Well done Brenden. I took mine out for a run on the weekend, the Bluetooth components worked beautifully but I did have real grief with a cheap gamepad. My new one arrived today but has not been used on the mount yet.
The whole EQMod thing is not so good without the ability to control the telescope at the scope (very hard to align it) but with that working (or once the allignment's done) it's fantastic.
Hi Bob. I built 4 modules, 2 for me, one for an IIS friend and I have one spare I will give away to an experienced Gemini 1 user..just have to find one.
Control at the scope is preferred...maybe one day for me, although I can see using a BT game pad and BT to control the scope would be very attractive. I can do this in Gemini ASCOM.
I mucked around with various PCBs using the toner method I had the final version made for me. Beats the hell out of my attempts & they milled slots for the DC power jack! Wow! In the mean time, MDfly has changed the transceiver modules. They mirrored the pins. So I mistakenly purchased the new module found this out, damn! The fix was to put it in upside down as they had also changed the status LED to a bright green one.
Anyway, turning it upside down attenuated the LED brightness and it can be still easily seen thru my case (I use clear plastic case).
Oh by the way I mentioned acknowledgement to you of this project in my documents. You now an internet icon!
I overcame the BT software issue with Toshiba BT stack...although my little netbook, XP home, had no issues like I previously had.
I guess I should post my project up in this forum as well its cheap ~$40 parts (depends upon where you buy them). I'll PM Iceman. If you want a copy of my docs I can send them to you (1.1meg zipped).
The future..hey we can control focusers with this BT as well!
fantastic thread and neat project. I've been thinking of wireless control for a while and was searching for suitable transceivers on the internet until i found this thread at good old iis.
Bob, i've ordered the same sparkfun bluesmirf module, did you get it working or did you use the transceiver from ebay?
also, are these drop in serial modules, as in will they pass serial data without any programming of the module?
my interface is to a picaxe microcontroller.
i'm also working on wireless video, usb 2's bandwidth of 2.1Mbps should be adequate as that is the throughput rate. most video sources don't need such high bitrates.
so you could have three modules, one for the focuser/mcu interface, one for the scope control interface and one for the guide camera interface.
also been thinking of using the xbee modules as they can work in full mesh configurations if you have more than one serial endpoint. but more expensive.
alistairsam I've not had any success so far talking to an Arduino via Bluetooth. It can be done, I've just not managed so far, wondering if I'm missing something basic on bit-rates.
No programming of the module for what I've done with the EQ6.
Looking forward to seeing how you go with wireless transceivers, the WiFly looks impressive. More and more greaat stuff becoming available to the end user.
The raw version of the bluetooth module has USB pad's but I've not had any success with that yet. It would be nice to be able to just add power and a bluetooth/wireless to USB devices and have connectivity.
I am waiting on a few regulator modules then I will be wiring the whole lot using power directly from the mount. The bluetooth module run a 6V maximum input before regulation so instead of making linear regulator I decided to go for more efficient switching regulation.
yep, the switching regulators are a lot more efficient. http://www.robotgear.com.au/Product.aspx/Details/464 is pin compatible with the 7805's.
I'm also looking at multi channel solutions like the RC servo's, so you can have just one transceiver and multiple endpoints like focuser, finder, scope, camera. aim is to have the whole thing wireless using BT or wifi, atleast for me.
i'm going to try out the attached solution as this way i'd be able to get most of the devices on the scope wireless.
i'll be using a 4 port USB over IP device that you can use to map a USB port wirelessly over IP.
all up, cost should be around $120 but will allow interfacing 4 endpoints including any microcontroller for stepper motors.
still theory, there may be practical issues, but should be fixable.
will post results
I think the issue with WiFi to USB (which I have one) is that it cannot transmit the COM protocols, or at least doesn't mention it.
The one that I have has the same listed features as the one you have displayed but cannot provide COM port usage which is essential to telescope control. So I only use it for remote USB hard-drive storage.
I think the issue with WiFi to USB (which I have one) is that it cannot transmit the COM protocols, or at least doesn't mention it.
The one that I have has the same listed features as the one you have displayed but cannot provide COM port usage which is essential to telescope control. So I only use it for remote USB hard-drive storage.
when you say COM protocols, do you mean a serial port?
the USB to IP bridge is just for that, to transport USB traffic over IP.
For serial data, you need the USB to serial adaptor which i've mentioned.
so you attach this inline to your bridge for serial ports which will provide serial communication over a COM port (the driver maps to a virtual COM port), and you use the USB ports for USB devices like the cameras.
Yes I understand that it should work but mine doesn't. I bought it for the very reason of connecting to a drive system and Digital Setting Circles some time ago but it won't work.
I am not a computer spert but there maybe some issue or design limitation to the one I have that won't allow it to be used in this way.
Maybe the others will work but I would query it first with the manufacturer before buying one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by alistairsam
when you say COM protocols, do you mean a serial port?
the USB to IP bridge is just for that, to transport USB traffic over IP.
For serial data, you need the USB to serial adaptor which i've mentioned.
so you attach this inline to your bridge for serial ports which will provide serial communication over a COM port (the driver maps to a virtual COM port), and you use the USB ports for USB devices like the cameras.
I just tested a serial to IP device that I had lying around and it works fine for serial data.
that would be another method of transporting serial data over wired or wireless IP. so you can control it from over the Internet as well.
I'm adding the USB bridge as I wanted to interface the cameras as well.
I will test the USB to IP bridge and let you know.
did you test the USB bridge with a usb to serial device inline? if you use just the usb bridge, it won't work.
also depends on the usb to serial device. some of the ones on ebay are not reliable. i have a prolific device and one other, both work fine.
I work in IT so have a few workarounds for common issues. happy to help if needed.
did you test the USB bridge with a usb to serial device inline? if you use just the usb bridge, it won't work.
also depends on the usb to serial device. some of the ones on ebay are not reliable. i have a prolific device and one other, both work fine.
Yep, I have numerous USB to Serial converters here and have been using it directly non wireless since I got my mount. I had a digital setting Circle originally with a USB to serial / TTL (my area of spert) and it failed to recognise the device when connected.
It seems the USB hub I received only recognises specific drivers that need to be converted to IP and COMMs is not one of them. If yours works then I would be glad to re-look at the project again.
It might have to do with the usb to serial driver or insufficient power from the usb bridge.
will test and post results.
i might start a different thread, i've detracted enough from the essence of this thread which was Bluetooth to serial.
can you please PM the make and model of your USB bridge.
Well I can now join the EQMOD/Bluetooth club. Just got mine up and running very quickly I must admit. Quite happy with the results.
Distance tested so far up to 8 metres.
The only problem I experienced was Com Port selection which is not changeable after established. But found it possible during custom setup for new device.
Well done Malcolm. Glad to see see others are finding this useful.
Bob
Thanks Bob, I have had the Bluetooth unit for a while, I was going to use it for my original project with Digital Setting Circles. But as I still can't use my DOB for a while, thought this would be a better project. Thanks for the boost.
Uploaded a general photo. Nothing inside other than the same bluetooth unit that you have and a power supply and as prototypes go a mess of wires