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POWER Indicator Light
This LED will remain illuminated when your power source has sufficient output to drive the motors. If the voltage falls below
10.5 volts, the power light will go out and the motors will stop. The keypad will not function properly.
For mounts shipped after 02-25-00: If the LED turns yellow, this means that your motors are overloaded, probably due to an
unbalanced load on your mount. Refer to the troubleshooting section of the manual for the solution. Earlier control boxes do
not have this feature.
KEYPAD Connector
Attach the 5-pin male connector of the keypad controller and lock in place (push in the knurled ring then turn).
RS-232 Connectors
These serial port connections are used to connect your mount to your PC computer. You must provide your own straight-
through (non-crossing) cables with a 9-pin (DB9) male connector to interface with the GTO panel. We have provided the
locking posts to secure the cable firmly. If your serial cable does not have a 9-pin connector, you can use a gender changer
or adapter to convert it. If your computer has USB ports, use a quality adapter to gain a serial port.
When you are controlling the position of the mount with a computer program such as
DigitalSky Voice™
or Software
Bisque’s
TheSky™,
the microprocessor chip located in the servo drive box will send continual RA and Dec coordinate data
via the cable connections to your computer. When you use the software to give instructions to slew to a new object, the
commands (RA and Dec coordinates) are sent to the mount.
We provide two serial port connections on the mount so that you can use two software programs simultaneously. For
instance, you can use PulseGuide for advanced mount control, while using
TheSky
as a planetarium program. The
telescope control functions of TheSky are more limited so using both in a remote application is advantageous. Since the
mount will update the RA and Dec coordinates simultaneously, both programs are continually updated with the data from
the mount. You can watch the screen display of
TheSky t
o see where your telescope is pointing as it slews. This is most
effective if you have a reasonably fast computer with plenty of RAM. If you try this with a 100MHz processor and only 32 MB
of RAM, the response time will be slow since both programs must be continuously updated with position data.
You must have two serial ports available on your computer to take advantage of this feature. If you use a laptop, you may
need to purchase a PCMCIA adapter to gain an additional serial port. Socket Communications offers adapters for many
computers. Check out their web site at
www.socketcom.com
.
FOCUS Connector
Attach the 3.5mm phono plug connector of your JMI Motofocus or other electric focuser (optional accessories) here.
Refer
to the section regarding focus adjustment in the GTO Keypad Manual for instructions on using the keypad controller to
adjust focus. Alternatively, you can verbally control the focus using the Focus Mode of DigitalSky Voice software.
RETICLE Connector
If you wish to use the illuminator cable for our Polar Alignment Scope (PASILL3), a plug-in type guiding eyepiece with an
illuminated reticle (available from several manufacturers), insert the 3.5mm phono plug into this connector for power. Reticle
brightness can be adjusted with the keypad. Refer to the section pertaining to reticle illuminator adjustment in the GTO
Keypad Manual for further information.
AUTOGUIDER Connector
This connector interfaces with the RJ-11-6 modular jack of an autoguider cable, purchased separately or as part of a CCD
Imaging Camera or Autoguider. The autoguider will be functional and ready to go as soon as you plug it in. Please refer to
the appropriate manual from the manufacturer for operation of the autoguider.
We offer cables for all SBIG cameras. Please refer to our price list or call for further information.
+6V Connector
This 6-volt output accepts 3.5mm phono plugs. It is used primarily to power the Pentax 6x7 camera directly from the mount
with a cord sold for that purpose (our part # CORD01).
Summary of Contents for GTOCP3
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