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INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

iOptron SmartEQ and ZEQ25GT connectivity problems.

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I am not sure if this helps or not, but it seems that the driver is unable to set longitude from the SmartEQ. I haven't confirmed this with the ZEQ25 but suspect that will be the case there too.

2018-04-13T01:10:23: [ERROR] Only received #10 bytes, expected 7.
2018-04-13T01:10:22: [ERROR] Timeout error
2018-04-13T01:10:17: [ERROR] Only received #10 bytes, expected 7.
2018-04-13T01:10:17: [ERROR] Failed to set longitude.
2018-04-13T01:10:17: [ERROR] Timeout error
2018-04-13T01:10:12: [INFO] Time and date updated.
2018-04-13T01:10:11: [INFO] Device configuration saved.
2018-04-13T01:10:11: [INFO] Saving device configuration...
2018-04-13T01:10:11: [ERROR] Timeout error
2018-04-13T01:10:06: [ERROR] Only received #10 bytes, expected 7.
2018-04-13T01:10:05: [INFO] Device configuration applied.
2018-04-13T01:10:05: [ERROR] Failed to set longitude.
2018-04-13T01:10:05: [ERROR] Timeout error
2018-04-13T01:10:00: [INFO] Loading device configuration...
2018-04-13T01:10:00: [INFO] Mount is unparked.
2018-04-13T01:10:00: [INFO] Mount UTC offset is 0.37. UTC time is 2000-07-30T23:37:59
2018-04-13T01:10:00: [INFO] iOptron SmartEQ is online.
Last edit: 5 years 11 months ago by John S..
5 years 11 months ago #25045

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Jasem,

I apologize. I have never had to do debug logging in kstars before. I turned on verbose logging, connected and slewed to M42 and back to home. I then disconnected. I saw quite a few errors in the status window, but it did complete the slews.
5 years 11 months ago #25046
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From log it seems to have problems to CMD (:GEC#), however, the log still misses important info that were acquired during mount initialization. Can you please restart KStars and then try to connect to your mount, slew to any object, and then post it back?
5 years 11 months ago #25051

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I can do that. Is there some additional logging other than mount logging you would like?
5 years 11 months ago #25055

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Jasem,

Here is the log file. I noticed it failed to slew to NGC869 when I tried several times. That object is circumpolar and I am not sure why it failed to slew to it. I went to M74 and back to home position. It did corkscrew my mount pretty badly when I went to M74 and I would have almost certainly had an OTA/Mount crash if I had an OTA on it. I wasn't paying attention to where it was in the sky. I just wanted to slew to an object for the log data. I can try these same tests and logs on my ZEQ25 if you think it will help isolate this. They are exhibiting the same behavior so I suspect it's the same issue. To be clear, the mount does ultimately respond, but it seems to have difficulty communicating with it. I suspect if I were guiding it would be problematic, but it seems to work through it for slewing. Plate solving sometimes would abort as well due to the communication issue.
5 years 11 months ago #25056
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Perhaps a problem with your USB>Serial connector? I have one that also fails to communicate and another one that works fine.
This one works for me. Key to getting it to work was to use the Prolific driver.
www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Converter-Prolifi...=usb+to+serial+cable
5 years 11 months ago #25082

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I did think about that. I used two different USB to serial cables and had similar results for both of them. Interestingly enough last night the ZEQ25 seemed to work ok. I am going to try the SmartEQ again today and see how it goes. They are running the same firmware on the hand controllers now. Perhaps the new firmware fixed the ZEQ25 but not the SmartEQ. I hate problems that just fix themselves. It makes me think it can come back without warning.
5 years 11 months ago #25083

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I can confirm now that the problem only seems to be with the SmartEQ mount since I completed the upgrade of the firmware. Perhaps that little mount just isn't as robust and can't keep up with the way Ekos is communicating with it. I wouldn't ever plan to use that mount for guiding purposes anyway so I don't think it's a show stopper. It would be nice to explain the timeout and byte count errors, but I am not sure we have to lose a lot of sleep over it at this time.
Last edit: 5 years 11 months ago by John S..
5 years 11 months ago #25103

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Since it is the same HC and the same driver, I believe, have you tried switching the HC between the two mounts? Perhaps it's an issue with the firmware update on one of the HCs that has gone awry.
5 years 11 months ago #25104

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Yes. I switched the hand controllers between the mounts and the problem stayed with the SmartEQ. I am open to the possibility that something could be wrong with the SmartEQ, but that would not explain why I had the same problems on both mounts before upgrading the firmware. The only thing I can think of related to that is that the ZEQ25 had firmware updates for the HC, RA and DEC motors and those were all applied. The SmartEQ only had the update for the HC. Apparently the firmware on the RA and DEC motors on that model are not upgradeable. Even though I would like to get this fixed for everyone else, it's not going to be much of an issue for me going forward as I will be getting rid of the SmartEQ and I am upgrading the ZEQ25 to the CEM25 with the upgrade kit so it will not likely rear it's head again for me after that. I will try the SmartEQ again on my Mac kstars install to see if the problems persist. I have tried so many different cables now I am confusing myself. :)
5 years 11 months ago #25105

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