SGL Observatory Automation

ASCOM Motor Focuser Control

Getting Started Guide

Written by Christian Guenther (yesyes)

Document version V1.0 20 September 2011

Introduction
SGL Observatory Automation is an open source project to control the creation of software,
hardware and interfaces to automate an astronomical observatory using the Arduino open standard,
with ASCOM support for appropriate devices.
This guide deals with the Focuser Control part of the project. This allows you to control your DIY
motor focuser via the ASCOM standard or via a stand-alone Windows application.

What you need

- Hardware
o
o
o

A bipolar stepper motor with 1.8 degree steps / 200 steps per revolution or better
(less degrees / more steps are better)
One of the supported stepper motor driver circuits
One Arduino micro controller board

- Software
o

3rd party software

The Arduino Programming Software
http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Software

The ASCOM Platform 5.5 or higher
http://ascom-standards.org/
SGL Observatory Automation Software
(download from Files section of the SGL Observatory Automation Yahoo! Group)

The software that will run on the Arduino board. This is called a sketch and
comes in the form of .pde files. These files are text files containing the
source code of the sketch. This needs to be compiled and uploaded to the
Arduino via USB using the Arduino software.
Files -> SGL Software -> Focuser -> Current Version
SGL_Focuser_Driver_nolcd_2_0_0F_zip.pde

The libraries are required to compile the Arduino sketch
Files -> SGL Software -> Focuser -> Current Version
Libraries.zip

The SGL Focuser ASCOM driver. This is the software that needs to be
installed on the PC that you want to use to control the focuser. This allows
you to control the focuser through 3rd party astronomy software that
supports ASCOM focuser control.
Files -> SGL Software -> Focuser -> Current Version
SGLAscomFocuser V2_00_00B Setup.exe

(optional) The Focuser Control Stand-alone application. This is a separate
Windows application that allows you to directly control your focuser without
ASCOM support.
Files -> SGL Software -> Focuser -> Current Version
SGL_Focus_StandaloneV1_00_03.zip

- Skills
o

Mechanical skills to mount the stepper motor onto your telescope focuser model.
This can be done in many different ways and depends on your specific focuser
model.
Some soldering will be required. Some of the circuits of this project are quite small
and sensitive; specifically the Arduino and the EasyDriver. If your soldering skills are
a bit rusty or lacking, then I recommend practicing on something less sensitive first.

The Hardware
Overview
This is an overview of how everything needs to be connected

The connection between the PC and the Arduino is a simple USB cable. The Arduino will be powered
from the USB bus. The stepper driver connects to the Arduino via a few signal lines and a Ground
line (GND). The wires coming out of the stepper motor then connect to the driver board. The power
supply for the stepper motor also connects to the driver board.
The Arduino can be any reasonably modern model. The Arduino Duemilanove (Italian for 2009), Uno
and Mega are popular. I personally have chosen an Arduino Nano because its quite small but has
the same functionality as the 2009. If you have not dealt with an Arduino before, I recommend
having a look at the Arduino website http://arduino.cc and get an idea what it is all about.
As for the driver, 3 types are supported: the EasyDriver board, the L293 driver chip and the LadyAda
AFmotor board.

I personally have only used the EasyDriver, so I will concentrate on this driver
from now on. The procedure will be different for other drivers.
The stepper motor should be a bipolar stepper motor with 1.8 degrees per step (less is better).
Thats the equivalent of 200 steps per rotation (more is better). The stepper can have 4 or 6 wires
but only 4 will be used. These steppers can be salvaged from old printers for example. You can also
find some cheap ones on Ebay. You can ask on the Yahoo! Group if you are not sure whether a
particular stepper will be suitable.
The power supply depends on the stepper. The EasyDriver can handle up to 30Volts. Go a little
higher than what the stepper is rated for. That will make sure that the stepper has enough torque to
turn the focuser. Im using a 12V power supply for my 5V rated stepper.

Connecting everything up
On the Arduino side you need to connect 3 wires;
wires; one on a GND pin and 2 on digital I/O pins. The
default I/O pins are pin 2 for direction and pin 3 for step signals. You can choose different pins and
specify the pins you used in the Arduino sketch later.
These 3 wires go to the EasyDrivers DIR, STEP and
a GND pin. Then connect the stepper power supply
to the EasyDriver. The 4 wires of the stepper motor also connect to the EasyDriver. More on that
later.
This is what it should look like:

This particular diagram shows an Arduino Nano.

Nano. The pin names are the same on all Arduinos.

Connecting the stepper

First a word of warning: You must never disconnect the stepper motor while the EasyDriver is
powered. Doing this will destroy the driver chip. Make sure the wires dont come loose while you
are testing.
If you have a datasheet for your stepper, then find out which pair of wires is one coil and which pair
is the other coil. Connect one pair to A on the EasyDriver and the other pair to B. It does not matter
which pair is which. If you connect them the other way around, the stepper will just rotate in the
other direction. This can be corrected in the Arduino sketch. Also, each pair does not have polarity. It
does not matter which way you connect each pair. If you have a 6 wire stepper, then dont use the
middle wire of each coil.
If you do not have a datasheet, you can easily find out the pairs using a continuity tester or better an
Ohm meter (required when you have a 6 wire stepper).
For a 4 wire stepper just take the wires and measure continuity or resistance. If you find 2 wires with
a low resistance or continuity, thats one coil. The other 2 wires are the other coil.

The 6 wire stepper is a little more tricky. You will need to measure the resistance. Continuity is not
enough. You need to find pairs with higher resistance than other combination of wires. In the
diagram below there will be higher resistance between A and A than between A and A COM
(because the coil is longer). With this type of stepper you will not use A COM and B COM.

Once you know which wires are pairs, connect one pair to the A terminals on the EasyDriver and the
other pair to the B terminals.

Mounting the Stepper on the Focuser

There are several ways to connect the stepper shaft with the focuser shaft. You can use a direct
coupling; ideally a flexible one. Or you can use gears or belt and pulleys. This is up to you and how
you can attach the stepper to the focuser. If you use gears or belt you can choose a gear ratio; the
higher gear on the focuser. A higher gear ratio allows for finer adjustment but it takes much longer
for the focuser to travel longer distances. I find a 2:1 ratio with a 0.9 degree stepper fine enough.
There is really not much I can suggest how you mount the motor to the focuser. You will need to find
some way of attaching a metal bracket to the focuser that holds the stepper in the right place. Make
sure you know what every screw on your focuser is for before you loosen any of them trying to find
an attachment point.
This how I solved the problem:

A solution using a universal coupling:-

And one with a direct coupling onto the shaft (commercial item):-

The Software
Installing the Arduino Software
You can skip this step if you already have the Arduino Software installed from a different project.
The Arduino Software is an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) that runs on Windows, Mac
OS X and Linux. This is where you would develop software that runs on an Arduino and it is also used
to upload the sketch onto the Arduino.
For this project the Arduino Software will only be used to make small source code modifications and
then upload the sketch to the Arduino board. It is not required when using the focuser. Therefore
you dont need to install it on the same PC that you will use to control the focuser. It is, of course, no
problem to install it all on the same machine.
First you need to download the Arduino Software from here:
http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Software
Then install and configure the Arduino Software. This is explained on the Arduino website here:
http://arduino.cc/en/Guide/HomePage
Feel free to follow the examples provided on the Arduino Website. The blink example sketch is a
good and popular way to check if everything is set up and working correctly.

Copying the Libraries

The libraries required to compile the Arduino sketch. They contain extra bits of source code that the
SGL Focuser sketch refers to. All you need to do is to download the libraries from the Yahoo! Group
Files section and copy them to where you installed the Arduino Software.
On the website of the SGL Observatory Automation Yahoo! Group go to
Files -> SGL Focus control Easy Driver -> Driver Version 2_00_00
There download Libraries.zip
Then open the zip file and copy all its content to the libraries folder of the Arduino Software. Lets
say you installed the Arduino Software under D:\arduino-0021\ then copy the content of
Libraries.zip to D:\arduino-0021\libraries. Make sure you keep the subfolders exactly as they are in
the zip file.

Make sure that the Arduino Software is not running while you copy the libraries. If it was running,
then close it and start it again for it to recognise the new libraries.

Copying the Sketch

On the website of the SGL Observatory Automation Yahoo! Group go to
Files -> SGL Software -> Focuser -> Current Version
From there download SGL_Focuser_Driver_nolcd_2_0_0F_zip.pde
Then open the location where you installed the Arduino Software and go to the subfolder
Sketchbook. If this folder does not exist, create it. Under Sketchbook create a new folder with the
same name as the .pde file but without the .pde extension. In this case the folder name will have to
be SGL_Focuser_Driver_nolcd_2_0_0F_zip. Then copy the file
SGL_Focuser_Driver_nolcd_2_0_0F_zip.pde into that folder.

Modifying and Uploading the Sketch

Depending on how exactly you connected everything up you may need to make some small
modifications to the source code of the sketch. You may need to change the I/O pin numbers in the
sketch if you used non-default pins. You may also need to change the direction of the stepper
depending on how you connected the stepper coils to the EasyDriver.
You need to check and maybe modify the I/O pin numbers now. The stepper direction and a few
other things may need to be modified later.
Open the sketch in the Arduino Software.

Locate the following 2 lines

int dirPin = 2; // Easy Driver Direction Output Pin
int stepperPin = 3; // EasyDriver Stepper Step Output Pin
Edit the pin numbers to reflect your wiring. For example if you connected the DIR input of the
EasyDriver to Arduino digital pin 12 and the STEP input to pin 9, edit these 2 lines the following way:
int dirPin = 12; // Easy Driver Direction Output Pin
int stepperPin = 9; // EasyDriver Stepper Step Output Pin
If you used an analogue I/O pin, prefix the pin number with an A. For example if you connected the
DIR input of the EasyDriver to Arduino analogue pin 4 and the STEP input to analogue pin 5, this is
what the 2 lines should look like:
int dirPin = A4; // Easy Driver Direction Output Pin
int stepperPin = A5; // EasyDriver Stepper Step Output Pin
No need to modify anything else at this moment. Click on the Save button in order to save the
modifications you made. Now make sure the Arduino board is connected to the PC via USB cable and
the correct COM port and Arduino board type selected as explained on the Arduino website. Then

click the Upload button. This will compile the sketch into binary format and upload it to the Arduino
board. When the upload has finished the Arduino will start running the sketch immediately.
If you get any errors at this stage, check on the Arduino website for a solution and/or ask for help on
the Yahoo! Group.

Installing the Stand-alone Application

The Stand-alone application offers a way of controlling the focuser directly without other software.
This can be used to test your build. You can also use this application to control your focuser while
observing / imaging if you do not want to use other ASCOM compatible software.
On the website of the SGL Observatory Automation Yahoo! Group go to
Files -> SGL Focus control Easy Driver
There download SGL_Focus_StandaloneV1_00_03.zip
Then extract the files in the zip archive and run setup.exe in order to install the Stand-alone
application.

Testing your stepper using the Stand-alone Application

Now its time to test what you have built and done so far. Connect everything up as described and
plug in the Arduino to the PC using the USB cable. Then start the Stand-alone application you just
installed. Make sure the Arduino Software is closed at this point because it will keep the COM port
to the Arduino open otherwise. A COM port can only be opened in one application at a time.

Now select the COM port that is assigned to your Arduino board and click Connect. Then enter a
value in the field above Set Steps. 100 is a good starting point. Then click Set Steps and then on Set
Relative. Now when you click on In or Out the stepper should make the number of steps in that
direction. 100 steps is probably a very small movement. To make bigger steps, enter a higher
number and click Set Steps again.
If the stepper is moving and does so in the right direction, then youre done. The only thing left to do
is to install the SGL Focuser ASCOM Driver if you want to use that.
If the stepper does move but in the wrong direction, i.e. the focuser moves out when you click the In
button, then you can correct for this in the Arduino sketch. Close the Stand-alone application (for it
to close the COM port) and load the sketch into the Arduino Software again. (see Modifying and
Uploading the Sketch).
In the sketch find the following line
boolean Direction = true;//True is one way false is other.Change to
false if motor is moving in the wrong direction
Change it to
boolean Direction = false;//True is one way false is other.Change to
false if motor is moving in the wrong direction

Then upload the sketch to the Arduino board again. . (see Modifying and Uploading the Sketch).

Now close the Arduino Software again and start the Stand-alone application and test again. The
stepper should now move in the opposite, correct direction.
If you experience any other issues at this point (for example the stepper is not moving at all) please
ask for help on the Yahoo! Group.

Installing the ASCOM Platform

ASCOM stands for Astronomy Common Object Model and represents a standard way of controlling
various types of astronomy equipment from a Windows PC. It consists of the equipment
independent ASCOM Platform software and ASCOM drivers for each device you want to control.
If you are already controlling other equipment, such as your telescope mount, from your PC, then it
is quite likely that you already have the ASCOM Platform installed. Check if it is version 5.5 or higher.
If yes, then youre fine and you can skip to the next step. If it is older than version 5.5, then you need
to upgrade.
If you dont have the ASCOM Platform installed or you need to upgrade, download the ASCOM
Platform software from here:
http://ascom-standards.org/Downloads/Index.htm
Installation is straight forward. Just run the downloaded file and follow the on-screen instructions.

Installing the SGL Focuser ASCOM Driver

The SGL Focuser ASCOM Driver is the software that tells the ASCOM Platform how to control this
particular focuser. This allows any software that supports ASCOM focusers to control the motor
focuser you are building without knowing the specifics of this focuser.
On the website of the SGL Observatory Automation Yahoo! Group go to
Files -> SGL Focus control Easy Driver -> Driver Version 2_00_00
From there download SGLAscomFocuser V2_00_00B Setup.exe
Then run this file in order to install the driver. This will just install the ASCOM driver for your focuser.
You will not see a new application installed.
Once the driver has been installed you can open the application that supports the ASCOM focuser.
This application should have an option somewhere where you can select which focuser to control.
The driver you just installed should appear in the list of available focusers as SGLAscomFocusControl
Connecting your application with the SGL focuser causes a window to open that looks very similar to
the Stand-alone application. You can now control your focuser from your astronomy software and
also from this window.

Thats it. Youre done.

Again, if you have any problems or questions before or while building your motorised focuser, please
ask on the Yahoo! Group that you can find here:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/sgl_observatory_automation/

Good luck with your build and clear skies for actually using it.