Hello all
Celestron CPWI 2.3.5 software would be heaven for me (if only I could get it to work properly) because:
- Allows me to align my Celestron Alt-Az mount remotely
- Allows me to use my Xbox Bluetooth gamepad, for slewing when I'm near the telescope
- Allows more than just two alignment stars (tens in fact), improving accuracy.
- CPWI provides an ascom driver for other applications to also be able to control the mount simultaneously.
CPWI completely replaces the hand controller logic. When the hand controller is connected to the laptop running CPWI, it becomes completely inoperative, functioning only as USB port for the laptop.
That means that none of the buttons in the HC function, not even the slew commands. Everything is done in the laptop using the mouse and gamepad. CPWI also implements other HC functions, such as approach direction, backlash values, taking the current time and date from Windows. That's just the way CPWI works.
One thing that is in the hand controller and is missing in CPWI is "Calibrate Goto", though.
When the mount is disconnected from CPWI, the hand controller takes over again. Any alignment made with CPWI stays in the laptop, not in the mount. If there was a previous "hibernate" stored in the hand controller, it could be retrieved as if nothing had happened.
That would be alright by me, except:
Although the goto function works spot-on to find sky objects, the tracking is pretty bad as compared to the hand controller's own two star alignment.
A centered star completely drifts off the screen in just 2-3 minutes, if not less, along a 45º line. If I turn off the tracking, it drifts faster in the same direction.
Things I've tried:
- took the time to create a "perfect" model of my sky, with lots of alignment stars and minimal reported RMS error - but I can only see the eastern sky
- double checked that my latitude/longitude was correctly entered in CPWI
- made sure the mount was perfectly horizontal
- tried standard time vs DST time (during the summer months)
- tried different USB cables to connect the HC/mount to the laptop
- tried the camera and the HC/mount in different separate USB ports of the laptop.
Has anyone tried this combination with success?
Ragards
A.Salvador
Celestron CPWI 2.3.5 software would be heaven for me (if only I could get it to work properly) because:
- Allows me to align my Celestron Alt-Az mount remotely
- Allows me to use my Xbox Bluetooth gamepad, for slewing when I'm near the telescope
- Allows more than just two alignment stars (tens in fact), improving accuracy.
- CPWI provides an ascom driver for other applications to also be able to control the mount simultaneously.
CPWI completely replaces the hand controller logic. When the hand controller is connected to the laptop running CPWI, it becomes completely inoperative, functioning only as USB port for the laptop.
That means that none of the buttons in the HC function, not even the slew commands. Everything is done in the laptop using the mouse and gamepad. CPWI also implements other HC functions, such as approach direction, backlash values, taking the current time and date from Windows. That's just the way CPWI works.
One thing that is in the hand controller and is missing in CPWI is "Calibrate Goto", though.
When the mount is disconnected from CPWI, the hand controller takes over again. Any alignment made with CPWI stays in the laptop, not in the mount. If there was a previous "hibernate" stored in the hand controller, it could be retrieved as if nothing had happened.
That would be alright by me, except:
Although the goto function works spot-on to find sky objects, the tracking is pretty bad as compared to the hand controller's own two star alignment.
A centered star completely drifts off the screen in just 2-3 minutes, if not less, along a 45º line. If I turn off the tracking, it drifts faster in the same direction.
Things I've tried:
- took the time to create a "perfect" model of my sky, with lots of alignment stars and minimal reported RMS error - but I can only see the eastern sky
- double checked that my latitude/longitude was correctly entered in CPWI
- made sure the mount was perfectly horizontal
- tried standard time vs DST time (during the summer months)
- tried different USB cables to connect the HC/mount to the laptop
- tried the camera and the HC/mount in different separate USB ports of the laptop.
Has anyone tried this combination with success?
Ragards
A.Salvador