New mount and how to connect sharpcap

[cugsy]

Afternoon all, (especially Robin). Let me babble on for a minute and then decide if my problem is fixable.

Like most people, I've had a good many mounts. Because I have a huge tree in the north I decided years ago I would stick with a good altaz mount and enjoy the view south. I was using an EQAZ6 with a 12" sct on one side (for visual - mainly tiny little planetary nebulae) and on the other side is an 8" f5 newt for EAA (SX Ultrastar). All of this worked fine with either Sharpcap or APT. But, the sct was a bit too heavy for the AZEQ6 and when I read about the Rowan AZ100 with goto and higher carrying capacity, I ordered one. However, I jumped in with both left feet and later realised that the mount was aimed at mostly visual.
It works wirelessy via the tablet or pc/phone (android and IOS) using a built in LX200 (classic I assume) protocol and has it's own planetarium. It can also run alongside Sky Safari which allows a bigger database. Now, I've emailed Derek Rowan a few times about Ascom and 3rd party planetarium software (I'm a great advocate of CDC...I love it). But, Derek is loathe to include ASCOM as he sees it aimed mostly at astrophotography and his mount is for visual. With me so far?
Now, I have read that a couple of other Az100 users have connected to the mount with Luminos. But, Luminos is for Ipad and I'm android and windows. Boo, I hear. So, I would like to continue to use Sharpcap for it's plate solving capability. But, first I need to be able to connect to the mount using the LX200 and then connect to Sharpcap to plate solve. The mount is very accurate, but a tiny 2" or 3" arc second planetary nebula is a challenge to find even in the 12"sct. Being able to confirm the mount's position and then correct would be a time saver. Especially, when I can do EAA with the SX Ultrastar.

I realise that this has to go through the admin first, so I'm hoping Robin sees it and has a magical solution.

To recap - Rowan AZ100 with LX200 wireless connection. It's own planetarium software for alignment and then Sky Safari 6. But, I would like to be able to use ANY planetarium software that will connect to Sharpcap and let me plate solve.

Thanks in advance John

[admin]

Hi,

ouch, that sounds like a tricky one to solve... There are plenty of ASCOM drivers out there for the Meade protocol, but they all assume that they will be talking to a serial port (or perhaps a USB one) rather than communicating over WIFI.

Can you confirm what device you have that controls your mount? Looking online, I see it sold with a 'Nexus DSC Pro' controller, which according to the documentation here (https://www.astrodevices.com/resources/ ... al_1.3.pdf) has a USB and serial port. Those sound promising as a way to connect the PC and perhaps get control via an ASCOM driver designed for the Nexus DSC?

cheers,

Robin

[cugsy]

Hello Robin. Glad you're here to help.

The mount I purchased is the GOTO version that relies on the Rowan's own planetarium software (and sky safari) to control the mount. I'm not sure about the usb/serial connections. There is provision for an RS232 on the AZ100 but Derek tells me that it is for a handset (which is in the pipeline).
I've tried to see if Alpaca will recognise the LX200 and connect that way but my mind is boggled by it. Somewhere, in my head I have this idea that the tablet or pc can create a virtual port, recognise that and then connect to CDC and ultimately Sharpcap. I know when I had the skywatcher mounts that they could connect to a 3rd party using the synscan app.
It's no great problem as it stands. I can still run the mount with 2 scopes and use the SX camera with Sharpcap for EAA. But, as mentioned when looking for those wee PN's, you need as much help (plate solving) as you can get. I just don't know if the pc/tablet sees the LX200 as the mount. If it does and I can create a virtual com port over the wifi then I'm there. But, I ain't no 'puter expert. I still use windows XP!

Thanks anyway. John

[admin]

Hi John,

I am guessing you have this setup : https://rowanengineering.com/products/a20631200a

From the instructions it looks like it will accept LX200 data over the network, as you suggested. In theory, that would allow someone to write an ASCOM driver for it by taking an existing LX200 driver and sending /receiving the messages over the network instead of the serial ports. I can't find one that does it though, and I'm not sure how you would get the PC and the device onto the same WIFI network. I suspect that if someone who was good with programming/computers had one, they could find a way to do it, but it would be a good deal of tinkering and trial-and-error.

Anyway, good to hear that you have a workable plan using the built in software - clear skies!

Robin

[cugsy]

Just this morning, some superb news. It don't take much to cheer me up

Hello John,

We are testing a wired connection via the AZ100 serial RS232 port.
This will allow remote control from PC applications such as Sellarium and carte du ciel (and also direct control using Pyton scripts).

I believe carte du ciel does have LX200 command protocol.
I’ll let you know when we have the firmware working and I can give you details of the firmware for AZ100 to test with CdC.

Derek.

[admin]

Hi John,

that sounds really promising - if it works it should solve the problem as you will be able to pick one of the LX200 ASCOM drivers and use that.

cheers,

Robin