PHD2 and CGEM Connection

[Tim99]

Hello fellow guiders,

I have been going through the set-up process for PHD2 and got my camera connected.  In the "Connect Equipment" I selected "Generic Hub (ASCOM) for my CGEM mount and when I click on "connect", It says it is connected to my mount.  

Do I need a specific driver for my CGEM mount or will the Generic Hub work okay?

Tim 

[bw_msgboard]

I don’t think there’s any reason to use the Generic Hub – I think the Celestron driver already works as a hub.  So you would just select the specific (latest) Celestron ASCOM driver – obviously, you need to download it and install if first.  If you do use the Generic Hub, you would need to click on properties, bring up the setup dialog for the hub, then choose the correct Celestron driver and the appropriate port id for it.  In either case, the ASCOM driver for your Celestron mount needs to be installed first.

 

Bruce

 

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[Tim99]

Hello Bruce.  Thanks for the reply.  I downloaded the Celestron ASCOM driver and it shows up in the mount list in PHD2.  Problem is when I try to connect, I get an error message that "PortName cannot be empty."  I don't know what to do from here.   

[bw_msgboard]

After you’ve selected the Celestron driver for your mount, click on the Mount Setup button to the right BEFORE you try to connect.  That will bring up a setup dialog for the Celestron mount, and you’ll need to specify which serial port it’s connected to.  You’ll only have to do this once unless your hardware configuration changes.

 

Bruce

 

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[Andy Galasso]

Hi Tim,

The message about the empty port name is coming from the ASCOM driver.  According to the Celestron ASCOM Driver information you need to tell the driver what COM port to use.  You do this using the ASCOM driver setup screen which you can access in PHD2 by clicking here:

Andy

[Bryan]

Tim

Did you select a COM port at some point?


Bryan

[Tim99]

Hello Andy, Thanks for the help.  When I click an open the mount setup,  The COM Port is greyed out.  How do I tell the driver what COM port to use?

[Tim99]

Hello again Bruce.  This driver business is new to me.  When I open the Celestron Setup the COM Port is greyed out.  How to I set up the port id?

On Sunday, January 3, 2016 at 4:26:43 PM UTC-5, Bruce Waddington wrote:

[Tim99]

Hello Bryan, thanks for the help.  When I open the Celestron Setup window the COP Port is blank and is greyed out.  What now?  Tim

[Andy Galasso]

Tim,

That is a question for the Celestron ASCOM driver author.  Sorry, can't be of more help. Maybe there is another Celestron user who knows the answer? Or maybe ask on the ASCOM forum, I know Chris participates on that forum.

Andy

[bw_msgboard]

As others have suggested, this is really a question for the Celestron driver author.  That said, do you have serial ports configured on your system?  If there’s no physical serial port (a common thing), you’ll need to use a USB-serial cable and driver.  I’m speculating that the Celestron driver would normally enumerate your choices for ports and maybe there aren’t any.  Just a guess though.

 

Bruce

 

 

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From: open-phd...@googlegroups.com [mailto:open-phd...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Tim99

Sent: Sunday, January 03, 2016 3:40 PM
To: Open PHD Guiding

[Tim99]

Ahhhh now we are getting somewhere, I think.  Bruce, I am a Mac guy but i bought a PC to use with my Astronomy.  So running the PC has been a bit of a learning curve.  I don't see anything on the computer that even mentions serial port.  As you mentioned, perhaps this Dell Laptop does not have a physical serial port.  That would explain why the driver can't give me port choices.

Here is my setup.  I have a ZWO ASI224 camera plugged into my guide scope. A cable runs from the camera to a USB3 on my computer.  Another cable runs from the camera to the CGEM mount.  I thought that PHD2 guiding software communicated to the camera and the mount through the USB3 port.  I don't understand the port problem.  I thought it ran off the USB port???  The actual error message is: "ASCOM driver problem during connection (ASCOM. Utilities) The PortName cannot be empty.  parameter name: PortName."   

Not sure what to do next or how to wire this thing up?  Wow!  Bruce,  When I got into Astrophotography, I knew I was in for s steep learning curve but sometimes it makes my head hurt!  haha.

Tim

[bw_msgboard]

Ok, you have a couple of choices.  If you just want to get going, you can tell PHD2 to route the guide commands through the guide camera and then onward to the mount.  That second cable you mentioned, from the guide camera to the mount, is hopefully what’s called an ST-4 cable. It should have come with your guide camera, and it’s most emphatically not a telephone cord. <g>  That cable needs to be plugged into a guide port on the mount, not any of the other connections that might look like it.  To use this ST-4 cable option and sidestep the problem with no serial ports, you would tell PHD2 to use an “on camera” mount rather than any of the ASCOM software you’ve recently struggled with.  

 

As I said, you can get going this way but you will be running PHD2 in a bit of a degraded mode.  PHD2 won’t know anything about where the scope is pointing, so it won’t be able to adjust guiding for the sky position or automatically adjust for a meridian flip, stuff like that.  You’d be running in the old-school PHD1 mode where you’ll have to re-do the calibration whenever you move to a different target.  Not the end of the world, certainly, but not as convenient.  To take better advantage of PHD2,  I recommend that you buy a USB to serial adapter for the imaging netbook, not an expensive item.  It will come with a driver that you would also install.  When that is installed and the USB-serial adapter is plugged in, you will have a serial port with a port number.  Very cool. <g> .  That is how most of us operate, the days of real serial ports on Windows laptops are long past.  Then, you could revisit this whole business with the Celestron ASCOM driver because at that point the driver would see an available serial port and you would be good to go.

 

And yes, astro-imaging is still not for the faint of heart… <lol>

 

Good luck,

Bruce

 

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[Tim99]

Hello Bruce.  I want to thank you so much for taking the time to explain this to me.  One of my favorite sayings is, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing!"  Ha.  Whenever I embark on a new adventure with a steep learning curve, I often think of this.  Until I know ... I just don't know. (:  

I will definitely be buying a USB to serial adapter.  I certainly want full functionality with PHD2.  My laptop has two USB2 ports and one USB3 port.  Will I run the new USB serial adapter from one of the USB2 ports?  I will need a new cable from the adapter to my mount ... correct?

Again, I can not thank you enough for helping me.

Tim

P.S.  Hey Bruce ... I have had some pretty good success with my beginning deep sky photography.  My unguided pictures of Andromeda galaxy and M42, M33 produced some nice photos.  They were so amazing to me that I decided to take the next step and add guiding.  Years ago, (1960's) I took some long exposure 35mm Astrophotos.  I never dreamed that we would be able to do what we can do today.  I'm having a ball .      

[bw_msgboard]

No problem, Tim.  Yes, you will need to run a serial cable from the USB-serial adapter to the mount.  I don’t know much about the Celestron mounts, so you’ll have to look at your user guide to know where/how that cable should connect on the mount end of things.  You’ll use one of your USB2 ports on the PC end, and you’ll probably want to use the same port each time so you don’t have to plow through repeated driver installations.  After you’ve done all that and PHD2 is successfully connected to the mount, you should probably also remove the cable you currently have that goes from your guide camera to the guide port on the mount.   

 

Have fun – that is, after all, the whole point… <g>

[Tim99]

Okay great.  I ordered the USB/Serial adapter and also found a Celestron RS232 PC interface cable that has that telephone style end on it for the mount.  Those should arrive in a couple days and then maybe I will be in business. 

Have a good day ... and maybe clear skies!

Thanks

Tim 

[Bruce Feagle]

Hey Tim,

I just got a CGEM for Christmas and the little phone jack for the rs232 cable plugs in to the hand controller. According to the manual. I am unsure if it would work in the aux plug on the mount. I had it working and controlling the mount via Starry Night once I had the ASCOM drive set up properly. Good luck!

BTW.. I have the best wife ever! :D Just saying....

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Bruce Feagle

Creative Monster
thecreativemonster.com

760.898.2885

[bw_msgboard]

This sounds like good advice – you almost certainly do NOT want to plug the cable into the Aux port on the mount.  Sounds like the Celestron manual will tell you how to connect things properly…

 

Bruce

 

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[Tim99]

Hello Bruce,

Yes, I would say you have a pretty nice wife for buying the CGEM!

Yeah, I noticed the Hand Controller has the little Phone Jack on the end.  So, probably I could run from my Serial Port adapter to that hand controller port for my PHD2 guiding.  But couldn't I just run into the guide port on the mount?  

I don't know how these things work ... just so when I get it all plugged in  ...it works!  (:

 Tim

P.S,  I had pretty good luck unguided with the CGEM. 2 minute exposures easily with good polar alignment.  Got some nice pics of Andromeda, M42 etc but thought the guiding could give me longer exposures for the smaller- fainter DSO's

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[Bruce Feagle]

The guide port on the mount is for direct connection to the guide camera. Not ASCOM control. If your guide camera has a guide output port connection. I would recommend using that to connect to the mount at it's guider port. No ASCOM needed to guide then. It's how I have my SSAG connected. PHD2 then connects to the mount through the camera. If your guide camera does not have a guider output port. You will want to use the ASCOM connection for guiding. Hope this helps. 

Bruce-v2

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Bruce Feagle

Creative Monster
thecreativemonster.com

760.898.2885

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[Bret McKee]

Depending on which Celestron mount you have, you have different options on how to make the ASCOM connection to the mount.  For all of them, you can make it to the jack on the bottom of the hand controller.  Some of them also have ports labeled "PC" which you can plug directly into, bypassing the hand controller (and allowing you to run the NexRemote software, completely eliminating the need for the hand controller). And some have "Aux ports", which are TTL level serial ports. If you don't know that that means, you should not use them :-)  Celestron used to make an converter that converted an AUX port into a PC port, but it has been discontinuted (and is now a hot item when it turns up on Astromart). While it is from a CPC mount site, this page has info that would apply to all Celestron mounts -- http://www.nexstarsite.com/OddsNEnds/PortsCPC.htm

When I had a permanent setup, I used NexRemote and the PC port, and when portable I used the hand controller and the port on its bottom.

Bret

[Tim99]

My problem was when I connected my ZWO Camera to the computer and to the Mount, PHD2 was able to connect to the camera but NOT to the mount.  I downloaded the ASCOM driver and then it still wouldn't connect because it couldn't find serial port.  That's when I decided to order the USB to Serial Adapter and go that route.  I couldn't figure out how to make the "through-the-camera" to the mount work.

Tim 

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Bruce Feagle

Creative Monster
thecreativemonster.com

760.898.2885

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[Tim99]

Oh man!  I should learn to read!  I had read this several times: http://openphdguiding.org/man/Basic_use.htm

I totally missed the part where it said if i was using a camera with the  ST-4 compatible guide interface port, I should select "On-Camera" in the mount set-up.  I just did that and PHD2 says it is now connected to the mount through the camera.  

[Tim99]

....One more thing .... When you are using the through-the-camera connection, Choose your camera and connect first.  Then, if you have the "On-camera" selected for the mount, it will allow you to connect to the mount.  In other words, you have to be connected to the camera before you can connect to the mount.

[Andy Galasso]

Tim,

Glad to hear you got the On-camera (ST-4) selection working.   Just to reiterate what Bruce said in an earlier post: PHD2 will be somewhat handicapped when you use On-camera since on-camera does not allow PHD2 to know anything about where the mount is pointing. This is described in http://openphdguiding.org/man/Basic_use.htm under "Mount Selection".  On-camera (ST-4) can be a good way to get started with guiding while you wait for your USB-serial adapter to arrive, but I would highly recommend switching over to ASCOM when you can.

Andy

[Bruce Feagle]

Thanks for that info Andy. Being new here and just getting back to the hobby. I did not realize how PHD2 was using ASCOM. I'll go rtfm now. 👍

Bruce-v2

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[David Fielder]

Hello Bruce,

Another Newbie hear switching over from pHD to pHD2 AND a Mac user.

Just wondering about ASCOM for pulse guiding:

I have a CGEM + SSAG

My wiring connections that I plan are:

- SSAG to Mac (USB)

- SSAG to Mount (Auto Guider port/ ST-4)

-Hand controller to Mount (Hand controller outlet)

-Mac (USB) to pluggable USB to RS-232 DB9 serial adapter (Prolific PL2303HX Chipset) into bottom of Hand controller

Downloaded ASCOM driver for Mac,.

Do I need the ST-4 as well as the RS232 to the hand controller?

I plan to control the mount with Stellarium.  Unfortunately, we've had lousy and cold weather so I haven't been out to see if this new system works or not.

With thanks,

David

On Monday, January 4, 2016 at 1:13:25 PM UTC-7, Bruce Feagle wrote:

Thanks for that info Andy. Being new here and just getting back to the hobby. I did not realize how PHD2 was using ASCOM. I'll go rtfm now. 👍

Bruce-v2

On Monday, January 4, 2016, Andy Galasso <andy.g...@gmail.com> wrote:

Tim,

Glad to hear you got the On-camera (ST-4) selection working.   Just to reiterate what Bruce said in an earlier post: PHD2 will be somewhat handicapped when you use On-camera since on-camera does not allow PHD2 to know anything about where the mount is pointing. This is described in http://openphdguiding.org/man/Basic_use.htm under "Mount Selection".  On-camera (ST-4) can be a good way to get started with guiding while you wait for your USB-serial adapter to arrive, but I would highly recommend switching over to ASCOM when you can.

Andy

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[bw_msgboard]

Hi David.  I think you’ve lost me here.  The ASCOM platform is tied to Windows because of its underlying COM technology.  Are you planning to run some kind of virtual Windows environment on your Mac?  What is this “ASCOM driver for Mac” you’re talking about?  If you’re running in a native Mac OS environment, I think the ST-4 connection is your only option for connecting PHD2 to the mount.

 

Bruce

 

 

 

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From: open-phd...@googlegroups.com [mailto:open-phd...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of David Fielder

Sent: Sunday, March 06, 2016 6:57 PM
To: Open PHD Guiding

Subject: Re: [open-phd-guiding] RE: PHD2 and CGEM Connection

 

Hello Bruce,

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[David Fielder]

Hello Bruce,

I running native Mac OS and from several other discussions on this subject was lead to believe that using a USB-RS-232 serial adaptor with a PL2303HX Chipset would allow the Mac to 'operate' in this instance with PHD2 pulse guiding. The serial adaptor was from Plugable and one can download an ASCOM driver for the Mac.

An ST-4 connection works fine for communication between PHD2 and my CGEM mount.

An guidance is much appreciated,

David

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Bruce Feagle

Creative Monster
thecreativemonster.com

760.898.2885

 

[bw_msgboard]

Hi David.  I really think this is a red herring – the ASCOM platform doesn’t run on a native Mac OS unless something has changed in the last few weeks.  You can certainly get a USB-serial adapter for the Mac, and it will come with its own driver.  But that has nothing to do with the ASCOM standard.  So if you’ve identified something you think is “an ASCOM driver for the Mac”, can you provide a link?  If I can see exactly what you’re looking at, I can probably clear things up for you.

 

Bruce

 

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