A Simple Hand Controller For Astro Physics Mounts Operating Manual
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A Simple Hand Controller for Astro-Physics Mounts Operating Manual by C.Y. Tan (3. Sep. 2018) 1 License This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA. 2 Introduction It is well-known, that the new GTOCP4 control box can be controlled with a phone or a pad. However, I really like the feel of real buttons in a controller rather than using “virtual” buttons on a phone or pad. This means that the only solution that Astro-Physics (AP) has for people like me is to buy their AP keypad. If I had the AP keypad, I will mainly use it for Polar aligning with PoleMaster (lately with SharpCap A Simple Hand Controller for Astro-Physics Mounts Operating Manual 1 Pro as well) and for recalibrating (which is the same as syncing for all other mounts). After polar alignment and recalibrating, PHD2 will be used for guiding the scope. Therefore, the AP keypad will only be used at the start of my imaging session, and no more. Thus, it is hard for me to justify spending $1000 for an AP keypad when I will hardly use. I had to figure out a solution. And here's my solution: • I have built a simple hand controller for my Mach1GTO. Its purpose is not to replace the AP keypad because it does not initialize the GTOCP4, have any star database or goto capability etc. My goal is to just move the mount for calibrating the mount to a star and be compatible with PoleMaster. 3 The hand controller hardware guide The hand controller plugs into the GTOCP3 or GTOCP4 keypad port. The hand controller does NOT have the RECAL option. This is a deliberate design decision. This is so that there will never be any confusion about which device will RECAL – it will always be the computer that is connected to the mount. 3.1 The buttons and joystick action guide The actions associated with the buttons and joystick are defined in the table shown below. The shortcuts for that are used in this manual are also defined here. A Simple Hand Controller for Astro-Physics Mounts Operating Manual 2 Button Description Shortcut Menu When pressed, the hand controller goes back to the main menu. It also stops the mount from slewing. MENU Back When pressed, the hand controller goes back to the previous menu. It also stops the mount from slewing. BACK Reset Resets the hand controller. Joystick UP/DOWN In the menu environment, UP/DOWN, moves the cursor up and down. In the navigation environment, UP/DOWN is mapped to North/South slews. In the menu environment, LEFT/RIGHT acts like a swipe. RIGHT moves to the next selected submenu. LEFT goes back to the previous Joystick menu. LEFT/RIGHT In the navigation environment, LEFT/RIGHT is mapped to East/West slews. Joystick Button In the menu environment, the joystick button acts like the return key. In the navigation environment, the joystick button cycles through the slew rates. A Simple Hand Controller for Astro-Physics Mounts Operating Manual RESET ⇧/⇩ ⇦/⇨ ◙ 3 4 How to use The hand controller can be connected to the GTOCP3 or GTOCP4 keypad port before power up. If it is connected before power up, the controller has to be RESET before use. This is to establish a reliable serial connection with the mount. Once powered up, you can start using the hand controller. 4.1 Menu actions Everything starts from the Main Menu. Move through each menu item by ⇧/⇩, and select it with ◙, or use ⇨. In order to get back out of any control panel or submenu, just use MENU or use BACK . Pressing these buttons also stops the mount from moving. This is one way to stop the mount if anything goes wrong during a slew. A Simple Hand Controller for Astro-Physics Mounts Operating Manual 4 4.1.1 Navigation menu Selecting Navigation brings up the Navigation submenu which has 3 submenu items. Selecting the Navigate menu brings up the control panel that allows the user to move the mount. This panel allows the user to move the mount. The slew rate is Selecting the ???_???x menu brings up the slew speed menu. ???_???x displays the current default slew speed. Use ◙ to cycle through the slew rates. Possible rates are: Fine_12x, Slow_64x, Med_600x and Fast_1200x. Move the mount with proportional control using Prop Nav. The slew rate depends on the position of the joystick. As the joystick is pushed from its home position, the slew rate starts from 12x, 64x, 600x and then finally 1200x at its maximum position. A Simple Hand Controller for Astro-Physics Mounts Operating Manual cycled with ◙. The numbers represent the slew rate, 0: stopped, 1: 12x, 2: 64x, 3: 600x, 4: 1200x. 5 4.1.2 PoleMaster menu The PoleMaster menu items makes the hand controller compatible with the calibration routine of PoleMaster or SharpCap Pro. The three menu items are the sequence of actions that the PoleMaster calibration routine will go through during Polar alignment. Selecting PoleMaster brings up the submenu items designed for ease of use with the PoleMaster calibration routine. Select the Set home menu item to remember the position of the mount before the start of the PoleMaster calibration routine. The RA move menu item brings In this control panel, the mount up the control panel for moving can only move in RA, i.e. East or West at full speed at 1200x. the telescope in RA at 1200x speed. Selecting Go home moves the mount back to the position that was selected by Set home. A Simple Hand Controller for Astro-Physics Mounts Operating Manual 6 4.1.3 LED lights menu Selecting LED lights brings up the control panel for adjusting the brightness of the LEDs that Use ⇦/⇨ to set the brightness of the LEDs. illuminate the Menu and Back buttons. 5 Support As usual, for any open source project, you build and use the hand controller at your own risk. No warranty is implied. However, questions can be submitted to issues, but answers to questions are again not guaranteed. A Simple Hand Controller for Astro-Physics Mounts Operating Manual 7
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