Wii controller for Atlas EQ-G mount

[ariefm71]

This guy modified his motion-sensing Wii controller to control his Atlas EQ-G mount: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnmkygmGNiM

[Jingguo]

Wow very cool invention. but wouldn't it be very tiring having to swing here n there???

[zong]

haha, according to what i see, he just tilt the wiimote only.. then if he see halfway accidentally tilt the wiimote then the image will be gone..!

cool function nonetheless.. imagine you bring the set out there.. bound to wow people!

[weixing]

Hi,
Cool and good to impress people, but does not seem to be very practical for controlling mount... may be quite dangerous if you not careful.

Have a nice day.

[kochu]

Wii control may be quite useful to EQ -6/G/5 owners , if you are controlling your mount using "EqDir" method . Normally you have to use a wired Joystick or Numeric pad while using "EqDir Control". With Wii control you can do away with the wired Joy Stick/pad.

Kochu/17-9-07
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[vhuang168]

He programmed it so you have to push a button before you can control it by the motion. So you can't really accidentally move the mount by just swinging the controller around.

Great job really but I question how practical it is. Won't know till its used in the field I guess.

Vincent

[weixing]

Hi,

Wii control may be quite useful to EQ -6/G/5 owners , if you are controlling your mount using "EqDir" method . Normally you have to use a wired Joystick or Numeric pad while using "EqDir Control". With Wii control you can do away with the wired Joy Stick/pad.

Hmm... may be a wireless keypad will be better.

Hmm... Just wonder does it also control the movement rate of the mount or just the direction??

Anyway, in the normal mount controller: To move RA, we just press the RA button... To move DEC, we just press the DEC button... to move both DEC and RA at the same time, we press both DEC and RA button at the same time. But since wii is to sense motion in a free 3D world, it may be difficult to just move in RA or DEC direction.

Also, it may be quite tiring: imagine you want to keep moving in RA direction to search or center an object in the eyepiece view which we normally just press and hold the RA button while looking through the eyepiece, but with wii, you may need to keep swinging the wii controller... others may wonder what are you doing in the dark... ha ha ha

By the way, I think it is possible to use wii to effectively control the mount in a practical way, but a simple keypad may be a easier, more effective and cheaper way.

Have a nice day.

[vhuang168]

He also programmed the direction buttons to move the mount so it still functions like a normal controller with the 4 buttons.

Vincent

[kochu]

Hi,
Actually the direction and rate is controlled by EQDIR software which is an ASCOM based one.. . You can set the rate to any value to 800X separately for RA and Dec. The Joystick or numeric pad only functions as On-Off switch and the direction using any of the 4 direction buttons. It can be used simultaneously also. I presume that Wii also has to do just that. (I have been using only Joy stick or numeric key pad till now, since these do a fine job and no need to invest on Wii just to eliminate a cable). In fact the joystick has to be used only for minor adjustments like centering the object. Main movenets of mount is done from the Planetarium program itself.

Kochu/17-9-07
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[Tachyon]

Ooi, WX, just turn up the volume on your computer - the guy explained all the questions which you asked lah!

I'm sure someone will start selling a kit soon. I'm too busy for DIY at the moment...