I have checked the communications with my telescope by purchasing a Startech USB to Serial adapter (ICUSB232V2) and running a program called PuTTY on my Windows 10 operating system to allow me to hand input the codes to communicate with the telescope. I tested each of the commands available for the Magellan 2 and they all worked fine and gave back the expected return data. I then went back to the Skyfi 3 and tried it using LX200 Classic for the telescope setup (no Magellan 2 setup available, command codes the same but much fewer). However, I still get the dialog that says it can't communicate with the telescope. One thing that may be a problem is that every time I set the baud rate at 300 and double check it, then I go to try to connect to the telescope, and when I go back to see if the baud rate is still 300 I find that is back at 9600. I don't know if this could be the problem. I really want to get this working but I can take it no further without technical assistance. I would also like to use my Startech adapter but I doubt if you have the drivers installed to operate it. One other thing if anyone else reads this is that I originally had problems with the cable wiring. In all their wisdom Meade made the RJ11 pin-outs in the order 1 4 2 5 3 6 instead of the standard telephone wiring setup of 1 2 3 4 5 6. My original manual was confusing but when I loaded a more recent version of it everything became clear.
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8 comments
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Keiron Smith Hi Roger,
Your scope must be aligned prior to connecting with SkySafari.
And, see the Meade cable wiring here: https://www.skysafariastronomy.com/products/skyfi/serial.html
LX200 Classic cables are different from ETX, LX-90 cables.
I suggest purchasing the correct cable instead of trying to build your own. But, you should consult with Meade Support regarding which of the two cables is the correct one for your Magellan 2 mount.
Thanks!
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Roger Perkins Thanks for your response, but my problem is not lack of alignment or cable wiring. I had a look at the website you suggested and after close inspection it is the same as the cable in the Meade Magellan 2 operation manual except that the pin numbering by Meade is as I indicated in my original post. A few months ago I learned how to do a alignment from the comfort of my workbench to continue checking out my problem, which I have been working on for about a year and a half. I turn on my telescope (LX50 by the way), set the local time, set the date, align the scope, turn on the Skyfi 3, turn the serial on in the Magellan, set the baud rate to 300 and try to connect. I then get the dreaded no response from telescope. When I go back to check the baud rate again it has reverted back to 9600 baud. Do you have something in the LX200 Classic configuration that changes the baud rate to 9600? When the connect button is executed what do you do to establish a connection? I assume it is a command sequence but what command code do you use? There are only 4 commands available for the Magellan, :GR#, :GD#, :Gt#, :GC#. If you are not using one of these it will not work. On top of that there is the question of the :GR# return format; the LX200 Classic shows a return string of "+HH:MM.T#" whereas the Magellan shows a return string of "HH:MM.T#". The question is whether the "+" symbol is actually part of the string; if so then it also will not work. Also as I indicated in my original post, the cable is correct and has been tested by running PuTTY on my laptop and entering each command manually with the correct response every time. PuTTY is a program that allows you to talk directly to a serial device. If you have a better telescope setup that I can use please let me know but I have been through all the setups and the LX200 Classic was the only one I saw that had the same command codes, although many more than the Magellan. With the Magellan though, all we are interested in is knowing where we are pointing, not moving the scope or performing setups.
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Roger Perkins I have been doing some more checking. The photo below is of the computer hooked up to my telescope using my USB to Serial adapter and me typing each command manually using PuTTY. As you can see each command worked fine. No problem with the cable.
The photo below shows the connection I made to the Skyfi to check the commands coming from the skyfi unit to establish a connection. I also turned on the log to see what showed up there. I can't see how to load the log file here but it sent 3 commands according to the log, :GR#, :RS#, and :GD# and returned an error -13 on the :GR# and :GD# commands (:RS# showed no error as it was not expecting a return string). Nothing showed up at the PC end. I double checked the cable by putting jumper between pins 2 and 3 after the gender changer and the characters I typed into PuTTY echoed back as expected. I set both sides to 9600 baud for this test since it kept going back to that anyway.
I can only conclude from what I have done so far that the serial port is either not getting turned on, the pin out as is indicated in your documentation is incorrect, the baud rate is not getting set properly or the serial port is broken. As you can see above and as I have informed you, I have a USB to serial adapter that I can use if you are able to put the drivers for a Prolific chipset into your next or subsequent updates. However, unless we can find out why the baud rate continues to get reset to 9600 it will never work with my Magellan 2. Based on the log file, the Magellan will work with the LX200 Classic setup as long as the serial port problem can be resolved.
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Roger Perkins I have tried one final test setup. It did not work but I need to know if it should have. I used the previously mentioned setup with my serial port adapter and connected to it using PuTTY to listen to what was coming from the Skyfi 3. I then started telnet and connected to the serial port on the Skyfi using the "open 10.0.0.1 4030" command which should have created a direct link to the serial port if I understand everything correctly. I also did a status command on the telnet and it said it was connected. Please let me know if this should have worked as I expect it should have. I am located in New Zealand so it would be costly and time consuming to send this back to you so I need to make sure it is not a software problem before I send it back. Is the final semiconductor chip a simple parallel to serial convertor or is it more complicated than that? i.e. would I be able to replace it locally at a serial communications repair shop?
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Roger Perkins Hi Keiron,
Please disregard the part about using my USB to Serial adapter to interface to my telescope. I stumbled across the section in some of your documentation that stated "no drivers needed" and realized that you were simply using the USB interface as a serial port. Is it possible for the USB interface to be working even if the DB9 port is not and is there a way to make a cable/circuit that would convert the USB serial format to the RJ11/DB9 serial format? All the adapters I have found use a UART in the cable and require drivers which would not work. So far I have found nothing online as a build your own that does not also include a UART.
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Keiron Smith Roger,
Please just purchase the correct cable to confirm troubleshooting. Install the serial software.
https://www.meade.com/support/software-firmware/
error -13 = timeout, no reply received.
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Roger Perkins Hi Keiron,
Thanks for the advice but that is not my immediate problem. I have monitored what is happening with the baud rates and each time I do a connect it is immediately changing it to 9600 even though I keep setting it back to 300. There is something in the LX200 Classic setup that is setting the baud rate to 9600. If this can not be resolved then no matter what the cable configuration, it will not be able to communicate. We either need a separate setup for the Magellan 2 or we need to change the configuration of the LX200 Classic to stop it from setting the baud rate to 9600. I would suggest a separate setup as other users could be affected by a change in the LX200 Classic setup.
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Roger Perkins One last entry for this post. One of my previous entries showed a picture of my computer attached to the Shyfi 3 with a USB to Serial adapter and a gender changer. The gender changer was wrong, it needed to be a null modem. Once I connected it with the null modem I was able to see what Skysafari was sending by monitoring the port using PuTTY.
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