I was at the Table Mountain Star Party this past week attempting to narrowband image. I found the Eagle nebula and got really excited lol. I borrowed a friends 9 pin RS-232 adapter and used the Celestron 9 pin cable that then snaps into the bottom of the Nexstar hand controller like a phone jack.
All seemed well but still SGPro was barking at me that it did not recognize my mount and was unable to run a sequence at all without that mount connected. I went into the ASCOM settings and tried to manually select a port…no COM ports were listed at all.
I am using a 5 year old Alienware 14…my filter wheel and camera (ZWO1600) connect just fine…what do I do? I am not smart enough to problem solve this…no one could help me in the field at the star party and no one in my astro club images that way I do…I need help LOL. Thanks!
I would guess that you need the correct Windows driver for your laptop to recognize your friend’s RS-232 adapter. I wouldn’t worry too much about connecting to his adapter, but would encourage you to get your own and work on getting it set up so you can use it anytime you feel the itch. If you are lucky a new USB to serial adapter will come with the needed software to install and it will be an easy fix.
My CD port no longer works so even if this new adapter comes with its own drivers I won’t be able to download them lol…although hopefully I can find them online somewhere.
So what you’re telling me is you think it’s the fact that I was using a generic RS-232 adapter and that you think the Celestron version will work? Let’s hope so…will find out next Friday when it arrives lol.
I just saw your CN post. Before you can get SGP to run you have to have your mount and laptop communicating. I think I’d recommend leaving SGP out of the equation until you are sure of the connection.
I suggest you go to Manuals & Software | Celestron and then select “Drivers and Software”, scroll down to Celestron Firmware Manager, click on it, download CFM_2.3.7111.zip, and unzip it. This is the official Celestron software to upgrade your hand controller. Connect everything up, power on your mount, run the Firmware Manager and see if it can find your mount. Based on what you’ve said, it probably won’t.
You need to make sure you have the right Celestron serial cable (http://www.celestron.com/browse-shop/astronomy/accessories/cables/nexstar-rs-232-cable) Cables for Meade, iOptron, etc. may outwardly look the same but the pin connections may be different, and not work. Your laptop probably doesn’t have a RS-232 port so you need a USB to Serial adapter similar to what is describe here: 5 Steps for Selecting the Right USB to Serial adapter I particularly like the 5 steps mentioned on that page. It seems the most common adapters are Prolific with many knockoffs. It is not uncommon for the software to fail to install so I’d recommend getting your adapter somewhere local where it is easily returned. I would expect that Windows 10 would recognize the new adapter, but if your five year old laptop is running the original operating system you will probably have to install software that only comes on a CD. If you have online storage like Dropbox you might be able to upload the software there via a public computer in something like a library or over at a friend’s house.
Once the Celestron Firmware Manager recognizes your mount, ASCOM should be able to see it too. Do make sure you have installed the ASCOM Celestron Unified Driver from Telescope/Mount Drivers. At that point SGP should be able to connect to your mount.
Thank you! I’ll let you know how it goes when the adapter gets here!