Friday, July 17, 2015

operated the Optec remotely

I didn't want to do anything destructive to Dan's RJ-serial adapter. So I took an old serial cable and cut it in half. Then I remapped the wires to suit the Optec TCF-S cable requirements.

Moved the Dell computer into the observatory to be near the pier. Attached my Frankenstein cable. Turned on the focuser. Fired up the software... Nothing.

Oh. Noticed the label "PC" on the mode switch. It needs to be in PC mode!


Tested it again. It worked! With my custom cable I was able to operate the hand controller. Yes!

Next step: testing with a very long wire.

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It all worked! The very long long serial extension cable from the Warm Room. I also tested the USB adapter, since the serial port on the Dell would normally be tied up for Paramount control.

So happy!

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