This website that was recommended to me is also very useful. I followed this procedure exactly with my G11 gemini 1 lvl4 and everything works great and without issue.

On Wed, Jan 3, 2024 at 01:31 PM, David Pitre wrote:

Hello all.
I am attempting to connect my mount to my PC and am stumped. Please understand that this kind of thing is not my forte and I'm very ignorant of these kind of things
I have a Michael's serial usb to RS232 cable.
I've installed ASCOM and Gemini drivers.
?I open Gemini? and then Telescope Setup. Under "communications", I try and configure "pass through port" and nothing seems to appear.
Do I need to install a driver for my cable?

Hi David,

You need the part that plugs into your laptop USB port, usually we recommend using the ATN brand USB to RS232 cable which has the rectangular USB type A? on one end and a kind of clunky D shape 9-pin connector on the other end. That 9-pin D-sub gets connected to the MH supplied cable with the opposite gender 9 pin D-sub and the other end should be terminated with an old fashion telephone handset style plug called an RJ-11 which plugs into the serial port of the Gemini 1 marked RS-232.?If you don't have this complete setup or something like it you need to get these bits.

Once you have them and the are plugged in correctly you should be able to establish the Com port to use in the dropdown menu of Gemini.net / ASCOM tool and configure the speed or baud rate. You select the correct Com port Windows recognises in the Gemini.net drop down. My suggestion is to use the default and most reliable speed of 9600 baud.??

Once you have the USB to RS232 converter talking to the laptop you will have access to the Gemini settings using the Gemini.net tool. You will also need to configure any ASCOM compatible apps you are using to talk to the Gemini to use ASCOM and select the Losmandy Gemini controller before these other app will work. Some apps have a native or direct mode, do not use them, always select ASCOM for maximum compatibility.?
??
?
--

Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware?

? ?Astrospheric Weather for Imagers - Click on my sig!

On Wed, Jan 3, 2024 at 04:31 PM, David Pitre wrote:

Hello all.
I am attempting to connect my mount to my PC and am stumped. Please understand that this kind of thing is not my forte and I'm very ignorant of these kind of things
I have a Michael's serial usb to RS232 cable.
I've installed ASCOM and Gemini drivers.
?I open Gemini? and then Telescope Setup. Under "communications", I try and configure "pass through port" and nothing seems to appear.
Do I need to install a driver for my cable?

Hi David, you don't need to configure the pass-through port -- that's advanced functionality for non-ASCOM applications to talk to Gemini directly, by bypassing the driver. You want to configure the correct primary COM port that the USB to RS232 adapter installs on your PC. It may be COM1, COM2, COM3, ... etc. If no COM ports show up in the drop-down list, then the USB adapter isn't working or its driver isn't working. You'll need to ask Michael for help, if that's the case.



Regards,

? ?-Paul

Hello all.
I am attempting to connect my mount to my PC and am stumped. Please understand that this kind of thing is not my forte and I'm very ignorant of these kind of things
I have a Michael's serial usb to RS232 cable.
I've installed ASCOM and Gemini drivers.
?I open Gemini? and then Telescope Setup. Under "communications", I try and configure "pass through port" and nothing seems to appear.
Do I need to install a driver for my cable?

Brendan's and Paul Kanevsky's recent replies echo my experience and what I think I know about Object Search.? When you're looking through an eye piece, the mount's movement is easy to see.? As I understand it, during an Object Search the mount moves at Centering speed (which can be changed in Mount Parameters, Moving Speeds).

I find Object Search to be a useful tool for visual.

Beep is either:
*Autoguider error aa in an Ra +/- signal at the same time?

*A motor was not connected properly and encoder signals were missing?

* A motor stall, or Mount at limit! (The system may think it’s limit when it’s not so re-boot CWD to fix), or

* The usual Boot problems SRAM, power etc

My guess was motor cable or stall but it should give a HC error indication. ? So I’m back to the system thought it was at axes limit for some reason. ?A ?Reboot CWD fixed this and allowed HC presses.?

Time to put it under the stars and put it to use?

cheers?


--
Brendan

So I just got it to work during the day. I saw definite movement on the Dec axis as it was searching the 2? field.

But here's the strange thing. ?When I first powered the mount up it gave a long beep. ?I powered off and back on again and did a cold start without problems. ?I tried using the hand controller to slew somewhere other than the pole to test again and found I couldn't slew with the HC. ?I pushed the correct buttons and nothing happened. ?I checked the slew rate to make sure it hadn't got reset to something strange. ?It was still at 800. ?I powered off and on again and still had the same problem. ?Checked the cables by unplugging and replugging them in. ?Same problem.

Finally I moved the mount by doing Alignment > Goto Bright Star followed by a Synchronize. ?Now the slew buttons on the HC started working.

That is when I did the Object Search test and saw movement. ?So now I'm wondering if the mount was in some strange state when I did the test before. ?I think I previously slewed away from the pole for the test, but I can't be 100% sure. ?I did just try the test without moving from CWD and still saw the movement.

So all I can guess is my mount was in some strange state the first time I tried this. ?Weird.

Bill

If the mount responses to Ra and Dec button presses and slews!?

It’ll work!

As FOV search is just micro movements commanding function. ? The mount is more than capable of performing at slew or around .128arc sec positional Resolution in Quadrature.?
--
Brendan

I will try it at night but I’m a bit skeptical of this. ?I watched the RA and Dec setting circles quite carefully for the couple of minutes it was running. ?They didn’t move with respect to the marker lines at all. ?If it was moving over a two degree range, this should have been noticeable.

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Bill,

I’ve never used the function before, and I use G2 also so, take my comments with some salt attached. The mount moving at center speed is quite hard to see so, not seeing it move is no indication that it isn’t moving, especially considering you say the motors sound differently, implying they’re moving.

My suggestion would be to try this at night, under the stars to see if it actually moves. Alternatively, if stars are not in your near future, try it in daylight with the scope pointed at a target (a distant tree or tower perhaps), be it with a camera or eyepiece, activate the function and see if it moves.?

Again, I don’t know G1 but, with G2 you can see the coordinates where the scope is pointing. Those should be static if the mount is tracking but should change as the search is happening. Maybe that’s another option?

If you select the HC select “display Ra\Dec” it will display current ….. if you had selected “search FOV”.?

I guess it’ll show the changing values.?

Or connect Gemini ASCOM then do??“FOV search”. ? Again?it displays current Ra/DEC, ?which will change in value as the axes moves ?

I mean 2 degrees isn’t much movement for eyeball mk1 to see?

cheers

--
Brendan

On Wed, Dec 13, 2023 at 04:09 PM, Bill Tschumy wrote:

Yes, I’ve read the manual. ?I picked the largest FOV available (2° ??) and let it run for a couple of minutes. ?Absolutely no change in the RA or Dec that I could see. ?Yet you could hear the motors were doing something different until I cancelled.

Strange, unless you have the center rate set too low? I don't have access to Gemini-1 to test right now, but I recall that function working as advertised when I did use it.

Yes, I’ve read the manual. ?I picked the largest FOV available (2° ??) and let it run for a couple of minutes. ?Absolutely no change in the RA or Dec that I could see. ?Yet you could hear the motors were doing something different until I cancelled.

Hi Bill, it should be moving faster than at guiding speed, but it depends on what FOV you select when invoking the function. This is from the manual:

I had never tried the Object Search feature in Gemini I but decided to give it a try a few days ago. ?This is the feature where the mount should pan within a specified FOV to locate an object you think is nearby. ?However, when trying it (albeit indoors), the mount never really moved that I could see. ?If I put my ear up to the motors, I could hear them doing something different than sidereal tracking, but no obvious motion. ?It was almost like it was panning using something like guiding rate.

Have others gotten this to work? ?Is there some setting I need to adjust to change the panning speed?

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By all means, Ken. I hope all goes well with your Gemq-GM8. I've shelved my G11 for the moment, and your problems have prompted me to do something better. (Actually, the shelving came about because when I last used it, the mount moved in the wrong direction for Polar Alignment, and was in danger of grinding into the tripod. I need to get on top of this issue, and start using it more consistently, especially with my heavier 'scope. Ah, the tedium of troubleshooting and lack of clear skies...!)

Have a great Christmas and clear skies,
Paul.

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Well, that's fortunate, Ken. ASiair appears to be recognizing the Prolific converter, which means it has a driver that is compatible. Actually, I'd be surprised if it hasn't as ATEN and Prolific are by far the most common RS232<->USB converters available.

I'm glad that your cable/ASiair/Gem1 seem to be all talking nicely to each other. As you say, a starry night to test more thoroughly is what you need now.

You're probably a bit away from it, but you need to set up the Gem's slew limits w.r.t. ASiair's pause/slew stop times at the meridian - see my earlier posting on this. I seem to have got my settings right. If you strike problems with this, please let me know and I'll try to advise you.

Clear skies, and good testing, Paul.