![]() Detailed document on the operation and use of the SKYPIKIT chip.ĭescription of pins. Small electronic assembly guide with tips for soldering, assembling and testing. One important thing that you must know before going further into the project is how to choose the motors and the gears which will give the right speeds to follow the stars at sidereal speed and to make a fast displacement during a GoTo. This document shows how the unipolar motor of the MOONLITE focuser can be controlled with a board from the Arduino shield set or with a TAYGETA-3 board fitted with the unipolar stepper motor driver.ĬALCULATION AND CHOICE OF MOTORS AND GEARS The MOONLITE focuser can be delivered with a precision stepper motor. The controller for this mount uses the Pleiades set of boards. add the possibility of GoTo and autoguiding for replace the motors with DC motors with encoder The original mount was a used Losmandy G11 mount with two stepper motors, without the possibility of GoTo or autoguiding. The controller of this mount uses the Pleiades set of boards. The project consists in adding a second declination motor and a control with Skypikits to be able to do GoTo and autoguiding during astronomical photos. Here we had a small portable mount with a single stepping motor on the right ascension axis, without the possibility of GoTo or autoguiding. This project uses the Pleiades series boards to control the stepper motors of the telescope and a motorized focuser with greater precision. The original drive contained both right ascension and declination motors, but long exposure photography was not possible due to the imprecision of the original drive system. It is a system with a large equatorial disc supported by two rollers, one of which is motorized. This home-made telescope is a Newton with 400mm aperture and 1830mm focal length. MOTORIZATION OF A FORK MOUNT AND OF A FOCUSER This project uses the Arduino shields set of boards. The project consists in adding a second declination motor and a control with Skypikits to have a more stable control and to make autoguiding for astrophotography. The original drive contained only a right ascension motor controlled by an electronic system based on an unstable RC circuit. It is a worm drive system, tractor nut and smooth sector. This home-made telescope is a Newton with 250mm aperture and 1100mm focal length. ![]() This series includes three boards that are found inside the mount and Pleiades boards in an external box. This series is intended to replace the electronic circuits of a MEADE LX200 GPS or RCX400 mount which has stopped working properly. You just have to drill the holes in the right places in a case large enough to hold the boards.īOARDS FOR MOTORIZING A LX200 GPS TELESCOPE The boards in this set are made to simplify mounting since they already contain many elements that you do not need to install. It is recommended to read this document before approaching the other documents on this page. It provides the information necessary to get a good idea of the specifics of this project and what could distinguish it from other telescope motorization projects. This document is a general introduction to the project. To get a good idea of the project, first consult the document "Introduction to the project" then the other documents if necessary. All background documents are in PDF format and there are also various files containing Arduino applications and sample programs. In this site, I tried to put if possible all the necessary documentation so that you can reproduce the project or modify it and apply it to various models of telescopes. Basic knowledge of electronics is required to interpret the diagrams and test and tune the operation of your circuits. You can also get the boards already installed in an enclosure. For electronics, you can use our printed circuit boards already assembled and tested but you will still have to connect cables, connectors, and do a little soldering. It will be easier if you modify an existing commercial mount. It will be more complex if you build a home made mount from scratch. Mechanical mounting depends on the type of project. ![]() To undertake this project, you will need to assemble mechanical and electronic parts. ![]() This system is based on the ARDUINO platform and on a microcontroller chip, named SKYPIKIT, containing a firmware programmed to accomplish all the complex tasks of controlling a telescope mount, which greatly simplifies the design and programming of the Arduino and others components of the system. After testing this project with my own instruments and those of amateur astronomer friends, I developed a telescope motorization and control system that could be reproduced and modified to be used for several situations and several models of telescopes.
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