COM ports for Focuser and Telescope

[captmgik]

One area of Windows that has always baffled me is the topic of COM Ports.  

FYI, I am new to BYE and am just getting setup.

 

PROBLEM:  I can not connect BYE to either my Robofocuser which I know is on COM1 and my LX-200 ACF 10 inch which is on COM6.  BYE tells me to be sure I'm on the correct COM port.  That sounds like a reasonable request except I don't know what COM BYE expects and I also don't know how to get my hardware moved to the correct COM port.  By the way, both of these devices are ASCOM and work with THE SKY and the standalone ROBOFOCUS software on the COM's I identified.

 

The PC is running  WIN 8  The focuser attaches directly to a PC Serial Port while the Telescope goes through a Serial to USB converter.  As I said, I know that the connections are good as I can use them to talk to these devices with the other software I discussed.

 

The good news is that my Canon D60 is connecting just fine.

 

Anyone out there live in or near San Diego?

 

Regards

Jim

 

 

[astroman133]

Your issues are totally ASCOM-related and not BYE issues, at all!

 

For the focuser on COM1:

 

First, which version of The Sky are you using? The Sky 6 does not support ASCOM but The Sky X does!

 

Second, are you trying to connect to the focuser from BYE while it is already connected via The Sky X through ASCOM? If so, it is likely that this will not work, but it depends on how the ASCOM Robofocuser driver is written. As a test, make sure that TSX is not connected and try to connect via BYE.

 

For the LX200 via a USB-to-RS232 adapter:

 

Like for the focuser, connection from multiple applications to a single telescope depends on the design of the ASCOM telescope driver. Make sure that no applications are connected to the driver and that the driver is not actively running. Then verify that the COM port is actually COM6, since it may not always be the same port number. Finally, be sure that the driver properties shows that the driver is set to the correct port number via Chooser's Properties dialog, then try to connect.

 

Also note that BYE uses MoveAxis capability to nudge the mount and that not all ASCOM telescope drivers implement MoveAxis. Since there are multiple drivers for the LX-200 it is not possible for me to say that BYE will be able to nudge your mount even after you solve the connection issue. Once you are connected, BYE should tell you if MoveAxis is not possible for the selected driver.