Telescope Control Guide Camera (1 Viewer)

[Tracy]

I have an EQ-35 Pro mount (hey, it gets the job done currently).
I use StellarMat or Astroberry now to control the systems. But I STILL am not really sure about using the guide scope.

Some posts I have read indicated that Stellarmate/Astroberry perform the guiding via the guide scope when it is configured in the Guid section.
Other posts I have read say that you STILL need to hook the guide scope up to the mount as if you were still using the hand controller.

The latter seems at cross-purposes to me, because won't you have StellarMate/Astroberry guidance battling the mounts internal guider?

 

[OhNo]

I use the latter, but for different reasons. While the mount can be run from the mount tab in StellarMate it is a pain to use. All my capturing is controlled remotely, but switching out imaging trains it comes in handy to be able to run the mount with the hand controller (HC). In addition with my mount (CGEM) when I power it up I have to tell it (click the Enter) button on parked, Time and Last Alignment.

As I can't open or rotate my Observatory remotely I am out there anyway..... I can also run the OS via my iPad of my cell phone. Old eyes make for using the iPad and Phone less than desirable.

So in short the answer to your question really depends on what mount you are using. Some of the newer mounts don't even come with a HC....

 

[Tracy]

This is one of the "ancient style" that still uses an RS-232 cable to interface with the hand controller. The newest versions of it use USB... but instead of dropping a few hundred on a simple hand controller, I'd rather set it aside towards a better mount.
I think I'll go ahead and hook it up directly to the mount also as well. Normally if I was using the auto-guide on the mount, I could get rid of one more cable (usb to the guide camera back to RPi since it isn't being used for any guide purpose..

 

[OhNo]

Yup I have to use the RS232.