

     

  • 0
    Avatar
    dc10jock

    Bill,

    Perhaps this has gotten pretty far afield. Originally, I got tripped up by #1 and based on the error message, I spent a fair amount of time “in all the wrong places.” The fix was easy once I knew what to do.

    I don’t doubt that my suggestion is very low priority and I have no idea about how you are forced to handle errors. In my experience, it can be a relatively simple procedure which is why I suggested it. I trust that you know where to spend your time to get the biggest bang for the buck.

    It may go without saying but getting a chance to interact with the programmer is a fantastic support feature. We really, really do appreciate your help out on the forum. It continues to be absolutely invaluable.

    Paul

     

  • 0
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    Bill Tschumy

    I agree we could probably give a better error message when they DSC returns an "invalid command" when asking for the encoder settings.  I'll see if we can beef that up.

     

  • 0
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    Geoff Unworth

    Hi Bill

    Apologies for interleaving my issue with Paul's.Have not participated in forums before.

    Thought I may provide some hindsight on my SkyBT issue.

    On the SkySafari android interface there are 2 methods of re-tracing your steps (going back to the previous menu.)

    1)    "X" - looks like this means exit

    2)

  • 0
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    Geoff Unworth

    told you I wasn't good at forums ...

    2)   "<-" means save and go back

    I think that I may have used X after entering data. So data was written on the screen but not saved to the config file.

    If this was my problem, perhaps have one check box for "exit" or "cancel"; and a second for "save and go back".

    Hope this helps and thanks again.

    Regards

    Geoff

  • 0
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    dc10jock

    Bill,

    Thanks a lot for taking another look at this. 

    Regards,

    Paul

  • 0
    Avatar
    Bill Tschumy

    Both the X and the back button will save the information.  If you can find a case where that is not true, please let me know.

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