Desley
16-July-2008, 02:23 PM
Astro Devices BETI - Bluetooth Electronic Telescope Interface
Review by Dean Sarelius - 13th July 2008
(link removed - advertising?)
Hi everyone, I own a 10inch Dobsonian with US-Digital encoders and was using a home brew version of Dave Ek’s encoder box with USB serial cable to connect my laptop and IPAQ. The USB serial cable while it provides power and communications to the encoder box is a real tripping hazard at night and so the idea of having a wireless connection looked very attractive.
Astro Devices BETI which is short for Bluetooth Electronic Telescope Interface provides a wireless Bluetooth serial connection to a laptop and/or PDA allowing you to connect and share that connection with your favorite planetarium application.
I received BETI packaged with 2 x AA cells and user manual, Altitude and Azimuth encoders are connected to a single 8P8C RJ45 connector and the power switch allows you to switch between internal or external power, the external option accepts AC or DC power.
The layout for my Altitude and Azimuth encoder connections allowed me to easily retrofit the 4 pole connections to the 8P8C RJ45 connector interface in fact it was as easy as laying both encoder cables side by side and crimping to the 8P8C plug.
After a couple of nights using the batteries due to the excessive power consumption of my encoders it very quickly became apparent that I would need to provide external power and chose a 3 cell 1200mAh LiPo providing 11.8V DC with enough power to provide several nights charge free viewing.
I currently use two planetarium programs Hallo Northern Sky “HNSKY” which is a free planetarium program for Windows I run on my laptop the other which I purchased called Astromist for my IPAQ and considering its features is a very reasonably priced program.
With BETI connected to your telescope it is easily paired to either the PC or my IPAQ a two star initialization and you are ready to browse the heavens.
The best features of BETI are the fast read rate and use of memory to save the encoder positions. The fast read rate ensures that no matter how quickly the telescopes moves BETI will be able to track and provide reliable encoder position counts, better still since BETI has its own built in memory should the Bluetooth connection fail it is simply a matter of reconnecting your planetarium software and you can continue to use the same initialization values.
Through the command set supported by BETI it is possible to query your encoder resolutions, you can check the position and the status LED provides a visual indication of the connection status.
I would have liked to have seen more information provided regarding the BETI protocol for example a guide to checking the Encoder Counts using the BETI command protocol would help should you only need to check the Bluetooth connection and to fine tune encoder count values.
Right now the unit I received indicates a good connection by blinking more rapidly, however I have been advised that for future revisions the blinking will be reduced in order to save batteries.
In conclusion I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend BETI to anyone wishing to upgrade to a wireless telescope tracking system. The simplicity and reliability of the connection in my opinion is better than its serial cable alternative.
It not only provides a hazard free night time gazing experience but it also allows your connection to be shared at Star Parties or with other applications.
What more could you ask for, Happy gazing..!
Review by Dean Sarelius - 13th July 2008
(link removed - advertising?)
Hi everyone, I own a 10inch Dobsonian with US-Digital encoders and was using a home brew version of Dave Ek’s encoder box with USB serial cable to connect my laptop and IPAQ. The USB serial cable while it provides power and communications to the encoder box is a real tripping hazard at night and so the idea of having a wireless connection looked very attractive.
Astro Devices BETI which is short for Bluetooth Electronic Telescope Interface provides a wireless Bluetooth serial connection to a laptop and/or PDA allowing you to connect and share that connection with your favorite planetarium application.
I received BETI packaged with 2 x AA cells and user manual, Altitude and Azimuth encoders are connected to a single 8P8C RJ45 connector and the power switch allows you to switch between internal or external power, the external option accepts AC or DC power.
The layout for my Altitude and Azimuth encoder connections allowed me to easily retrofit the 4 pole connections to the 8P8C RJ45 connector interface in fact it was as easy as laying both encoder cables side by side and crimping to the 8P8C plug.
After a couple of nights using the batteries due to the excessive power consumption of my encoders it very quickly became apparent that I would need to provide external power and chose a 3 cell 1200mAh LiPo providing 11.8V DC with enough power to provide several nights charge free viewing.
I currently use two planetarium programs Hallo Northern Sky “HNSKY” which is a free planetarium program for Windows I run on my laptop the other which I purchased called Astromist for my IPAQ and considering its features is a very reasonably priced program.
With BETI connected to your telescope it is easily paired to either the PC or my IPAQ a two star initialization and you are ready to browse the heavens.
The best features of BETI are the fast read rate and use of memory to save the encoder positions. The fast read rate ensures that no matter how quickly the telescopes moves BETI will be able to track and provide reliable encoder position counts, better still since BETI has its own built in memory should the Bluetooth connection fail it is simply a matter of reconnecting your planetarium software and you can continue to use the same initialization values.
Through the command set supported by BETI it is possible to query your encoder resolutions, you can check the position and the status LED provides a visual indication of the connection status.
I would have liked to have seen more information provided regarding the BETI protocol for example a guide to checking the Encoder Counts using the BETI command protocol would help should you only need to check the Bluetooth connection and to fine tune encoder count values.
Right now the unit I received indicates a good connection by blinking more rapidly, however I have been advised that for future revisions the blinking will be reduced in order to save batteries.
In conclusion I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend BETI to anyone wishing to upgrade to a wireless telescope tracking system. The simplicity and reliability of the connection in my opinion is better than its serial cable alternative.
It not only provides a hazard free night time gazing experience but it also allows your connection to be shared at Star Parties or with other applications.
What more could you ask for, Happy gazing..!