Blue Tooth Control
For those of you wanting to control a telescope with a Bluetooth wireless link, here's how I did it....
You will need:
Bluetooth Serial Adapter.
I used the IO Gear GBS301 with some but not exciting success
I highly recommend using the Blue Soleil devices or
Better yet the ones made by Air Cable
Data cable to connect between hand controller and Bluetooth Serial Adapter
Power cord for Bluetooth Serial Adapter (AC or DC, depending on location)
Patience!
Wiring for the Data cable is pretty straight forward. The table below shows the connections, the pins on the modular plug are 1-6, viewed into the cable end of the plug, lock tab at the bottom, left to right. Pins 1 , 4 & 6 on the DB9 are connected together. Pins 7 & 8 are connected together.
DB9 Pin # | RJ11-6 Pin # | DB9 Jumpers |
1 | NC | tied to 4 & 6 |
2 | 2 | |
3 | 5 | |
4 | NC | tied to 1 & 6 |
5 | 3 | |
6 | NC | tied to 1 & 4 |
7 | -- | tied to 8 |
8 | -- | tied to 7 |
9 | -- | NC |
You will need to program the Bluetooth Serial Adapter prior to use using HyperTerminal. The following applies only to the IOGear unit, if you use a different adapter follow the instructions included with it.
Start HyperTerminal and set it to connect to the COM port the adapter will be connected to. Settings are 9600,N,8,1 with Hardware flow control. You will need to use the Null Modem adapter shipped with the device to get it to connect to the computer for programming. The Null Modem adapter is not needed when connecting to the hand controller of the telescope. The instant you plug in the power to the adapter you should see PR displayed. Immediately type AT and you will get the menu seen above.
Type the command 8 and you should see this screen. It tells you how the adapter is configured. Due to connections issues with my Dell AXIM X5 I have disabled the ENCRYPTION and AUTHENTICATION. The BAUD Rate is set with the DIP switches on the device. See the table below or look in the instructions.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
on | on | on | off |
9600 BAUD | SLAVE |
When you have everything set, select E for Exit configuration utility, answer YES when asked if you want to UPDATE SETTINGS. You should be ready to go.
Now the fun starts! Connect the Serial Adapter to the data cable and connect the cable to the mount. The mount must be turned on and a 1, 2 or 3 star alignment must be completed. Select UTILITIES on the hand controller and then select RS232. Hit ENTER to turn on the serial port.
Configure the planetarium program to the COM port that the Bluetooth adapter is using. Set the BAUD rate to 9600, N, 8, 1 and establish the connection to the telescope.
There are certainly other ways to accomplish the connection and setup, this is how I DID IT. It MAY NOT work for you. See Disclaimer.....
© Copyright 1997-2012by Bill VanOrden