Celestron Astro Fi Telescope Android Wi-Fi connection problems resolved.

How to resolve Wi-Fi connection problems with Celestron Astro-Fi telescopes.

Occasionally we have a user with one of the Celestron Astro Fi GoTo Telescopes, and they are having an issue with the Wi-Fi connection, this can be somewhat frustrating, set up can also a little confusing too. To clarify, with Astro-Fi models the telescope creates its own Wi-Fi network with the device you connect it to, this Wi-Fi network connection has nothing to do with your home broadband Wi-Fi network. We've had users say, I've tried my laptop, tablet and multiple smartphones, I've replaced the batteries, I just can't connect to the telescope, it must be a faulty telescope mount, however, this is not usually the case. 

In some situations, the device to the mount may be disconnecting itself after pairing. This is because the android devices are looking at the mount as if it is a Wi-Fi network and will therefore disconnect after it realises the mount does not provide internet. In this case you need to tell your device to ignore that there is no internet connection and stay connected to mount (there are tick boxes on screen) we’ve had this happen when testing mounts due to Android idiosyncrasies for lack of a better way of putting it.

To clarify, what is happening, is that his phone connects to the telescope’s Wi-Fi network and is not seeing a connection to the internet (the scope is broadcasting its own signal and has no link to the internet). The phone sees this as a problem and is automatically disconnecting from the scope and finding another Wi-Fi signal that does have access to the internet. There is a setting in the phone (or device) that allows it to accept a Wi-Fi signal with no internet connection.

You can also try running the scope in Access Point Mode. The small, recessed switch on the side of the mount toggles this mode. This would allow you to connect the scope to the local area network, then have the phone connected to the same network. The phone can still “see” the internet through its connection, yet it can still control the scope as log as both are connected to the same network. Of course, to do this, you need to establish a connection to the scope in direct mode first.

To do this, connect to the scope directly and open the Celestron SkyPortal app (no alignment is required).

- Tap the telescope icon on your screen, then tap Connect.
- Tap the Settings button (gear icon). Select Communication
- Select Configure Access Point
- Enter the SSID and Password for your wireless network.
- Tap Send Configuration
- Return to the previous menu and tap Use Access Point

Now flip the switch from Direct Connection to Access Point Mode, then reboot the scope and app. The scope will now be connected to the network and can be controlled from any device on that network.

Hope that helps any Astro-Fi telescope owners out there that are having this connection problem. If you have any questions about this, please leave a comment.