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Celestron Focus motor


BillTin

Question

I am new to astro photography and decide to add a Celestron focus motor to my set up. I installed the focus motor's driver from Celestron and I can control the telescope and focus motor using Celestron CPWI software. When I use BYE I can slew the telescope but the focus motor control does not work. I selected in BYE the Celestron driver for the motor and it shows in the Ascom Focuser control area as AscomCelestronUsbMotor. Also, I notice that when I selected the ascom driver for the telescope the Celestron  CPWI was and option as driver and that is what I am using. As per the focus motor I did not have that option and I selected Celestron USB Focuser. The focus motor is plug into the mount aux port. Any suggestions?

 

Thank you,

 

Bill 

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There is nothing special about the focuser connection in BYE, it's an ASCOM interface.

Can you be more specific?  Does it at least connect in BYE?

I'm not familiar with the Celestron focus motor per say, but if it follows the ASCOM protocol then it should work as-is.  

If your Celestron ASCOM driver has both 32 and 64 bits version of the ASCOM driver, make sure you install the 32 bits ASCOM driver as BYE is a 32 bits application.

Regards,

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You should install the latest Celestron ASCOM driver since it supports both the telescope and optionally the focuser. If you want to, you could ask Celestron tech support about what you are trying to do.

The Celestron driver that can be downloaded from the ASCOM web site is written by an independent developer and is implemented as a local server so the same executable can be used with both 32-bit and 64-bit applications.

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Thank you for the quick reply. I tried the unified driver for celestron from the ASCOM web site.  It did add an extra driver choise "Celestron Focuser Driver", but it was no help. When I try to connect the focus motor from BYE I get sounds, single beep, to me is like an error sound generated by the program and nothing else.  I attach a couple of screen shots showing the difference choice of driver for the telescope compere to the focuser motor. I hope clears it out.  I am not a computer expert by any means but I think, since I can connect and control the focus motor using Celestron CPWI software the driver is working. I just wondering if the problem is in the lack of choice of the CPWI at the focuser driver pull down menu.

 

Bill

Focus Motor Driver.jpg

Telescope driver.jpg

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No just the telescope. I can see com port 3 shows up in the hardware manager when I connect the telescope. I think it would be normal since the focuser is plug into the scope mount. I called Celestron and I am expecting a call back from their support department. 

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53 minutes ago, BillTin said:

No just the telescope. I can see com port 3 shows up in the hardware manager when I connect the telescope. I think it would be normal since the focuser is plug into the scope mount. I called Celestron and I am expecting a call back from their support department. 

I'm not sure how Celestron has implementing there ASCOM driver for the focuser but I would expected that Windows would need to *see* it first.  

Have you tried connecting your focuser using to ASCOM diagnostic tool? 

 

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First of all thank you for your time and effort. I just got off the phone with celestron and they are aware of the problem. I was explained that there is a conflict the way the drivers are handle by their software. There is going to be software update to correct this problem.  To get around this problem in the mean time, celestron recommends to connect the focuser directly to the laptop using a usb cable and the celestron focuser motor usb driver. That would officially max out the usb ports in my laptop, no mouse.☹️

While I was waiting for the celestron call, somehow manage to get the BYE to load the focuser data but as soon I tried to focus the motor I got and error window. See the pic.

 

Thanks to all,

 

Bill

1.jpg

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11 minutes ago, astroman133 said:

The Celestron focuser connects through the mount so I would expect that Windows would only see a single COM port created.

In your screenshot of the Focuser driver settings, you did not select a COM port.

Yes, if you look closely the com port pull down menu is grey out not available.

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I restart the computer and the telescope.

Power and connect the telescope to the computer.

Open BYE, select the telescope settings and select the "celestron telescope driver" ( not the CPWI from the driver pulldown menu) 

Connected to the telescope successfully. Telescope info is populated immediately.

open the focuser motor settings and select the "celestron focuser driver" (not the celestron focuser usb driver). The focuser info is populated immediately.

Click the focus motor adjustment (any of the steps ). Error sound from the computer with the message. ( see the pic).

 

FYI I tried connecting the focuser directly to the laptop with it own power been supplied and usb cable using the celestron focuser usb driver. Everything works correctly except that when slew the telescope E and W with BYE slews in the opposite direction than CPWI .  I would like to perform an aliment and confirm this issue before getting too exited. 

 

Bill

mesage.jpg

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The error you are getting is thrown by the ASCOM driver.  The error is "Move is not allowed because the focuser is not calibrated".

This is a Celestron/ASCOM error message... I don't how they work but it seems like Celestron requires that you calibrate your focuser.  I would guess they would have something in the manual for this.

This being said, this is a non fatal error for BYE, just click continue.  But you need to figure out how to calibrate your focuser from the Celestron documentation. 

Baby steps.

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I have successfully calibrated the focuser twice using the Celestron utility program. BYE does operate the focuser correctly if plug directly to the laptop via usb. The problem is when the focuser is plugged  to celestron mount. I am confident that the problem lies with celestron software as I was told by celestron support. 

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Just now, BillTin said:

I have successfully calibrated the focuser twice using the Celestron utility program. BYE does operate the focuser correctly if plug directly to the laptop via usb. The problem is when the focuser is plugged  to celestron mount. I am confident that the problem lies with celestron software as I was told by celestron support. 

Awesome, at least you have established that your focuser is recognized by the computer and does work.

A+

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Thank you for your help and I would like to mention that I am very impressed with BYE. My telescope set up is a beginners level the least to say.  I found the BYE very well design and intuitive. I am looking forward for clear night to try it out. I am sure I will continue to use it once I am ready to upgrade my equipment.

 

Bill

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20 minutes ago, BillTin said:

Thank you for your help and I would like to mention that I am very impressed with BYE. My telescope set up is a beginners level the least to say.  I found the BYE very well design and intuitive. I am looking forward for clear night to try it out. I am sure I will continue to use it once I am ready to upgrade my equipment.

 

Bill

Thank you for the kind words.

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On 1/4/2020 at 8:33 AM, admin said:

I'm not sure how Celestron has implementing there ASCOM driver for the focuser but I would expected that Windows would need to *see* it first.  

Have you tried connecting your focuser using to ASCOM diagnostic tool? 

 

Hi I am also trying to connect my focuser but I believe ascom can fint it, not to sure if you can help with this one? it can't find the focuser com port, please see attached jpeg I had it working a few weeks ago and when I looked it up in device manager it said "Celestron focuser not USB serial device" 

Im not sure if that helps? 

Screenshot (1)_LI-min.jpg

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You will probably need to research this Celestron Connectivity Issue on the Celestron Support Site/Forum/Facebook Group, as this appears an issue between Hardware and Software foreign to BYE.

You might also try the larger audience of the Cloudy Nights forum.  Surely, other Celestron Users have overcome the same problems.

Once you can establish and maintain connectivity between ASCOM and the Focuser, it should be a relatively easy matter to complete the BYE to ASCOM connectivity.

Do realize that BYE does NOT support an AutoFocus feature, rather a Manual Movement of the Focuser only.

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I've had no problem with the Celestron or cpwi ascom drivers.  I've been using 3.1.16 with an ioptron mount and my canon EF lenses.  Switching to running a Celestron GGEM II, C8 Edge, Celestron focuser was painless.  I did calibrate the focuser with the hand controller as I commissioned the mount.  I'm using a W10 home box.

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On 1/3/2020 at 6:04 PM, BillTin said:

First of all thank you for your time and effort. I just got off the phone with celestron and they are aware of the problem. I was explained that there is a conflict the way the drivers are handle by their software. There is going to be software update to correct this problem.  To get around this problem in the mean time, celestron recommends to connect the focuser directly to the laptop using a usb cable and the celestron focuser motor usb driver. That would officially max out the usb ports in my laptop, no mouse.☹️

While I was waiting for the celestron call, somehow manage to get the BYE to load the focuser data but as soon I tried to focus the motor I got and error window. See the pic.

 

Thanks to all,

 

Bill

1.jpg

Have the exact same issue. Someone needs to fix this, easy for bye to say the problem relies on Clestron sw,....

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I work on the ASCOM support forums quite a bit and have written several drivers and ASCOM applications.

That message ("Move is not allowed...") must be coming from the Celestron driver. ASCOM does not have the concept of a focuser needing to be calibrated before it can be used. There is nothing that BYE can do, except to catch the exception and report the error to the user rather than leaving the exception be unhandled.

For developers, ASCOM's mantra is do it right or raise an error. From the application programmer's perspective the developer needs to be prepared for any ASCOM call to raise an error. BYE is not doing this which is why you are seeing the Unhandled Exception dialog.

My guess is that Celestron provides different variants of their focuser with draw tubes of different lengths. If that is the case then "calibrating" the focuser would be related to the process of determining the number of steps between the full in and full out positions. This is solely a focuser driver and/or focuser issue and there is not much that O'Telescope can do except to catch the exception and report it, which they are not now doing. It is up to you to ensure that the focuser is ready per the manufacturer's recommendations. Celestron provides a program for calibrating the focuser.

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30 minutes ago, p85d said:

Have the exact same issue. Someone needs to fix this, easy for bye to say the problem relies on Clestron sw,....

It has nothing to do with BYE and I object to any comments saying otherwise.  The error itself specifically says "Move not allowed because the focuser is not calibrated".   This is a focuser error thrown by the focuser driver...that someone who needs to fix this is on the focuser side of the equation, that is 100% clear.

I do understand your frustration however, and I can sympathize with you.  It is important to know in any problem solving situation where the actual issue reside and any effort spent outside that realm will be in vein.  The focuser is not calibrated and the focuser driver is throwing the error... this is where the effort needs to occur.

Regards,

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6 minutes ago, astroman133 said:

Guylain,

Yes, I agree. There is nothing that BYE can do to make this work, but when it doesn't work for example because the user has never calibrated their focuser, the exception that is raised by the driver should not crash BYE. This can be fixed in BYE and BYN.

Yes, good point.

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On 1/3/2020 at 6:04 PM, BillTin said:

First of all thank you for your time and effort. I just got off the phone with celestron and they are aware of the problem. I was explained that there is a conflict the way the drivers are handle by their software. There is going to be software update to correct this problem.  To get around this problem in the mean time, celestron recommends to connect the focuser directly to the laptop using a usb cable and the celestron focuser motor usb driver. That would officially max out the usb ports in my laptop, no mouse.☹️

While I was waiting for the celestron call, somehow manage to get the BYE to load the focuser data but as soon I tried to focus the motor I got and error window. See the pic.

 

Thanks to all,

 

Bill

1.jpg

When spoke to the Celestron Software tech support some time ago, they informed me that their software (Celestron' s) had a problem with the way handle the drivers and they were working on a fix. I hope it clears the confusion of who is responsible for the bug.

Cheers,

Bill

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