Primaluce Lab Essato 4” Focuser

[Joe R]

Hello All.

Thinking of getting the Primaluce Lab Essato 4” Focuser for my FSQ106EDX4. Their website note ASCOM capable, but want to know if anyone is using this Focuser, or any other Essato, its comparability, and how it works in AA9.

My Robo-Focuser has done an excellent job over the years but now I want to reduce cable clutter and modernize my focusing.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Joe

[Dunmunro]

Hello All.

Thinking of getting the Primaluce Lab Essato 4” Focuser for my FSQ106EDX4. Their website note ASCOM capable, but want to know if anyone is using this Focuser, or any other Essato, its comparability, and how it works in AA9.

My Robo-Focuser has done an excellent job over the years but now I want to reduce cable clutter and modernize my focusing.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Joe

I wonder if you can download the ASCOM driver and test it for compatibility?

[Joe R]

D,

Thanks. I don’t have the Focuser just yet, so hoping for some user experience.

Thanks Again.

[Joe R]

All,

Just an update…. I got the ESATTO 4” focuser today and was able to test it with AA9. Im happy to report it seamlessly connected and worked properly. I did indoor testing only but hoping to get out under the stars soon, but have many “things to do” in front of this.

The instructions I downloaded from the Primaluce Lab website, which were included within the driver zip, are excellent and cover everything one needs to know to get the focuser going using the ASCOM provided drivers.

The only potential “issue”, and this is more to do with the focuser and not AA, is that the focuser has a 0.04 micron per step resolution and requires very large numbers to be used to move the focuser. The number entered into the WINDOW to move the focuser to, say to mid travel, is larger than the number of digits the Window displays so part of the number is hidden; the field accepts these large numbers and moves the focuser to that position so there’s no functionality issue. I don’t have an exact count but mid travel of the focuser was somewhere between 500,000 and 600,000 steps from zero! Given this inputting 500,000 (adding comma for clarity) looks like 00,000 when entering the intended focuser position. The “Position” readout does display the correct position (number) once the focuser reaches that position. There may be a way to change the step count resolution to eliminate the need for such large numbers so this is something I’ll look for next time.

Not sure if AA9 has this feature, but it would be nice to have presets for focus positions, say one for “0” for the end of the night, another for the initial focus starting position for LRGB, other for Narrow band, etc..

One more item to mention, AA9 reads the temp sensor on the ESATTO with no issues.

Will post more later….

Thanks Again.

Joe

[fabdev]

Thanks for the feedback. I confirm that the edit boxes will be enlarged in the next Service Pack, and presets will be added as well.

Well, if there's an option for decreasing those numbers inside their ASCOM driver I would enable it, that would be much more "user friendly", I really don't understand their choice.
Clear skies,
Fabio,

[Joe R]

Fabio,

Thank you for adding the features to the next SP.
I appreciate all you do.

Joe