TheSkySearchers

Hey all,

Just got my EQ6-R Pro and set it up yesterday but did not hook it up to the laptop yet. I needed a new usb cable so I ordered a nice new Red 10ft USB cable for it that should be here today.

Now I have been searching around but did not find a real good answer yet on how I should hook it up to my win 10 laptop.

The mount has the USB on it and also the Hand Controller has another USB connection on it. (Both USB B). My confusion is which one should I choose? My main program will be Sequence Generator Pro on Win 10 running with PHD2.

Here are my questions:

1.) What software do I need to download for the EQ6-R mount for PC connection (Drivers and Such)? I read about EQmod also about skywatcher's native ones but I am unsure which one and if there are others.
2.) If I hook the USB directly from the mount to PC does that make the Hand controller unusable? (I read that some people had issues)
3.) If I hook up my PC to the USB (B) port on the hand controller will that allow me to use both the Hand Controller and PC Control?

Thanks all

I connect my PC thru the handcontroller and run SharpCap for capture and PHD2 for guiding. Works fine, although I believe there is a way to run in PC Direct mode and bypass the hand controller altogether. I've never tried that configuration but maybe someone else here has.

As for software, I've installed the drivers off the SkyWatcher web site and that seems to do the trick. With this configuration, you still can use the hand controller.

EQMOD works well - when you get to the site check the tutorials for how to use & set up - they are good & there is the EQMOD group on io. I've been using it for over 3 years & am happy with it.
There is also GSS (Green Swamp Software) - a little easier to use than EQMOD, early in development I've gotten it up and running. Probably a good choice if you are plate solving.
https://groups.io/g/GSS
In either case you'll need to download ASCOM to use the above.

I would skip the hand controller, and go direct connection, it's pretty simple, install the ascom drivers, install eq mod, setup a comm port and enter your site info in, and connect, I just grab stellarium scope and connect the mount in that program and then boot up stellarium for planetarium access

Thanks both of you

I finally got everything working last night with the mount. At first I tried with the Hand controller and also the direct EQMod way. Now the first night I had a whole bag of issues and had my head scratching. So I thought I messed up with the installation of the drivers and then com ports were changing ect… So the next day I thought it was best to wipe my laptop clean with a fresh install. I usually wipe it clean once or twice a year (only takes a few hours). So with the new clean Win 10 PC, I attempted to connect again and then it dawned on me (I kept hearing a USB connect and disconnect sound every 5-10 seconds). I didn't hear it before because I had my sound muted.

So it turned out that my brand new cool looking red USB cable was defective and that was causing my issue the whole time. So next attempt I went out and tried to use the Hand Controller at first. I was able to let Sequence Generator Pro see it and (I could control the mount with the software based direction arrows that pops up with SGP). The only problem after was that I could not get the Mount the move when Plate Solving.

So I brought the mount back in and decided to go through EQMod and I got to say I am more then happy now. Especially since I don't have to do star alignment anymore. Rather I let EQMod go through SGP's plate solving. I do not need the remote really, but I still leave it plugged in. I am not running a planetarium program like Stelarlium. Rather just using Sequnce Generator Pro and PHD for Guiding.

So this is how my routine works now. I polar align with Sharpcap, then I turn the mount on and do a 1 star alignment just to find a bright star so I can use my Bahtinov Mask to focus with. After I Focus the scope and guide scope, I set the Hand Controller to PC DIrect mode and put the controller back in its cradle and forget about it. I then Plug in the USB directly to the Mount's USB B port and Open up Sequence Generator Pro And Connect PHD2. When the EQMod screen pops up. I hit the button on the bottom that says park to Home Position, So I hit that and let it go to the home position (which is having the mount set back to both index points, just like the AVX) You have to make your own since the markings are hard to do since, it only has 1 arrow on RA, but I used the Bolts to judge where the center was for. For now I just used painters tape and marked it.

From there I just punch in my target on the Framing and Mosaic Wizard And Sequenc Generator takes care of the rest. So last night I finally imaged. The only problem I had was the Meridian Flip. SGP did the flip, but after the flip EQMod did not recognize it or communicate with SGP properly. I will post a new thread for help on that, but I know through the mount, it has something like Disable Merdian flip, force ect… So I just got to find the correct setting.

Congratulations on the success, I use to get discounted mount on the meridian flips, from a slight tug on the mount usb connection, my fix was to add slack to the connections and Tape down the cables so any pivot or yanking is done further down the line instead of being directly at the connection.

Thanks Yobbo

I will do that next time I am out. I ended up getting a 16ft USB cable so I will have room for the slack. The cable does fit not as snug in the USB port as I would like on the PC end so maybe that was it. I just got an ordinary Printer cable from staples as I was desperate with time to get this running and could only get what hey had. I wish the red one I had worked as it was easy to distinquish from the other cables and gold plated and such.