Driver question

Sequence Generator Equipment Compatibility
1

Hello,

I’m setting up my SGP Pro. I find myself using 2 different drivers between my scope & SkyX (gemini.net) & SGP (telescope.net).
I think this is causing an issue since the RA/DEC info on SGP are different than SKYX/scope.
Any suggestions?

2

SGP will display coordinates in J2000, I’m not sure what TheSkyX uses but it may be that the coordinate systems are differing slightly. Maybe try setting TheSkyX to J2000 initially and see if they match up. And if not then something else is likely at play.

Jared

3

Both are showing 2000 as epoch.

4

Are you connecting SGP to the simulator Telescope Simulator for .NET? You will need to install the ASCOM driver for TheSkyX and have SGP connect to that driver. Basically TheSkyX will act as a ASCOM driver for SGP to talk to since TheSkyX will have the only active connection to the scope.

Jared

5

So if I understand correctly you are saying to load the gemini.net driver in SGP so that both SkyX and SGP are using the same driver?
First of all, how would I do that? Secondly gemini.net does show up in my list of drivers in the equipment manager page for telescope settings. Does that mean its visible but not installed?

6

I disconnected SKYX and connected SGP. Now SGP connects but SKYX doesn’t. And I am getting an error message that the port is busy. So is it a case of one or the other or is there a workaround?

7

I’m not all that familiar with TheSkyX. But I believe it does NOT use ASCOM to connect? TheSkyX will “relay” commands through to SGP. It will look like this:

Your Scope <=> TheSkyX <=> SGP

So SGP will need to connect to TheSkyX via their ASCOM driver. It looks like you need the X2 ASCOM Driver to accomplish this. more details are here: https://ascom-standards.org/FAQs/TheSky.htm

Jared

8

Well I tried using Carte du Ciel and that connected, so both on the same port. Just need to see if I can just slew the scope with SGP. I was able to copy and paste coordinates from CdC to a new target in SGP.

9

If you can connect with CdC simultaneously then SGP should work as well…just use the same driver in SGP as you did in CdC. Also make sure that everything is running at the same “level”. Ideally you should NOT be using the “Run as Administrator” on any application.

Jared

10

Thanks for replying once again. I only need one of these programs so CdC is fine. One more question though:
CdC shows Polaris at RA 02h59m while SGP shows RA 02h31
CdC shows Polaris at DEC 8920 while SGP shows DEC 8915
In the bigger scheme of things when we start a sequence will it make a difference? I think it would plate resolve itself, correct?