Digital Setting Circles

Note: I do not sell the TeensyDSC or any other electronics projects.

Long story short, I own a really nice 12″ Dobsonian telescope, but I live in an area of high light pollution. This makes it difficult to find many objects. I decided I wanted to add some digital setting circles (DSC) to my scope, but all the commercial solutions were $500+ and often had really crappy user interfaces.

After doing some research I realized that it wouldn’t be too difficult to attach two CUI AMT11 encoders ($30/each) to my telescope. I then wanted a way to use SkySafari on my iPad to locate objects with it’s DSC feature. This meant I needed a way to connect the encoders to my iPad over WiFi.

The initial phase will be an encoder-to-wifi bridge so I can use SkySafari with my AD12- similar to the $250 Astrodevices Nexus. I don’t have GoTo on my scope (honestly, I don’t feel the need for that right now and I’m not sure how easy it would be to add to my scope), but for a few dollars more, my design will be able to support 2x serial ports and camera shutter control- just like the Nexus. The only thing I’m not sure about support yet is USB connectivity to certain models of goto controllers.

One little feature I have planned is the ability to use a button on a remote (so you can hold it in your hand) to “lock” the encoder values. The idea is that when you’re doing a 2 star alignment, you can lock the values so you don’t have to worry about knocking the scope or anything while you reach over to the iPad and click a button. I’m open to other ideas as well, so feel free to make any suggestions. :)

The actual cost of my board + components for just the encoder-to-wifi feature should be around $100 and it’s all open source!

Here are some pictures of what the current board design (subject to change) looks likes:

TeensyDSC v0.5.1 PCB Design
TeensyDSC v0.5.1 PCB Design
TeensyDSC v0.5.1 Schematic
TeensyDSC v0.5.1 Schematic
   
TeensyDSC v0.5 PCB Top
TeensyDSC v0.5 PCB Top
TeensyDSC v0.5 PCB Bottom
TeensyDSC v0.5 PCB Bottom
TeensyDSC is only about the size of a deck of cards.
TeensyDSC is only about the size of a deck of cards.
TeensyDSC Ports
TeensyDSC Ports
   
TeensyDSC Simple (populated) Top
TeensyDSC Simple (populated) Top
TeensyDSC Simple (populated) Bottom
TeensyDSC Simple (populated) Bottom
   
Alt encoder and Wireless DSC module powered by a USB battery pack
Alt encoder and Wireless DSC module powered by a USB battery pack
My Digital Settings Circles setup using SkySafari on the iPad
My Digital Settings Circles setup using SkySafari on the iPad

For more info, check out Teensy DSC on Github or my blog posts with the TeensyDSC tag.