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SkyFi 3 | Why Was Wireless Connection To Celestron AVX Lost (Answer: Not Sure, Likely iPad Dropped SkyFi 3 Network, Next Time Check SkySafari Settings For SkyFi 10.0.0.1 WebPage)

James Moldenhauer

June 22, 2018 23:04

Answered

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I am using skyfi III unit physically connected to a Celestron AVX mount and wirelessly connected to an ipad with skysafari plus as the controlling software. The skyfi unit was fully charged at start of the observing session. After about 1 hour of operation the wireless connection was lost and could not be reconnected using the reconnect button displayed in skysafari. The skyfi unit was located about 8 inches behind and to the right of the ipad. The telescope could still be controlled through the hand controller but I could not restablish the wireless connection to the ipad. I turned the skyfi unit off then on again but it didn't help. Several days later I tried to wirelessly connect the ipad with the skyfi unit without being connected to the AVX hand controller and I was able to bring up the skyfi status page using skysafari.
Do you have any idea why the wireless connection was lost and could not be reconnected. Does it sound like there might be a problem with the skyfi unit? I would like to get this problem resolved before my warranty expires.

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2 comments

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  Bill Tschumy June 25, 2018 14:11

  James,

  The you lost the connection, did you notice if the iPad still thought it was connected to the SkyFi unit?  It may be that the iPad dropped the connection for some reason.  It is easy to check if the iPad can talk to the SkyFi by going to 10.0.0.1 in the Safari browser.  If you see the SkyFi config pages then they are talking.

  You can try making a connection during the daytime.  With Celestron you don't need to star align first (or you can just do a fake one star alignment using Polaris).  See if you can get to the config pages and if so try connecting to the scope.

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  James Moldenhauer July 01, 2018 02:31

  Bill,

  I tried your suggestion and let the skyfi unit run with skysafari on the ipad during the day for 4 hours.  There were no scope disconnects until the ipad auto locked out.  As soon as I reopened the ipad it automatically re-opened skysafari and was able to re-establish the scope connection.  When I originally had the problem I was not able to reconnect to the scope after I got the disconnect message.  Maybe the ipad lost the skyfi internet connection somehow and it tried to reconnected to another network.  Unfortunately I didn't check to see what network it was connected to after the problem occurred, or if the skyfi network was still available.  I was far from any populated areas at the time but there were other astronomers present using various devices.   I guess I will just have to wait and see if the problem happens again sometime and then check to see if the skyfi internet connection is still available to the ipad.