GUIDER port pinouts
#
########GUIDER
#Pin 1: Not connected
#Pin 2: Common (ground)
#Pin 3: RA+
#Pin 4: DEC+
#Pin 5: DEC-
#Pin 6: RA-
########Pin #1
GUIDER port looking at the back of the Starfish Camera’s I/O Panel.
The GUIDER port is used to interface with your telescope mount’s motor controller. It is
via this interface that guide correction commands are sent to the telescope mount.
While there is no universal standard interface on the various manufacturer’s telescope
mounts for this function, the most popular interface standard is the ST-4 style guider
port. The ST-4 guide port is named after the Santa Barbara Instruments Group ST-4
guide camera that was manufactured years ago.
The ST-4 interface uses a modular style RJ-12 connector and jack similar to telephone
cabling. They are different however. Telephone cabling uses an RJ-11 connector which
is a six position connector but with only the four middle contacts used. The RJ-12 con-
nector uses all six contact positions.
The connector on the back of the camera has the exact same pinouts as many popular
telescope mount guider ports. The Astro-Physics and Celestron mounts are examples
of these. As such, you will need a ‘one-to-one’interface cable to connect the camera to
the mount. That is the cable must connect pin-1 to pin-1. Be careful since it is possible
to have a cable constructed as a ‘reverse’pinout cable. These cables have pin- con-
nected to pin-6 on the opposite end of the cable.
The key point to note is that signal pin-2 is the common pin. Make certain that
this signal is connected properly to the correct signal pin on your telescope
mount’s guide port. Otherwise you run the risk of damage to the Starfish camera
or your mount’s controller. If there is an uncertainty about this, don’t hesitate to
contact fishcamp engineering’s technical support staff for assistance.
fishcamp engineering"Starfish Guide Camera
