The mount didn’t come with a manual. I’m among the first group received the mount so it is possible that ioptron changed and decided to include one. The HC connects to the mount using a serial cable and has a usb type b port; mount comes with a type b to a cable, I’m assuming that what ioptron intended for users to use. But i don’t know, maybe it’s for updating the mount firmware, no manual for me.

Hi,

without documentation it hard to tell. (On my CEM60 the port on the handcontroller is used for firmaware update, the one on the mount for controlling the scope. Never tried the one on the HC for controlling the mount) Since the CEM26 seems to have only an USB port on the HC and all specs I could find say PC connection through the USB2.0 cable, I suppose it is via the HC .... (guessing)
If it does not work many things could be wrong:

- Device (probably a serial2usb) not recognised by the OS (not supported in kernel yet, there is another thread on newer Skywatcher 6PRO on stellarmate with such a behaviour)
check witth DMESG what is reported when you connect the port

- If it creates a TTY device, the BAUDRATE might be wrong. Newer Ser2USB usually work at 115000)
- Indi does not recognize the mount (if looking at the driver it should the report Unknown as devive) CEM26 - GEM28 are not yet in the device list. (but might work)

- something else ....

Paul

Just an update, in case anyone wondering. I join an official group and found a manual, but it is in Chinese and it has already been updated to v1.1, so the US version is lagging behind by two versions (yeah ioptron is a Chinese company so why not). Basically if you are using the commander software and ascom you just plug in to the HC usb port; so it is true that the indi driver needs to be updated. I also bought this edmod cable which should be delivered today, and it is mentioned in the manual that 1,2,3 stars alignment is stored in the HC and will not be used if connected directly to the mount (in red letters and explicitly stated cem26/gem28), implying that an edmod cable is probably going to work.
Sorry i just used the “quick reply” button, just in case you are still interested

Confusing. EQmod and iOptron looks strange to me. Do you have some details/link to the cable you ordered?

Paul

It is one of those RS 232 to usb cable with a FTDI chip like the one used for SW mounts. I don’t know if they really go by that name, but the seller labels it as “eqmod cable for cem25 cem120 and other”, I asked the seller and he said cem26 should be using the same thing, if not I can return it with shipping covered, so i just thought why not give it a try.
So maybe the ioptron version is also called edmod...unofficially? Im not sure but the seller lables it as eqmod. I’m also wondering, thought eqmod is for SW mounts. Well they are both RJ232 to usb; if a SW cable can also be used on an ioptron mount, i guess it’s okay to say it’s an eqmod

Plug that cable in mount at your own risc.
A CEM 60 for example has same plugs (telephone jack style) for hand controller and computer connection. But these are different and iOptron warns never to plug anuthing else in de HC connector port on the mount than a HC. Nothing special with that cable, please don't call it EQMOD. EQMOD is a completer mount steering that talks to SynScan Motor controller boards, nothing else. iOptron uses a completely different protocol.

I still woule like to see the result of a dmesg or lsub command after you plug that USB cable that came with the mount into your Linux box. (connected to the HC and mount powered of course) Thta will give some clues/ (Is Ascom just connects via that cable to the mount HC then Indi can do that as well that way). But without knowing what logs says difficult to trace)

Paul

Ok this is embarrassing. First the cable didn’t work, the connector is different. But I tried to modify my own driver and it worked. Then i thought why not test it again with the old driver, and it turns out the v3 driver IS working okay with this mount, the only thing i need to do is to change the baud rate to something else than the default value. I don’t know why it didn’t work before and I’m pretty sure i tested every baud rate and every driver because the same thing happened to me once when I was using the eq6r. It is an embarrassing moment but I’m happy it worked finally, on the other hand I did get to know the code structure... maybe it is because of the cable that comes with the mount, i can’t find it today so I used a cable that came with my filter wheel which I know is 100% working.

I did more testing and it is because of a faulty cable, should’ve checked the most obvious thing first...

welcome to the club. Happened to me several times.
Good you solved it. So probably only thing to do is add modelnumber to the driver ...

Rgrds,

Paul

so which driver is working for 8409? indi_ieq_telescope or indi_ioptronv3_telescope ?? Let me know so I can add entries for both CEM26 and GEM28 with the correct settings and baud rate to make it easy for end users.

The v3 one works for me. I don’t think it is a baud rate problem since the same issue happened to me once and only once when i was using the synscan driver with my eq6r. I don’t think there is any issue with the current driver but maybe more tests are needed. I do hope an update on the supported devices list, easier for future people who runs in to the same problem

so you confirm iOptronv3 driver works fully OK using baud rate 115200 for 8409?