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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Trying to connect to my new iEXOS 100 but getting timeouts

  • Posts: 7
  • Thank you received: 1
Hi everybody,
I am new to this field and decided to start with an iEXOS 100 and a small apo refractor.
I got my mount to move using the provided app and wifi so it is working fine.

I added the ppa repos and installed indi-full and kstars-bleeding

What I did was starting Kstars, going to Tools->Devices->Devices Manager
On the Local/Server tab I chose ES IEXOS PMC8, Local mode and click on Run Server.
i checked the config and all seemed fine (baudrate, usb port etc)

Then I click on connect and I get the timeout errors.

When I connected the mount to my laptop via USB, I could see that it is recognized as an FTDI device "FT232R USB UART" on ttyUSB0.
I made sure my user is part of the dialout group which handles this kind of devices (to be safe I also started Kstars as root but it didn't help).

Am I doing something wrong? Or how could I best gather debug logs for that? The only logs I see now are:
org.kde.kstars.indi: ES iEXOS100 PMC-Eight :  "[ERROR] check_pmc8_connection(): Error connecting. Please read the instructions at: http://indilib.org/devices/telescopes/explore-scientific-g11-pmc-eight/ before using this driver!For serial connections, a special USB SERIAL cable setup is REQUIRED. "
org.kde.kstars.indi: ES iEXOS100 PMC-Eight :  "[ERROR] Read error: Timeout error 

Thanks
3 years 7 months ago #58887

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Hello Mehdi and welcome to INDI forums! So a couple of things:

1. I presume this is a new iEXOS 100 with USB connectivity to the PC directly, correct?
2. You need to use Ekos and create an equipment profile and select the mount there. If you have no camera, just select CCD simulator. Do not use Tools --> Devices --> Device Manager.

IF you happen to be using an older iEXOS then you need to do a hack for your serial to USB cable to change some settings, it's covered in the INDI driver documentaiton.
3 years 7 months ago #58888

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  • Posts: 7
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Thanks for the fast reply.
I have the new one with the mini USB socket connected directly to my PC. After connecting i can see it being recognized in the linux logs as FTDI device.
I did it the way you proposed from Ekos but I still get timeouts.

I will try it from another pc to single out usb problems.
3 years 7 months ago #58890

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I tried from another Linux laptop, all USB ports, USB 2 and USB 3 but same error, timeouts. Do you think I should ask on the Explore Scientific forums? Or how would I further debug this?
3 years 7 months ago #58893

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  • Posts: 7
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The iEXOS support forum was really helpful and I got it working!
In order to make the mount controllable through USB/Serial, some commands need to be run in order to switch the internal state of the mount.
The process is described in detail in this file Switching Between the WiFi Interface and the Serial Interfaceon the iEXOS 100™Mount Controller

Hopefully that helps others with the same problem.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Jasem Mutlaq
3 years 7 months ago #58912

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Thank you, I've updated the documentation to reflect that!
3 years 7 months ago #58913

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