Hi guys,
The idea is very simple and works because Bluetooth technology provides a serial communication service. It's not only for EQMOD/EQ6 and I am sure that a serial cable can be replaced with Bluetooth connection in virtually any setup with any mount where serial connection is required.
Once a Bluetooth enabled PC is paired with a Serial To Bluetooth adapter software on that PC can call the adapter serial service. It creates a virtual serial(COM) port. After that this port can be used for a serial communication without any cables running.
I'll describe steps you'll need to follow if you want to connect wirelessly to your EQ6/EQ5 mount via Bluetooth and use it with EQMOD for both autoguiding and controlling your mount.
You'll need to have the following hardware:
1)A desktop/laptop with a Bluetooth module built in or a spare USB port on your PC so you can use a Bluetooth USB dongle if your PC doesn't have Bluetooth built in.
(If you don't have a spare USB port or Bluetooth built in there may be other solutions for your laptop/desktop to make it Bluetooth enabled.
It can be either a PCI Bluetooth card for a desktop or a Bluetooth PCMCIA card for a laptop. They are all quite cheap these days.)
2) an EQDIR module from shoestring astronomy.
3) a Serial to Bluetooth adapter. Usually cost US$50-120.
(I am using the one from
http://www.aircable.net/ and it's their
Serial3x model. It has a rechargeable battery built in so I don't need to supply any power for the adapter. They also produce cheaper versions of these adapters without a battery. I haven't seen them closely but since mine comes with a USB cable for powering/charging the adapter I guess that ones without batteries come with the same USB cable just for powering them.)
How to connect it all together:
1) Remove your mount remote control from a mount serial port. You won’t need it at all. You can use any planetary software that you like to control your mount. The only requirement for this software it must support telescope connection through ASCOM platform.
2) Connect EQDIR module to the mount serial port
3) Turn a Serial To Bluetooth adapter on
4) Turn your mount on
On your PC you should have Bluetooth software installed. If your PC has a built in Bluetooth module software should be already installed on your PC.
(If you add it as USB/PCMCIA/PCA module it usually comes with this software. Note: the cheapest Chinese Bluetooth USB dongles may not have Bluetooth software supplied with them)
Bluetooth software allows you:
1) Find any Bluetooth device near you(range up to 10m)
2) Pair with required device and then.
2) Get list of all the services they provide
3) Use a required service
If you use the laptop/pc with the Serial To Bluetooth adapter for the first time you'll need to find the adapter with your PC, get the adapter serial service and connect to it from your PC first. You will see what serial (COM) port number is assigned to this connection once it is established.
(If you don't know what paring means or how to connect two Bluetooth devices together please Google for it. It's very simple and not that much different than connecting your Bluetooth hands free kit to your mobile phone.)
That's probably all what's involved. If you put the COM port number you've got from the first time in settings window for EQMOD it'll use this port to establish connection.
Just remember that you should have your mount and adapter to be ON. EQMOD and Bluetooth software will do the rest when you will try to connect/disconnect from your mount.
If you start using EQMOD Pulse Guiding you won't need to use a ST4 port on your mount anymore. Simply use ASCOM (EQMOD) in PHD and all guiding commands will be sent through an established via Bluetooth serial connection.
And you don't need to worry about problems when connecting your planetary software (i.e. Cartes Du Ciel) and PHD to your mount at the same time. EQMOD will handle situations when more than one program trying to use the same serial port simultaneously.
Note: If you going to use the same model of a Serial To Bluetooth adapter as I’m using(Air Cable Serial3x) you'll need to set positions for two last dip switches on the adapter to OFF(Down) mode. There are four of them on the adapter and it’s supplied with all switches set to ON(Up). The first three are responsible for serial communication speed (baud rate) and the fourth one is for turning on/off handshake method. I've found out that baud rate must be set to 9600bps and handshake must be set to OFF when these adapters are used for telescope connection. You should change stitches positions before you’ll try to connect to the adapter for the first time.
See the "Baudrate & Hardware Handshake Configuration" section at
http://www.aircable.net/support-serial3x.htm for more details.
If you are going to use different model of an adapter from aircable.net or from a different manufacturer make sure that this adapter can be configured or comes set to 9600bps speed and has handshake set to OFF.
Hope this helps.
I am also attaching 2 pictures with views of how it's all connected + 1 pictures with the other side of my adapter . The last one is closeup for these four switches I was mentioning above.
Cheers,
Mike