1. Simulation Curriculum Corp.
  2. Community
  3. SkySafari | Losmandy Telescopes
New post
0

G-11 Gemini 1 | SkySafari 5 Pro + SkyBt Connection/Pairing Issues With Pixel XL Android 9 (Needs Help From Android User Community)

Trying to connect my SkyBT bluetooth to my Losmandy G-11 Gemini 1 with a Pixel XL running Android 9 and SkySafari 5 Pro. After aligning the mount, first, I got a "connection failure" EM.  After shutting down and coming back to the mount sometime later, I aligned it but got an EM telling me the SkyBT was connected but the mount was not communicating. It used to work with an older Nexus tablet that has since bitten the dust. 

I also find that I have to pair the BT tothe phone every time I want to connect to it. 

 

Date Votes

9 comments

  • 0
    Avatar
    Bill Tschumy

    Ted,

    I don't have any ideas about why your new tablet is having pairing problems.  Perhaps some other Android user can chime in.  Perhaps a problem with the brand new Android 9?

    When you are paired but get the "mount not responding" message, this is generally because of:

    1. You have chosen the wrong scope type
    2. You are not using the correct serial cable
    3. You don't have "Connect via Bluetooth" selected in the Telescope Setup screen
    4. If you have multiple serial bluetooth devices paired (somewhat unusual), SkySafari will occasionally try to talk to the wrong one.  You can explicitly specify which device to talk to by tapping the already selected "Connect via Bluetooth" option.  This brings up a picker where you can explicitly choose the device (called FireFlyBP-XXXX).  You can also tell if SkySafari is talking to the correct device by seeing if there is a change in the SkyBT flashing lights when trying to connect.

     

  • 0
    Avatar
    Ted Saker

    Hi Bill: Thanks for responding.

    As a prefatory observation, I had the same problem with previous versions of Android using a previous version of Sky Safari. I recently updated to Android 9 and purchased an upgrade to Sky Safari (due to a message that the older version is incompatible with A-9) but experienced the same problems. 

    1) Looking at the settings, I have "Losmandy Gemini" selected for scope type.

    2) The serial cable worked whet I had the Nexus tablet and continues to work via laptop computer.

    3) Comm setting is set to "connect via bluetooth".

    4) While I can and do pair multiple BT devices, I don't recall whether I had any other BT devices running  at the time. I wasn't aware of the ability to specify the BT device SS talks to from the connect via bluetooth menu. I will definitely try that as well as making sure that only the SkyBT device is active.

    I know the SkyBT connects because I pair it every time and the lights do change. I like the possibility that the program is trying to talk to the wrong BT device. Should be easy to check and verify. I'll post results later.

    Thanks again. 

  • 0
    Avatar
    Ted Saker

    I paired it without any other competing devices and tried to connect to the Sky BT, no joy. Here are a couple of screenshots.



  • 0
    Avatar
    Bill Tschumy

    That error message should only be shown when SkySafari can't find a SkyBT to talk to.  There should be no change in the flashing lights if that is the case.  This is not a case of making a connection but the mount is not responding.  

    Did you try explicitly telling it what SkyBT to connect to?

  • 0
    Avatar
    Ted Saker

    Yes, I selected the firefly device from the settings/telescope/setup/communications settings menu. As you can see, the tablet thinks it's connected to the device, the device appears in the communications settings menu, but the program won't talk to the device.

  • 0
    Avatar
    Bill Tschumy

    I'm at a loss as to what is happening.  Do you have another Android device to try?  I'd like to rule out an issue with Android 9.

  • 0
    Avatar
    Ted Saker

    I could try a very old phone running A 4.1.2 and SS 1.8.5.

  • 0
    Avatar
    Ted Saker

    OK, put it together and that combination worked.

  • 0
    Avatar
    Bill Tschumy

    You might do some web searching to see if people are reporting problems with Bluetooth on Android 9 and if there are any solutions.

Please sign in to leave a comment.