YouTube Tutorial: How to Connect & Use Sharpcap with Seestar

[admin]

Hi Curtis,

I had a play with the latest Seestar update last night too

* ROI on the camera is still not working (but in a slightly different way at the moment, it just doesn't produce a frame rather than generating an error). I am leaving that disabled for now.
* Park and Unpark on the ASCOM driver do work, but Unpark doesn't actually bring the arm out. I had a play and ended up preferring my existing workaround that brings out the arm on unpark as you *know* it has done something. Unfortunately, the changes do interfere with some of the workaround that I had put into the very latest SharpCap update, but I have now fixed that too for consistent operation
* The driver reports that pulse guiding works and allows the guiding rates to be set - that should enable it to work with 'dither only guiding' in SharpCap, but I haven't tested it in anger
* The dew heater does indeed appear as a switch device. It would be nice to have more available on the switch device (it could readout the battery level, time left, etc).

cheers,

Robin

[curtismacc]

I don't have a problem with the fact that Unpark doesn't move the scope. It is the same way on my Software Bisque mount with The Sky X. But we do have to use the Unpark command for the Seestar to accept an instruction to GoTo a target or location. I wonder if we could use the temperature reported by the Seestar to do an autofocus when the temperature changes by a set amount. The temperature sensor on the Seestar is most likely the one embedded in the lithium ion battery as it is there to prevent charging below 0 deg C. Since the Seestar is such a small device I think this temperature is a "good enough" representation of overall thermal changes that would cause the focus to shift.

Regards,
Curtis

[admin]

Hi Curtis,

fair point on the unpark for other mounts, I guess what I was aiming for was an equivalent to the 'open arm' in the app, which gives someone a familiar response to an equivalent action (unpark == open arm, park == close arm). I seem to have that working now, so will stick with that implementation.

I hadn't spotted the temperature readout - is that on the switch device? I guess it would depend on exactly where the temperature sensor is in the device to be honest - even in a small device, if it is near the battery or main electronics it will get heated when the device works hard (slewing, processing, whatever) which isn't what we want. There also isn't a clear way in the SharpCap code to make a sensor on a switch device get used in place of the temperature readout of a focuser. Of course, if the temperature is coming through the focuser temperature readout then it would all 'just work' from the SharpCap side.

cheers,

Robin

[davemartin88]

I don't have a problem with the fact that Unpark doesn't move the scope. It is the same way on my Software Bisque mount with The Sky X. But we do have to use the Unpark command for the Seestar to accept an instruction to GoTo a target or location. I wonder if we could use the temperature reported by the Seestar to do an autofocus when the temperature changes by a set amount. The temperature sensor on the Seestar is most likely the one embedded in the lithium ion battery as it is there to prevent charging below 0 deg C. Since the Seestar is such a small device I think this temperature is a "good enough" representation of overall thermal changes that would cause the focus to shift.

Regards,
Curtis

When I click the park button in the telescope control section in SharpCap, the scope arm moved to the open position and was then controllable from within SharpCap as expected. Clicking the park button while arm was open resulted in the Seestar closing the arm as expected. Worked on both S30 and S50 as expected. May not have understood what you were saying but good to go as is.

[stbkaiser]

HI Robin
Thanks for all your work to get new features of Seestar working.
I was just testing with your latests (SharpCapInstall-4.1.14031.0-64bit, pro) and latest Seestar updates.
for me
When I turn on S50 , in station mode.
I can connect to all the functions of the S50.
BUT
If I try to UNPARK the S50 I get an error in sharpcap.
I believe SC sent out a bug report.
I also tried a object GOTO and got the same SC error.
If I connect to S50 via Ipad app, and open arm then close arm, I can then use SC to UNPARK , PARK without issues.
So for me, SC/APLACA seems to have mount communication issues with a freshly started S50.
Take care
Steve

[admin]

Hi Steve,

yes, what you have discovered is that my initial workaround for making the park/unpark available worked with the previous Seestar firmware, but is incompatible with the newly updated one. I have a further fix for this that should be compatible with both Seestar firmware versions - that will be available later today.

cheers,

Robin

[stbkaiser]

Hi Robin
and to anyone else with Seestar
I just updated last night (jan 6 2025)to latest firmware on my S50.
I was testing out SC pro with the S50 and all seems to be functioning OK.
The only thing I noticed and maybe others can check this.
Now , when I park or shutdown the S50, it is rotated 90deg CW from where it use to park.
I can tell this because I have the S50 in EQ mode and I have a vixen rail mounted on the bottom to use with my std mounts.
I checked the Park - shutdown position using the Apple App and it also parks in the new position.
Not a big issue since I can remount the rail to the new required position,
Anyone directly mounting Seestar to a Eq mount will probably only notice the difference the first time they use the new SW.
Take care
Steve