Focus Control - Help Please

[mktmgrjrm]

I've searched through the forum, but have not found an answer to my question.  I have a TEC140ED with a 3.5" FeatherTouch focuser that I would like to motorize and control with BYEOS. Starlight sells the Handy Stepper Motor for my focuser and they also sell the Focuser Boss II controller for this HSM. My question is this: with BYEOS, do I need to buy the Focuser Boss II controller for the HSM, or can BYEOS control this motor directly.  Obviously, I would save a bunch of money if I only need to buy the Handy Stepper Motor.  I'm just not smart enough about this to know if I need something between the HSM and my computer running BYEOS.

 

Thanks for your help.

[s3igell]

Just to be clear: While "Auto-Focuser" has been mentioned above in the Thread, BYE/BYN does not have an AutoFocus capability (not yet).

 

BYE/BYN Premium has the ability to Manually Control a Focuser Motor via ASCOM.

This means that you can Focus your Scope via Mouse-clicks in BYE/BYN, and you can use BYE/BYN's Focus Metrics to determine your Best Focus.

But you will be required to slew-to/select your Target Star and interpret the Focus Metrics numbers and decide which direction to drive the Focuser Motor, in order to achieve that Focus.

(Guylain has every intention of providing an AutoFocus feature, but it is not available yet.  Just don't want you to set Too High of Expectations.)

[mktmgrjrm]

So, based on info from Starizona & Starlight that it is ASCOM compliant, I bought the MicroTouch II focus control system and attached it to my scope.  The ASCOM drivers are installed, and the focuser is controllable from my PC via the MicroTouch II controller software.  Now I'm trying to get my BackyardEOS to recognize the ASCOM focuser but have not had any luck.  What is the process to get BYEOS to recognize the focus controller?  Should it recognize it immediately on startup, or is there something I need to do to make it work?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

EDIT: Never mind - I turned on the MicroTouch AFTER I had already started BYEOS - once I shut down the BYEOS and restarted it, it recognized the MicroTouch.  All is good!!

[jimwc6491]

​mktmgrirm

 

I have a feather touch focuser that I have motorized I believe you need the Focuser Boss II because that is what interfaces the motor with the computer.

The focuser Boss II "kit" includes a control box (I use for course adjustment), a USB cable, a Power cable and a two mount interface cables one short and one longer (I'm not sure of the actual lengths). you will also need to download the ASCOM driver (its free) for your mount to get it all to work. I will say that the BYEOS focuser control works great once you get the ASCOM driver to work.

[astroman133]

First, BYE can control any ASCOM-compliant absolute positioning (stepper motor) focuser. Guylain sells MoonLite focusers, but not Starlight Instruments focusers. So my advice is that you should confirm whatever advice you receive from this forum with the folks at Starlight instruments.

 

Now, I believe that it is not enough to just have the stepper motor. You also need the hub to control the stepper motor. I do not know whether you need the hand controller or not, but it seems that it is less expensive to buy all 3 items as a single product. They call it the FB-II-KIT 2 -- Focuser Boss II Electronic Focusing Control 3 piece kit.

 

Again, if you are not sure, you should contact Starlight Instruments and ask them what you need to purchase to control your FeatherTouch focuser from an ASCOM client application. You will also need to install the ASCOM Platform and the ASCOM driver for the Focuser Boss device.

[jimwc6491]

mktmgrirm

 

I miss spoke   the ASCOM driver is for the focuser not the mount sorry.

[mktmgrjrm]

It looks like Starlight also sells the MicroTouch Focusing System, which includes a stepper motor plus the hand controller.  Significantly cheaper than the Focuser Boss II which is basically an autofocuser.  The MicroTouch Focusing System has a USB connection, so my guess is that this will work with BYEOS.  I'll contact Starlight to see if they agree.

 

EDIT:  It actually looks like the stepper motor in the MFS is different than the FB II.  Appears that the FB II is an upscaled version of the MFS - I think the MFS will work just fine in BYEOS, but I'm trying to confirm that with Starlight.

[admin]

Confirm that whatever you have/want/need has an ASCOM compliant driver.  If it has then BYE/BYN can control it.  

 

Hope this helps.

[astroman133]

Actually, I think that you will find that the Starlight Focuser Boss II is not an autofocuser. It is a hub that sits between the stepper motor, the focuser hand controller, and the PC. It allows you to adjust the focuser from either the focuser hand controller or the PC. Then with the correct software on the PC, you should be able to autofocus.

 

Automatic focusing requires integration of the camera and the focuser since an image is required in order to measure star diameters. I believe that the FocusMax software is included with the digital focusing solutions from Starlight Instruments, however you should know that FocusMax does not control cameras directly. It relies on being able to communicate with a camera capture application to capture images. However, FocusMax will not communicate with BYE. It requires other (expensive) software, such as Maxim DL and The Sky X for camera capture. BYE does have an interface to allow applications like FocusMax to request images but FocusMax does not use it. This has been discussed over the past couple of years and it does not appear that the author of FocusMax is not interested in supporting BYE or BYN.  It is a shame, really.

 

Actually, the MKIT35 looks like an older version of the Digital Boss 2 system.

 

Starlight Instruments or Starizona should be able to help you to figure out what you need.

[mktmgrjrm]

Just spoke to Dean at Starizona, and he says that the MicroTouch Focusing System is ASCOM compliant.  So my assumption is that since BYEOS can accept input from an ASCOM compliant focuser it should work.

 

Dean did question whether BYEOS can accept ASCOM compliant connection, but as I'm reading the info here the Premium version does.

[admin]

Yes, BYE/BYN Premium can connect to any ASCOM compliant focuser, so you should be fine.

 

Regards,