Electronic focuser the Sesto Senso.

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denababy
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Electronic focuser the Sesto Senso.

Post by denababy »

Hopefully someone can help. I have managed to get the above unit fitted onto my scope and working, I closed thingsdown as it started to rain and reset up once the skies cleared a bit but the focuser was now not talking to the software, I had to go into the calibration section and reselect the type of scope, there are two options in the drop down box, and quickly moved through the rest of the calibration section, the unit then was talking to the software and I was able to adjust focus again. Is this normal or have I done something wrong, which is most likely. Can anyone advise please.


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Re: Electronic focuser the Sesto Senso.

Post by marktownley »

Sorry! Never used one.


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Re: Electronic focuser the Sesto Senso.

Post by MAURITS »

This is a very good focuser but with my setup, when I stop the observing session the telescope focuser must complete outward before you shutdown the electricity.
The next time that I start again with the outward focuser everything worked fine, you can go complete inward if you need BUT when I ended the observing session my focuser must again complet outward before you shutdown.

The people from Sesto Senso are very helpfull when you have a problem, give them a email.
Hope this helps.
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Re: Electronic focuser the Sesto Senso.

Post by PDB »

Hi,

got that focuser recently but could not do much testing yet. (Hospital took me out-of-business again)

I wanted to attach it to a cheap GSO Crayford. It works, but because the 10x spindle of the GSO is not really straight and the Sesto connector is the stiff type that gave some wobble. I then attached it to the much better Baader Diamond Steeltrack and that works impressively smooth and fast

Mechanically it is very good. Software could be better. They should have spent more time developing the software than the logos on the screen.
The ASCOM connectivity is rubbish. You can't get it connected from the same driver to 8-bit (eg CDC, APT) and 16 bit applications like latest FireCapture or AstroGenika. (And it is NOT difficult to program that done it for one of my home brew focusmotors)
So if you switch with Ascom from 16 to 8 bit apps or vice versa, you need to reinstall the Ascom part.


What you and also Maurits are experiencing is that the current focuser position is not always saved. It looks as (at least got that impression, but shoud do more tests) the focuser positiosn is only saved if you press the open/close button before you disconnect. (If I do it that way when reconnecting got the correct focuser position) The reason for that is probably that that is kept in some EPROM in the device. These have a limited amount of write operation before they fail, so by only writing to the memory when needed, that gives a longer lifetime.

Other problem might be the connect discconnect sequence.

connecting: first the 12Volt, then the USB
Disconnecting: USB then 12 Volt
If the device is steered by an Arduino type of controller, they can do strange things (and wipe out some memory) if connection sequence is wrong.

Hope this helps,

Paul


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