I built the basic moonlite focuser clone following the information and arduino sketch presented earlier by PATDUT, ( TOPIC: Moonlite focuser protocol) using the stepper, and driver board he used along with a ebay arduino nano clone.
The programming and tryout were done with an older Toshiba laptop with a fresh mint 18 operating system along with all the files etc for running Kstars and Ekos. . Everything worked great and I was ready to make the necessary mounts and install it on my WO66 focuser assembly. But a problem occurred when I tried it out with the newer Dell laptop out in the observatory. It did not work.
The green light on the arduino lit up but the red leds that indicate communication on the arduino and driver board were dark. I hooked it back up to the Toshiba and everything worked again. I am guessing that the necessary communications between the Dell laptop with Mint 18 and the arduino board clone are not happening. I used lsusb via the terminal and saw that the arduino is listed as QinHeng Electronics HL-340 USB-Serial adapter. So I guess my Toshiba will work with it and the Dell won't. I checked both machines and they are set up as identical as I can see but something is different. Most likely I do not have the right driver for communications with the HL-340. Checks on the internet indicate that the HL-340 might be the problem but I did not find any good information on what to do about it.
Does anyone know a cure?
Thanks
Jon
The programming and tryout were done with an older Toshiba laptop with a fresh mint 18 operating system along with all the files etc for running Kstars and Ekos. . Everything worked great and I was ready to make the necessary mounts and install it on my WO66 focuser assembly. But a problem occurred when I tried it out with the newer Dell laptop out in the observatory. It did not work.
The green light on the arduino lit up but the red leds that indicate communication on the arduino and driver board were dark. I hooked it back up to the Toshiba and everything worked again. I am guessing that the necessary communications between the Dell laptop with Mint 18 and the arduino board clone are not happening. I used lsusb via the terminal and saw that the arduino is listed as QinHeng Electronics HL-340 USB-Serial adapter. So I guess my Toshiba will work with it and the Dell won't. I checked both machines and they are set up as identical as I can see but something is different. Most likely I do not have the right driver for communications with the HL-340. Checks on the internet indicate that the HL-340 might be the problem but I did not find any good information on what to do about it.
Does anyone know a cure?
Thanks
Jon