I am looking to build one of FocuserPro2 systems. I have an SCT and with the Focal Reducer I can not get enough backfocus to use my secondary focuser. So I am going to mount this focuser on the main mirror focuser knob. What I would like to do is use a servo motor to Lock/Unlock the mirror lock knob on my LX 200 GPS. I've checked the torque requirements and they should be well within a medium servo's capacity.
So one would need a routine that checks the position of the mirror lock, unlocks it before a focus change and then locks it after the focus movement. Does not seem like this would be too onerous to code. I have only dabbled in coding, but it does not seem to be too big a deal. However I have not found anyone that has done this, so I could be missing something here.
It would have the advantage of not forgetting to lock the mirror after focusing, which I am prone to do when focusing by hand.
Thanks for any feedback.
Bob
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Sometimes even the simplest of all ideas leads one down a very stormy path.
You could probably do that but it may not play too nice with other things.
One of the issues we have is lack of available pins to do extra stuff with. For that reason most of my effort now is on the ESP32 wifi focuser. These can be paired with daughter boards that handle specific tasks like flip-flap covers, dome control and much more. Boards can interact with JSON or ESPNOW making most things very possible.
Regards
Robert
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I will check that one out. The Arduino Nano seems to be updated and I am not sure which are compatible with this project. I will keep looking into this project.
Sometimes even the simplest of all ideas leads one down a very stormy path.
You could probably do that but it may not play too nice with other things.
One of the issues we have is lack of available pins to do extra stuff with. For that reason most of my effort now is on the ESP32 wifi focuser. These can be paired with daughter boards that handle specific tasks like flip-flap covers, dome control and much more. Boards can interact with JSON or ESPNOW making most things very possible.
I am looking to build one of FocuserPro2 systems. I have an SCT and with the Focal Reducer I can not get enough backfocus to use my secondary focuser. So I am going to mount this focuser on the main mirror focuser knob. What I would like to do is use a servo motor to Lock/Unlock the mirror lock knob on my LX 200 GPS. I've checked the torque requirements and they should be well within a medium servo's capacity.
So one would need a routine that checks the position of the mirror lock, unlocks it before a focus change and then locks it after the focus movement. Does not seem like this would be too onerous to code. I have only dabbled in coding, but it does not seem to be too big a deal. However I have not found anyone that has done this, so I could be missing something here.
It would have the advantage of not forgetting to lock the mirror after focusing, which I am prone to do when focusing by hand.
Thanks for any feedback.
Bob
Hi Bob
Sometimes even the simplest of all ideas leads one down a very stormy path.
You could probably do that but it may not play too nice with other things.
One of the issues we have is lack of available pins to do extra stuff with. For that reason most of my effort now is on the ESP32 wifi focuser. These can be paired with daughter boards that handle specific tasks like flip-flap covers, dome control and much more. Boards can interact with JSON or ESPNOW making most things very possible.
Regards
Robert
I will check that one out. The Arduino Nano seems to be updated and I am not sure which are compatible with this project. I will keep looking into this project.
Bob Parry
Sent from iPad
Most projects use the
Arduino Nano, AT328P with CH340 usb
The projects using the Motorshield use the Arduino Uno