The S50 doesn't come with a charger - just a USB-C to USB-A cable. It requires a beefy charging source - so either a power bank, say, 10000 milliampere-hour (mAh) or a dedicated charger is needed.
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| Charger: 5V@12A total - 2.4A/connector max. |
For inside charging a charger with maximum output per connector of 2.4 Amperes (A) will be used. For outside operation a power bank will be used to extend the operating time afforded by the internal 6000 mAh battery.
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| Ready to Setup - on charger |
The controlling device expected is nominally a 'smart phone' - but I was interested to see if an inexpensive tablet could be made to work as the larger screen would make operating much easier. The tablet on-hand is a 10" Tablet, with 64GB Storage, Android 11, up to 512GB Expandable, 8MP Camera, Quad-Core Processor, 2GB RAM, 2.4 GHz WiFi and 6000 mAh Battery. It has a model name of YQ10S and was purchased on Amazon for AU$ 110.
The Seestar S50 application was downloaded and installed from 'Google Play'. The setup was proceeding without a hitch as per the included instruction sheet - where a Bluetooth connection was established and the S50 'activated' via the internet. However - when it came to the step for connecting to the S50's WiFi the YQ10S couldn't find the telescope. After some head-scratching it was noticed that the YQ10S was only showing 2.4G WiFi devices - not any 5G devices. Perhaps the S50 defaults to 5G ?
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| Ready to Connect |
This was confirmed by installing the Seestar S50 application on a Pixel 3a smartphone (which has 5G WiFi capability) and, sure enough, the S50 was found and connection made. A quick dive into the S50's WiFi configuration menu allowed changing the S50 WiFi frequency to 2.4GHz. After this change the YQ10S could find the S50 and a connection was established with no problems.
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| Connected !!! |
A short session of learning to control the S50 ensued inside on the bench - including opening up the lens and removing the dust protection sticker. As the minimum focus distance is 30 m it was not possible the test the auto-focus and this exercise was left for an excursion outside.
