Anyone using Stellarmate with a StarAdventurer

[seeker372011]

I am hoping to use Stellarmate on a Rapberry Pi 4 - with a StarAdventurer - the wifi model-for


- polar alignment
- image acquisition
- finding objects through plate solving
- auto guiding

(When travelling /camping)

Is there anyone who uses their Stellarmate similarly happy to chip in with some advice ?

1.To begin with what does your equipment profile look like in StellarMate?
( do you select Staradventurer 2i as your Mount or do you leave it blank- this was what was recommended in the past but may not be right for the current Staradventurer model)

2. Do you use the Staradventurer wifi at all and connect the IPad and Stellarmate to that hot spot or do you just connect to the Stellarmate wifi hot spot and ignore the Staradventurer wifi?

3. How do you use plate solving for finding objects?

Any other tips and tricks?

I have asked these questions on indilib but have no response so far ; also on the StellarMate facebook page without much luck

Thanks very much in advance

Narayan

PS yes I know I know using a Mini PC or ASIAIR would be a lot easier but I thought I’d give this alternative a go.


.

[AstroViking]

Hi there,


I don't have the same gear as you (just the Star Adventurer), so this may not be much help to you.


I'd connect the SA and all the imaging gear to the StellarMate and use it's WiFi. I doubt the SA's WiFi would allow for multiple devices to connect - to the best of my knowledge it's designed only for the Sky Watcher app.


May I suggest you post details of your setup? Then other people may be able to help more.


Cheers,
V

[seeker372011]

The bit I have no idea how to do ? How to connect the Staradventurer to the Stellarmate. Any suggestions welcome

My equipment- for this particular setup- a Canon 550 D / Borg 45 ED as primary telescope and imaging camera; ZWO ASI 120 MC as guide camera, generic mini guide scope

Mount starwatcher pro 2i

The Staradventurer can be auto guided only through an ST4 cable connection to the Guide Camera.


Though theoretically possible - according to the developer of Stellarmate who asked me if that is what I was doing- Stellarmate doesn’t connect to the Staradventurer wifi- it just hangs in practice.

There appears to be bugger all support; the app is super buggy; and it looks Stellarmate is all sizzle and no steak. Glossy website but little behind it

Maybe I am wrong I’d be happy to be

[seeker372011]

So yesterday was clear in Sydney. Rather than muck around with Stellarmate I just pulled out the ASIAIR. What a huge difference. The ASIAIR just…works. It may mock you if you take too long to polar align - but it’s just so seamless .
Unfortunately all my gear is not ZWO, which is why I experimented with Stellarmate.

Makes me wish I had gone all ZWO.

[AstroViking]

I know you can auto-guide the SA2 with the ST4 cable (via the guide camera). There is a fellow named Kamil Pekala on YouTube who has a stack of videos dedicated to the SA2.

He set up an ASI120mm (mini) guide cam - ST4 port to the SA2, USB cable to his laptop running KStars / PHD2. (I know that's not StellarMate - just pointing out that it can be done.)

Can you connect the two cameras via USB to the RasPi, then tell StellarMate that guiding is carried out via EKos?

I've looked into the IndiLib documentation and it says that the SA2 can be guided via the USB -> EQMOD cable. I know nothing about this, but it might be an alternative for you.

There's also 'AstroBerry' to look into. From what I have read, it contains KStars, PHD2 and EKos (amongst a lot of other software).

Cheers,
V

[TrevorP]

I don't have the SA but there's a very good vid by "Cuiv - The Lazy Geek" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JdtL950RjQ&t=2167s) which walks you through the process of controlling the AZ-GTi with the RPi/Stellarmate. This may give you a handle on your problem.

[seeker372011]

Thanks… I have previously auto guided the SA2 using PHD2 on a laptop so I know it’s possible …using the ST4 connection

I can connect both cameras to the Raspberry Pi and after some fiddling around and swearing, both do get connected. Haven’t got to the point where this happens every single time , think the app is buggy

Still not sure if it will guide ! Need to test under the stars to see what happens

I have just ordered another micro Sd card and will install Astroberry on it. I went with Stellarmate initially as I had thought it was a more polished implementation.

[seeker372011]

I like Cuiv’ s videos, they are usually very helpful. I’ll definitely check this out, thanks for the heads up