Orion StarSeek Wifi or Southern Stars SkyFi

[Sirius1066 (Earl)]

I'm thinking about getting myself an Orion StarSeek Wifi or Southern Stars SkyFi.

Is anyone running one of these on a Meade LX90.

Would love any opinion or comments on your experiences with these. I believe they are basically the same device. Is this true?

Has anyone had any problems I should be aware of?

[Rod]

Yes they are the same device. I have used skyfi for 2 or 3 years now on two scopes. Both are home made but run in LX200 compatible mode (a Bartels dob and then a siderial technology system)

I found skyfi very reliable and a lot of fun. I use it with my ipad and my iphone running sky safari.

I would recommend you get and use an external power supply. I think the unit is sold with one now. I find it drains the internal batteries quickly. Sometimes you have to turn off the setting that automatically updates the location. Otherwise it takes a long time to connect after the phone or pad screen turns off.

There is a good yahoo group for southern stars. The developers are very responsive to questions. I had a problem with mine once and they replaced it immediately. No issues since.

Hope that helps.

Rod.

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Just be aware that Southern Stars don't provide hardware or software support for the Orion branded ones. You have to deal with Orion or its dealer.

As Rod noted Southern Stars now provide a power pack with new sales and will not treat a SkiFi wrecked by being powered by the wrong polarity or from an AC power pack as a warranty fault.

[MattT]

I have had sky safari pro for over a year and recently bought the Southern Stars wi fi. I needed to get the serial cable from wifi unit to synscan handset at extra cost. I believe the Orion has all the bits needed in the box or so Anthony at Bintel in Melbourne tells me, otherwise they are identical. I'd save the trouble and get the Orion.
Matt

[Steffen]

The SkiFi should come with a short stubby cable that plugs into the device and has a serial plug on the other end. The cable from there to the SynScan hand controller is supplied by SkyWatcher and included with the hand controller (or EQ Pro mount). That same cable is also used for hand controller firmware updates.

There should be no need for any additional cables.

Cheers
Steffen.

[MattT]

The wifi came with the cable, but I needed to get the cable on the left of this picture, to connect to the synscan hanset. I bought my NEQ6 second hand so I don't know if the extra cable was included when new, but wasn't there second hand, one of the hazards I guess.
No big deal really but was an added expense.
Southern Stars call it Synscan cable.

[Sirius1066 (Earl)]

Thanks guys for your reply. I ended up getting the Orion StarSeek. It arrived today.

I have managed to get the iPad to connect to the module, however I get an error message when I try to connect to the scope through the app. It says that it can connect to the WiFi but the scope isn't responding.

I'm not sure why. I have a Meade 505 cable and it is connected but still can't get it to work. Any thoughts?

[Fizics (John)]

Possibly you are using the sky safari app, it may require the starseek app.
Just checked southern stars:
Southern Stars has licensed SkyFi to Orion Telescopes & Binoculars as the StarSeek Wi-Fi Module. Orion's StarSeek Wi-Fi module works with our SkySafari iPhone app, and Orion's StarSeek iPhone apps will work with our SkyFi wireless adapter. They are fully inter-operable.

[coldknights (Cathy)]

Try first at going through a star alignment first...
Example set the time location do alignment the program wants to know where the scope is I tried the align button in the program that didn't work so I went through the alignment and that worked with out doing the alignment I could only use the arrow bottons and the goto would not work also make sure you have the correct scope selected as well and the wifi unit plugs into the bottom of the hand controller as they are wifi RS232 like the ones we make and half the price of these units.
Let us know how you go.

[Rod]

Hi Earl

When I see that error it normally means that the settings in skysafari are not correct. Go to settings in skysafari. Find the telescope section of the menu and choose setup.

Ensure you have the correct scope and mount type selected and the right IP address. Also at least for now turn off 'set time and location'. That setting often slows down the speed at which a connection is made.

Hope that helps

Rod

[MattT]

Just been mucking around in the murk that passes for night time here and to my surprise the thing works! Did 2 star align with the mount, that was OK. Plugged in the Skyfi connected to Skyfi network on the computer and later iPod and it worked. Put all objects that could get through the thin cloud in the cross hairs of the 20mm double cross hair reticule. I was very careful with the set up of mount first, which is an NEQ6.
Matt

[coldknights (Cathy)]

Good to see it is all working now!

[sullivan]

I would like to know if I can use ORION Starseek Wireles device with an Android smartphone instead of Southern Stars SkyFI device. Somewhere is written they are identical and they licensed SkyFi to Orion Telescopes & Binoculars; they are selling it as the StarSeek Wi-Fi Module. Oexcept for the label on the box (and the logo in its software) but

but it is really true also for ANDROID SOFTWARE? Can SkySafari for Android controll it ?

Thanks for any answer

Best