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What are the best ways to remotely control the DDM60?


MikePaling

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Hi folks ....

 

In the very near future I am planning to start building my home observatory in my garden to accommodate my new DDM60 ... when it arrives.

 

Initially I intend to use my laptop, inside the observatory, to control and use my mount & scope until I get used to everything.

 

However, eventually I would like to be able to operate the system remotely .... from my computer room inside my house. The distance from my computer room to the observatory will be appox 40 meters. I would much prefer to have a system which does NOT use any wiring between my house and observatory.

 

I want to prepare my coming observatory, well in advance, to fully to accommodate these future developments if I can.

 

After reading a lot of messages on this forum I can see that lots of people are controlling their telescopes from much longer distances than me .... often hundreds of miles it seems !!!

 

The information that ASA provides on it's web site implies that they have helped all sorts of organisations set up equipment in some very remote parts of the world which can be controlled from a distance ..... but does not give me any clues on how this is being done. I have hit a brick wall after spending ages searching the internet for clues.

 

Can any kind person give me some suggestions & guidance (software & hardware, etc.etc.etc.) on how I might go about controlling my DDM60 and scope from my house ... without using any direct connections?

 

Many thanks in advance.

 

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Hi Mike

I use teamviewer. It works great.

My remote observatory is about 30km away and I have no problem at all with controlling it with TW.

Other things are more likely to be problematic, since USB was invented by the devil (apperently) you are more likely to have that kind misfunction. Like having to unplug/plug-in the camera if maxim looses Connection (common problem for me).

For you thats no biggie since you just have to walk out in the near garden and handle it. (unless you live in versaille castle)

I handle it by having a networks switch for camera Power (tellstick, works great). So not a major problem for me unless I try to do a pointing model,then typically maxim hangs when theres 4 stars left.

 

pelle

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Hi Pelle ...

I see that you have replied to my other question as well ... thanks.

 

I am fairly computer savvy ... but .... I am totally new to setting up links between remote computers. I am assuming that people use Wi-Fi networks to do some of this.

 

Do you connect your computer in your house to your Intel NUC (next to your telescope)  by a wi-fi link using Teamweaver???

 

I have a pretty powerful Wi-Fi router here in my house ... my desktop is not Wi-Fi but is connected to this Wi-Fi router by a cable so that I can access the internet. Is it an easy task to get my desktop PC to talk to a Intel NUC in my future observatory 40M away? Is a Wi-Fi link the way to go???

 

Regards Mike

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Hi Bernard ...

I am planning to have mains electric power into my observatory.

 

I have a burning question .... forgive me if you think me stupid ! ... but ....

 

With the Intel NUC (or similar miniPC) ... how do you control, communicate and generally see what it is doing if it doesn't have a screen? :wacko:

 

Regards Mike

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Hi Mike,

 

Look at TeamViewer (www.teamviewer.com), you remote connect to your mini PC, and on your home desktop, you get the mini PC  screen image in a window, and you can use your keyboard and mouse to control everything on the NUC and see what happens.

 

 

Asking a question is rarely stupid, some answers may be....

 

Regards.

 

Bernard

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If you don't any wiring including CA5/6 you will have to go Wifi.

 

  I used the EnGenius N-ENH 500 Wifi.

 

You need two units one house and the other on the observatory.  Expect to drill a 5/8 through wall in the house and obs to attach these.

 

There are some systems that now pig back internet over 120v if have you power.

 

I recommend the free Real VNC for desktop link software

 
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Hi Mike, 

 

I received your email but answering here because you oben this thread also.

 

To contol the minipc at the telescope I use teamviewer also. Its reliable, fast, easy to use and there are ios and android apps also, so that you can use cellphone and tablet in addition.  And the best, its free for non commercial. For me one of the best software ever. 

 

40m with WLAN sounds not easy to me. I'm using a lan cable at home. But you have alternatives mentioned above.

Reliable is the most important thing for me when talking about remote. So I will use cables whereever I can.

 

BR Thomas

Edited by tbaehnck
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My observatory is at site with several scopes. We actually have broadband there so no problem with access to my NUC.

In your case you could either get a Line carrier as suggested or just get an access Point to the nuc in your observatory.

Come to Think of it, Intel has a small wifi-card you can put in the NUC, might be the best solution if Line carrier does not work. (Both sender and receiver needs to be on the same phase for it to work I Think)

 

Intel NUC used to have a very annoying bug, you needed to have a screen attached to it. That is fixed now.

I dont have a screen at all for the nuc but instead use teamviewer from my IPad when I'm at the observatory. Works fine.

 

Pelle

Edited by pesa
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If you are laying a power cable you might as well also lay a fibre optic cable - even if you don't use it now it will be useful later and will avoid having to dig the garden up again. Even better, lay a conduit with a pull-wire in it so you can pull other cables through at a later date. Remember that while fibre optic cables can share the same conduit as power cables, LAN cables cannot (power causes interference), at least not unless you use heavily shielded LAN cabling. WiFi is good but fixed cables are much more reliable. You can get devices that will let you pass USB, serial and TCP/IP over fibre very reliably (although the good ones are not cheap).

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Many thanks to all who have been kind enough to respond to my plea for suggestions & ideas.

 

After a lot of thinking I have come to the conclusion that the best option, for my situation, is for me to use an EnGenius Long Range 5 GHz Wireless N300 Outdoor Bridge. This system needs clear "line of sight" between the "sending box" and the "receiving box" .... I have managed to get cut back all sorts of unwanted foliage .... so no problems now ... apart from setting it all up.

 

I am hoping to make a start on all of this in the coming months ... weather allowing!!!

 

Regards Mike

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