40 replies to this topic

[rrpallechio]

I had a phone call with Celestron tech. support an hour ago. The suggested I try some different alignment procedures to narrow down and isolate the cause of the problem.

 

I'll know more after I try the other procedures, but at this point I am leaning towards the "software problem between the ears." We'll see.

[rrpallechio]

Ah, an older one.  You'll have to visit https://rtr.ca/hbg3/ and follow instructions there, under the heading:

 

 

What would a newer one cost?
 

[mlord]

The HBG3 is a DIY project, not a "buy one" thing.  The project page is here:  https://rtr.ca/hbg3/

 

Even the earliest version of the HBG3 from December 2022 has the same capabilities as the latest version of the PCB.  Mostly all that has changed in the meanwhile is (1) built-in Nunchuck socket, (2) easier mounting for an OLED display, and (3) more extra pads for wiring other things to it.

[rrpallechio]

I've been working with Celestron trying to solve this problem all week with nothing but frustration. I have tried autoalignment, manual alignment, all to no avail. It has been very frustrating.

 

I went out tonight and did a SkyPortal manual align, choosing the option to align with one point. I've done both the one point and three point align this week and failed. This time it succeeded.  For no reason at all. Then I attempted an autoalign.  And it succeeded. Then I did it again, and it succeeded again. For no reason. Then I had my wife come out and we did some star gazing. Then I powered down, powered up, and attempted another SkyPortal autoalign. It succeeded again.

 

I've done these over and over this week, and tonight I didn't change a thing, but it worked. I'm stumped as to why but I will take the win.

[ramirez.jonathon]

Have you made any progress on this?  I'm having the exact same issue and its super frustrating.  Below is my message to Celestrong technical support.  Mine even does the spin end over end thing if i let it. 

 

HI, so I purchased a SSAG about two months ago and I've really struggled to get it to work properly. The first 2-3 times I had no issues outside I didn't center calibrate properly. I tried to turn on tracking and the telescope would just begin to drift continuous way off the object I was trying to view.

Now I'm having a more frustrating issue, I can't seem to complete an auto alignment. I mostly have been trying to use the Sky portal app to do the alignment but have tried the CPWI software as well. I connect to the telescope in sky portal and, hit connect and align, make sure the telescope is level and pointed north, it rotates around to find stars. After trying to find 3 stars to align off of it comes back with the an error code

 

"Add Align Failed. Alignment pointing error too large. Please reconnect and try another alignment."

 

Another alignment never seems to solve the problem. When I'm doing the alignment on sky portal odd behavior as well. When the telescope is tracking across the sky it puts a little recital on the screen for where it thinks its looking, even though my telescope is pointed at the sky and trending across the sky, it the recital shows up on the on the app as if it is pointing down at the ground. Also I've tried updating the firmware on CFM multiple times for both the evolution mount and SSAG so I should be on the latest of both. I was curious of my SSAG was out of focus so tried to run it through my laptop so I could look at the live view, but I get no image when I click live view. Its just a blank box with the Celeston logo.

[rrpallechio]

Dude!!!! That is EXACTLY the issue I was facing. And it fixed itself for no reason that I can figure out! Since my last post on 12 July I've done any number of alignments and not had any failure.

 

Celestron was starting to set up another RMA when I told them the problem had seemingly gone away. They told me that if it happens again, they will have me send it in, and the tech who contacted me said he would do a test BEFORE doing a repair, something I had asked them to do because it just didn't make sense that they would replace a board, get a successful test, then ship it back to me and the problem persists. Then goes away for no good reason.

 

And while I sympathize with you, and hope you get the problem addressed, I am overjoyed that it has happened to someone else and  I am not ... crazy.

 

The only difference between our situations is that you replicated the problem with CPWI. I didn't even try CPWI.

 

My open ticket number is ROI-984-48642 and Johnny Olivares is the owner on the Celestron side. I've also spoken to Rod Gallardy. Both of them have been supportive. If neither of those two are on your ticket you might reference my ticket # and tell them your problem is the same as I've described.
 

[ramirez.jonathon]

So i actually fixed it last night as well  The support person told me the firmware can't be updated via CFM and has to be updated via plugging into a PC via USB-C.  For this to work you have to download a windows driver first, then download the swu file.  Go to the the IP address in the in the manual and I was able to update the drivers.  Also my usb-c cable wasn't apparently working because my PC wasn't recognizing it, after trying a new usb c cable the website loaded right way. After updating the drive I clicked live view and and I had an image!  From there I was told to factory reset my SSAG through the hand controller.  Last night completed a 3 start alignment perfectly.  Now I wasn't able to get it to center calibrate properly but I think that's a me issue and the sky portal app being not very intuitive.  I still don't know if I'm supposed to hit allign or calibrate when trying to adjust to center position on a star.  Also you apparently can't use the hand controller once completing the alignment with the app.  They don't communicate well.  So I may just leave it unplugged. 

 

I was about a day away from upgrading to a full ZWO setup.  My seestar just works and requires no though.  

[rrpallechio]

So i actually fixed it last night as well  The support person told me the firmware can't be updated via CFM and has to be updated via plugging into a PC via USB-C. 

 

 From there I was told to factory reset my SSAG through the hand controller.  Last night completed a 3 start alignment perfectly. 

 

Now I wasn't able to get it to center calibrate properly but I think that's a me issue and the sky portal app being not very intuitive.  I still don't know if I'm supposed to hit allign or calibrate when trying to adjust to center position on a star. 

 

Also you apparently can't use the hand controller once completing the alignment with the app.  They don't communicate well.  So I may just leave it unplugged.

 

I'm glad you got it to work! I have some thoughts ...

 

You can update the SSAG firmware via CFM or the web download. I have done it with CFM, and it showed that it updated.

 

I had tried a factory reset by holding down 0 on the HC and powering up the mount. Did you do something different? That reset did nothing for me.

 

After you do the align, do a GoTo to a star. Center the star. Press Align in Skyportal then press Calibrate. Then do another GoTo to check the calibration. Here's what happens with me. After doing a calibrate, then a GoTo to the same star I had centered on, the star will not be in the center. So I do another calibration. If, after the first calibration and GoTo, the star is above and left of center (I have an illuminated reticle EP) I move the star to below and right of center, then redo the calibration. Now when I do a GoTo the star is closer to the center.

 

Throughout the evening when I GoTo different parts of the sky I press Align in SkyPortal, then Align on the menu that comes up. That adds an alignment point. I am getting better results with the SSAG than with the SSAA, but I find that like with the SSAA, my GoTos improve by adding alignment reference points in different parts of the sky.

 

When I'm at the eyepiece I use the HC to slew the scope. It works fine and is easier than using SkyPortal because I can feel the keys and don't have to look at the HC. Just remember that if you align with SkyPortal your GoTos have to be done with SkyPortal and if you align with the HC your GoTos have to be done with the HC. But you can align with SkyPortal and manually slew with the HC.

 

That said, if you get a good alignment and calibration you will find you don't have to slew too much at all. The other night I was using a 10mm Ethos EP (.50° TFOV) and every target was in the FOV after a GoTo.
 

[Pilot87178d]

RR -  from your post:

 

"Okay, so I got a successful alignment, multiple times. Next up was to do a GoTo to Vega. Vega was high in the sky but not at the zenith. But when I did the GoTo the mount pointed the OTA straight up and appeared to be trying to do a back flip before I stopped it. So I redid the alignment and retried, and got the same behavior. Even got it when I tried GoTos to lower targets. So I looked more closely at my SkyPortal screen and saw that the mount thought the OTA was pointing down and to the south east when it was actually pointing up and to the north west."

 

Same here.....AVX + StarSense + SkySafari 7 or SkyPortal V.er.3.5.2.1...worked fine for several years.....now, it likes to do as you described above and it added a new feature last month:  un-commanded diving "excursions" like it was trying to point to a object 180 degrees from Apex to Australia. Scary!

 

Tried and tried with this thing.  We have two key Dark-Sky Star Parties coming up in Sept and Oct that I plan to attend and want the fun and enjoyment of simple viewing, not an hour wrestling with the system only to wind up popping the clutches and muscling the 127 refractor and Mak around the sky trying to star-hop.  Maybe the solution is to just go wide-angle with a manual mount and use the twisties to navigate.

 

Suggestions for scrapping everything and just purchasing a simpler set-up now for larger/brighter DSOs and planets?

 

Thx!

Marc   

[mlord]

I had tried a factory reset by holding down 0 on the HC and powering up the mount. Did you do something different? That reset did nothing for me.

See page 6 of the SSAG Instruction Manual: https://celestron-si...5_Languages.pdf

Edited by mlord, 27 July 2024 - 01:14 PM.

[Michael Tomich]

Not sure if anyone mentioned this, but using Sky Safari based apps from Celestron and Skywatcher, I have found that alignment will fail and never work without uninstalling and reinstalling the app. It's as if there is an occasional bug that corrupts the setup data.

[Pilot87178d]

Will try it tonight.  Growing weary of losing time to observe by fiddling with the guidance and being frustrated.   Also, protecting the OTA from the intermittent "dives" when the system starts the final alignment step. 

Thx!

Marc   

[mlord]

To debug these setups, unplug any unnecessary accessories.  This will reduce AUX bus loading, and reduce the chances of corrupted messages which may result in "uncontrolled slews" and the like.

 

The Celestron Focus Motor in particular has been implicated in many such situations, and temporarily removing it can produce an immediate improvement.  If that turns out to be the case, there are long term fixes for that issue.

 

Cheers

[Pilot87178d]

Not sure if anyone mentioned this, but using Sky Safari based apps from Celestron and Skywatcher, I have found that alignment will fail and never work without uninstalling and reinstalling the app. It's as if there is an occasional bug that corrupts the setup data.

Worth a try!  If not, going back to start-hopping as alternative to throwing the AVX into the Potomac River, along with the guider.

[rrpallechio]

Same here.....AVX + StarSense + SkySafari 7 or SkyPortal V.er.3.5.2.1...worked fine for several years.....now, it likes to do as you described above and it added a new feature last month:  un-commanded diving "excursions" like it was trying to point to a object 180 degrees from Apex to Australia. Scary!

 

Thx!

Marc   

My issues were with an Evolution Alt/Az mount, not the AVX.
 

[Pilot87178d]

Yes and sorry you are experiencing the issues you cited.