81 replies to this topic

[rrpallechio]

I asked Celestron for an update and they told me they are waiting for a motor board. The problem I had was with plate solving with SkyPortal/SkySafari/CPWI. How that relates to a motor board, I don't know.

[rrpallechio]

Celestron promised they would update me when they had an ETA for the motor board. They got back to me today:

 

Our repair department got back to me and informed me that the current ETA for the replacement part is approximately 60 days out. The current COVID-19 situation, along with extremely high demand for Celestron products & parts in the last two years, has affected our delivery schedules worldwide. Additionally, freight shipments are seeing significant delays at ports and distribution centers around the world for Celestron as well as other international shipments due to COVID-19 restrictions. Please understand that this is an unusual situation that is out of our control, and we are doing everything possible to fulfill orders for repair parts in the order they are received as we receive shipments from our factories.

We thank you for your patience and for being a loyal Celestron customer. If you have any questions, please let us know.

 

 

They received the mount and HC on September 29, 2022. 60 days out from today is January 10, 2023. Ugh. I can't be angry with them for this. With world wide supply chain  issues and the zero Covid approach China is taking, this is going to happen. It does, however, make me wonder about the wisdom of 'just in time' delivery of parts and globalization in general.

 

And other things are going on in our local economy too. My car was rear ended on Oct. 1st. I couldn't get it into the auto body shop for an estimate until Oct. 12. They can't get the car in for the actual repair until Nov. 28. I've asked around, all the shops in town are backed up like this. I asked one of the managers at the shop I'm dealing with why everyone is backed up and the answer is they can't find technicians to do the work.

 

I really miss my 8" SCT. Fortunately I've got the refractor and the Questar.

[Bitslizer]

welp just checked in i guess too late.

 

But did you attempt to reset the camera center either by calibrating to a new center or factory reset the center? I later on had the same issue in Alt-az mode and factory resetting the center fixed that somehow........ 

 

posting in case other ran into this issue

[rrpallechio]

welp just checked in i guess too late.

 

But did you attempt to reset the camera center either by calibrating to a new center or factory reset the center? I later on had the same issue in Alt-az mode and factory resetting the center fixed that somehow........ 

 

posting in case other ran into this issue

Yes. I did resets with the HC and pushing the reset button. Re-calibrated the camera, several times. I assume if Celestron has the mount and thinks the problem is the motor board then that is where the problem is.

[rrpallechio]

I got an update today from Celestron:

 

Your repair requires a new motor board, and unfortunately, the factory has informed us this part is currently unavailable for shipment. They are having supply issues with a microchip in the panel and cannot provide us with an estimated ship date at this time.

We understand this is frustrating and genuinely apologize for this inconvenience. As soon as we receive further detail from the factory, we will let you know. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you and best regards,

Celestron Technical Support

 

I think I'm going to be investigating a new mount, an EQ.

[SkyDuke82]

I am having the same issue my Starsense achieved an alignment last week and I was able to calibrate it, fast forward to last night I take my telescope out and try to start an alignment and I get the error failure to read plate message even though it has found over 100 stars. Exactly the same conditions as the previous week to just that the Starsense isn’t working properly. I have an Astro Fi telescope to so the HC doesn’t work even when plugged into the second aux port, so I don’t know what to do.

[mlord]

Most likely you are simply doing something wrong or differently than before.  Be patient and work it out.  Time, Date, TimeZone, DST, and Location are the usual suspects.

[rrpallechio]

I am having the same issue my Starsense achieved an alignment last week and I was able to calibrate it, fast forward to last night I take my telescope out and try to start an alignment and I get the error failure to read plate message even though it has found over 100 stars. Exactly the same conditions as the previous week to just that the Starsense isn’t working properly. I have an Astro Fi telescope to so the HC doesn’t work even when plugged into the second aux port, so I don’t know what to do.

My issue is that every other plate solve fails. Only when using an app. If you are seeing one plate solve, then the next one fail, then the next one solve, then the next one fail, using SkyPortal or SkySafari, but you succeed when using the HC, then you are having my issue.

 

In my experience, when it says it found over 100 stars, it could be looking at trees. As mlord says, time, date, timezone, DST and location could be off.  For me, when using the HC, and failing to align, it always came down to one of those. For example, I'd set the date and time in the HC, fail to align, then discover the date and time were not set correctly. So I got into the habit of setting the date, time, location, DST, etc., then went back and checked them all before starting the alignment and fix whatever change didn't take when I entered it in the first time.

Additionally, I started out making a mistake when calibrating. I didn't, at first, realize that Starsense had picked out a star to calibrate on, so when I manually slewed to a different star, the calibration failed. So then I figured out I  had to enter the new calibration star in through the HC, do a GoTo, and then center the star and work through the calibration.

 

Alignment and calibration are not straightforward and obvious for the beginner. After you've been doing it a while it seems to be straightforward and obvious, but that is your experience informing your opinion. Before you have that experience, it is a pain.

Edited by rrpallechio, 27 January 2023 - 07:40 PM.

[Ice Cube]

 

Additionally, I started out making a mistake when calibrating. I didn't, at first, realize that Starsense had picked out a star to calibrate on, so when I manually slewed to a different star, the calibration failed. 

 

are you saying that you loosened the clutches and manually slewed the scope to your calibration star?

 

i did two calibrations tonight on two separate EVO 8 mounts and neither time did either auto align 'pick'

a calibration star.

[rrpallechio]

are you saying that you loosened the clutches and manually slewed the scope to your calibration star?

 

i did two calibrations tonight on two separate EVO 8 mounts and neither time did either auto align 'pick'

a calibration star.

No. I mean I used the HC to slew to a different star. And it's been awhile since I've gone through the alignment procedure, because my mount has been at Celestron since the end of September, and I may have misstated what I did. What I remember is slewing the mount, using the HC, to a star and calibrating, without entering the name of the star I was using into the HC. I'm 70, last time I did this was September, so I may be misremembering what I did.

[rrpallechio]

Celestron has notified me that they have completed the repair of my mount. It sounds like they rebuilt it. They:

 

Replaced Motor Control Board.
• Replaced Power Switch.
• Replaced AUX board.
• Cleaned and re-greased gears
• Adjusted ALT and AZM axis ... I don't know what that means
• Completed Wi-Fi connection testing using different devices
• Completed endurance testing ... in my minds eye I'm picturing a Celestron technician running up Mt. Rainier with my mount strapped to his back
• Completed GoTo testing
• Completed mechanical testing

 

I haven't even got outside with the AVX mount I bought. Maybe if I'd bought the AVX at the end of September my Evolution mount would have been repaired and returned to me in October

And speaking of getting outside, this coming Thursday and Friday we are supposed to have clear skies with lows ranging from the high teens to the low twenties (fFahrenheit) so maybe I'll get a chance to see the comet. I have a good view of that part of the sky from my backyard. It will be a good opportunity to try out the AVX. I've set it up inside and played with it, this will be my first opportunity to use it under the stars.

[rrpallechio]

The Evolution and mount were delivered today. All I need is a clear night to test.

[rrpallechio]

Still waiting for a clear night ...

[rrpallechio]

Well, first night that was clear. Set up the NexStar Evolution, connected to the mount WiFi with my tablet, hit connect and align and ... very same problem I was having before I sent it in for repair. I updated my ticked with Celestron reporting this and asked if there is someone I can talk to over the phone about the problem. I wondering if there is some step or setup that I am missing.

 

Oh, aligning with the HC still works.

[mlord]

Plate-solving is a function of the controller, or the phone app in this case.

 

I doubt there is any possible thing one could fix at the mount that would affect it, especially if the hand-controller already proves the mount is "good".

[rrpallechio]

Plate-solving is a function of the controller, or the phone app in this case.

 

I doubt there is any possible thing one could fix at the mount that would affect it, especially if the hand-controller already proves the mount is "good".

Well, what you are saying makes sense to me. And in your involvement in various HomeBrew projects you certainly have established yourself as a knowledgeable and credible person.

 

However, Celestron had me do a lot of testing before I sent the HC and mount to them, and the person who was working the problem with me said that if the HC alignment worked, but the app alignment didn't work, then the problem must be in the motorboard.

 

And if you look at post #36 (I bet you already did), you'll see they replaced components in the mount and then tested WiFi using several devices.

 

I'll see what Celestron says. Honestly, I don't know where else to go from here.

[mlord]

The Celestron support people I have dealt with thus far have consistently been, "not the best", so I don't have a lot of faith in their customer-facing support folks.  The guys in the back room most likely have a clue though.  They don't seem to actually repair anything, but rather just replace stuff when "fixing" things.  Like most companies these days.

 

But if the hand-controller can reliably perform alignments, then the mount is good, and the StarSense Camera is also good.  Software apps talk to the mount and camera the same way the hand-controller does, over the AUX bus.  One difference with the Evo is that the WiFi is built-in, so it's slightly possible that a bad WiFi module might exhibit inconsistent behaviour.

 

But nothing fits the problem as described here.

 

Good luck!

Edited by mlord, 22 March 2023 - 12:28 PM.

[mlord]

My issue is that every other plate solve fails.

By far the most likely explanation is that the first plate solve of the sequence is being done with incorrect data.  Time, Timezone, DST, Date, Location.   One or more of those.  All of which should be "automatic" and correct from the app.  But if the first plate solve is done with bad data, then the second plate solve will normally fail.

 

What is needed here, is someone else, with their own phone/tablet, and experience, to connect to your mount with their device and try it.  While you stand 20' away and do not attempt to "help". 

 

So.. find a friend with a scope, or a local club to help out.  There will be loads of volunteers, so don't be shy.

 

Cheers

[rrpallechio]

I can find three other devices to use for a test without leaving my house. And my 9 year old grandson has done the alignment with his iPad. So I can have each family member download SkyPortal onto their phones and test, and have my grandson test with his iPad.

 

While waiting for the Evolution mount to come back I bought an AVX mount and a SkyPortal WiFi module.

 

So my variables are: The camera; the mount; the phones/tablets; the WiFi; the HC.

 

The camera works when I align with the HC, so I don't need to test that.

 

I can test the WiFi module by plugging the SkyPortal WiFi module into an Aux port and see if that lets me align.

 

I can test the mount by trying to align using the app with the AVX mount.

 

I can do each of the tests with multiple phones/tablets.

 

The only variable that isn't a variable is the HC. I can't use the HC that came with the AVX with StarSense. I have to use the HC that came with the Evolution. But since the HC works for alignment with the Evolution, that is probably not the problem.

 

Something I discovered last night after I packed everything up and put it away: on my iPad SkySafari 7 Pro and SkyPortal were both one release back from current. I checked my phone and it had the current release of both. So I can test with current app software too.

 

The local club isn't very active, that I can tell, but there is at least one other person on Cloudynights who lives in my area and has an Evolution.

 

The only fly in the ointment is the weather. I waited for weeks for a clear night to test my Evolution mount. Last night was clear. There isn't another clear night in the 10 day forecast, so it will be a while before I can test again.

[mlord]

Since you are using SkyPortal on a touchscreen, it will be best to just unplug and stow away any Celestron hand-controllers.  They are 100% unnecessary for this, and only confuse the situation.

 

Cheers

[mlord]

As for other devices to test on:  all failures to date are with Apple products.  So find an Android device instead.  Yes, this does all work for other people on iStuff, but perhaps there's just some error (soft, or human) that keeps being repeated here.  So a different platform takes that out of the equation.

[rrpallechio]

Since you are using SkyPortal on a touchscreen, it will be best to just unplug and stow away any Celestron hand-controllers.  They are 100% unnecessary for this, and only confuse the situation.

 

Cheers

 

 

As for other devices to test on:  all failures to date are with Apple products.  So find an Android device instead.  Yes, this does all work for other people on iStuff, but perhaps there's just some error (soft, or human) that keeps being repeated here.  So a different platform takes that out of the equation.

I didn't know I could disconnect the HC. I'll try that. I installed SkyPortal on my old Samsung Galaxy phone, so I'll test with it too.

[rrpallechio]

I had an online chat with Celestron today. They asked me to make sure Skyportal was up to date on my devices, the last time out it wasn't, and had me go into saved settings and had me revert to the factory default chart. If we should ever get a clear sky at night again I'll test.

[rrpallechio]

It gets worse. I tested with Apple and Android devices, same results. But a new twist: the HC would freeze. When a test would fail and I went to the HC to slew the OTA back to the starting position, the HC was unresponsive. I had to power cycle the mount to get it back.

 

I also tested with CPWI. CPWI instructs you to have the OTA level facing north. I tried a StarSense alignment and the first two plates solved. After that, CPWI kept pointing the OTA at either the house next door or a tree. It has a real talent for that. So I tried a Manual Align.  I picked Arcturus as my first alignment star. The OTA slewed in that general direction then CPWI instructed me to center Arcturus in the EP. Couldn't do it. HC froze and was unresponsive. None of the buttons worked. The CPWI on screen slew controls didn't work either.

 

Reported it to Celstron. They asked me to send the HC and mount back to them for another repair. I specifically asked that they reproduce my issue before starting the repair and they said they would. A little voice in my head keeps telling me I must be doing something wrong. But another little voice in my head says with SkyPortal all you do is press connect and align and then leave it alone to do its thing. Not a lot of room there for an idiot to screw it up.

[Ice Cube]

have you verified that all your cables (in particular, the mount to camera cable) are in good condition

and aren't experiencing intermittent connections during the mount gyrations?