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Baader Steeldrive II won‘t connect

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Replied by Hans on topic Baader Steeldrive II won‘t connect

While I have no Mac and no Baader Steeldrive focuser either I'll try to help.
In the INDI log you posted I see a baud speed of 57600 . Is that also the port speed in TheSkyX and INDIGO ?

Another approach is to try to access the Steeldrive serial port via another program like Screen or Minicom pbxbook.com/other/mac-tty.html in a console. You have to 'talk' the protocol to see anything assuming it is ASCII based. This may help diagnose the issue.
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1 year 5 months ago #87880

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Replied by Jasem Mutlaq on topic Baader Steeldrive II won‘t connect

is there a published command set for SteelDrive II? If yes, then perhaps the current driver can be modified to communicate with it.
1 year 5 months ago #87881

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Replied by Hans on topic Baader Steeldrive II won‘t connect

I think I found the spec, Chapter 3 of www.baader-planetarium.com/en/downloads/...al_documentation.pdf
Also worth noting: baudrate 19200
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1 year 5 months ago #87882

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Replied by Jasem Mutlaq on topic Baader Steeldrive II won‘t connect

Actually, I just checked and I developed SteelDrive II INDI driver back in 2019. Baud rate is 19200 by default. From Oliver logs, it appears he was trying to connect at 57600 which will not work.
1 year 5 months ago #87883

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Replied by Oliver on topic Baader Steeldrive II won‘t connect

Thank you very much Jasem.

I've tried all Baud rates available with no success.
However, it works out of the box with TheSkyX and INDOGO AstroImager. :-(

@Hans: I've noticed that there is a new version of the FTDI VCP Drivers for macOS. I will try and report tomorrow.
1 year 5 months ago #87884

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Replied by Oliver on topic Baader Steeldrive II won‘t connect

Nah, no success at all :-(
Updated to Ventura, KSTARS 3.6.1stable and my Steeldrive won't connect with EKOS.
No problems with AstroImager and TheSkyX. Both rely on /dev/cu.usbserial-A907KE80.

I was saving the settings of Baader Steel drive II and got this:
[2022-11-07T17:05:05.766 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Baader SteelDriveII : "[DEBUG] Auto search is disabled because /dev/cu.usbserial-A907KE80 is not a system port. "
[2022-11-07T17:05:16.463 CET INFO ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Baader SteelDriveII :  "[INFO] Saving device configuration... "
[2022-11-07T17:05:16.464 CET INFO ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Baader SteelDriveII :  "[INFO] Device configuration saved. "
[2022-11-07T17:05:16.465 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Baader SteelDriveII : "[DEBUG] Configuration successfully saved. "

Here's the log:
[2022-11-07T17:06:41.674 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server:  ""
[2022-11-07T17:06:41.675 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Baader SteelDriveII : "[DEBUG] Toggle Debug Level -- Driver Debug "
[2022-11-07T17:06:41.890 CET INFO ][           org.kde.kstars.ekos] - "Baader SteelDriveII" is connected and ready.
[2022-11-07T17:06:41.898 CET INFO ][           org.kde.kstars.ekos] - "LX200 10micron" is connected and ready.
[2022-11-07T17:06:41.902 CET INFO ][           org.kde.kstars.ekos] - "ZWO CCD ASI178MM" is connected and ready.
[2022-11-07T17:06:41.906 CET INFO ][           org.kde.kstars.ekos] - "ZWO CCD ASI294MC Pro" is connected and ready.
[2022-11-07T17:06:51.346 CET INFO ][           org.kde.kstars.ekos] - "Failed to connect to \nBaader SteelDriveII\nLX200 10micron\nZWO CCD ASI178MM\nZWO CCD ASI294MC Pro\nPlease ensure each device is connected and powered on."
[2022-11-07T17:06:55.921 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Baader SteelDriveII : "[DEBUG] Connecting to /dev/cu.usbserial-A907KE80 @ 19200 "
[2022-11-07T17:06:55.933 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server:  "2022-11-07T16:06:55: Driver indi_steeldrive2_focus: Handshake lines currently set to 6"
[2022-11-07T17:06:55.934 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server:  ""
[2022-11-07T17:06:55.934 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Baader SteelDriveII : "[DEBUG] Port FD 3 "
[2022-11-07T17:06:55.934 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Baader SteelDriveII : "[DEBUG] Connection successful, attempting handshake... "
[2022-11-07T17:06:55.934 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Baader SteelDriveII : "[DEBUG] CMD <GET VERSION> "
[2022-11-07T17:07:00.098 CET INFO ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Baader SteelDriveII :  "[ERROR] Serial read error: Timeout error. "
[2022-11-07T17:07:00.098 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Baader SteelDriveII : "[DEBUG] Handshake failed. "
[2022-11-07T17:07:13.413 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI: Stopping local drivers...
1 year 5 months ago #87910

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Replied by Jasem Mutlaq on topic Baader Steeldrive II won‘t connect

Does it work from Raspberry PI?
1 year 5 months ago #87928

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Replied by Oliver on topic Baader Steeldrive II won‘t connect

I’m on Mac so I can’t try.
1 year 5 months ago #87932

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Replied by Oliver on topic Baader Steeldrive II won‘t connect

If there's anything I could provide to get this focuser to work let me know.
1 year 5 months ago #87963

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Replied by Hans on topic Baader Steeldrive II won‘t connect


Yes, as I posted earlier in this thread:
Another approach is to try to access the Steeldrive serial port via another program like Screen or Minicom pbxbook.com/other/mac-tty.html in a console.
You have to 'talk' the protocol to see anything assuming it is ASCII based. This may help diagnose the issue.
1 year 5 months ago #87972

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Replied by Oliver on topic Baader Steeldrive II won‘t connect

Hans, I‘ve seen your post but I thought it was not necessary as the focuser is working flawlessly with two different apps (TheSkyX and AstroImager) on my Mac with the same serial port driver (cu.usbserial-A907KE80).

And I must admit that I‘ve no clue what to do or 'talk' to my focuser or what to report here.
I‘m not in coding or something. Just a normal user.
1 year 5 months ago #87974

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Replied by Jasem Mutlaq on topic Baader Steeldrive II won‘t connect

I can't do much about the driver unless it's connected to some Linux machine that I can access remotely. I don't know how to debug drivers in Mac, but in Linux I can. When I wrote that driver a couple of years ago, it was working flawlessly with the focuser.
1 year 5 months ago #87988

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