NexStar Resource Site

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USB Drivers for NexStar+ and StarSense Hand Controls

Hand controls manufactured since April 2016 have a USB port on the bottom which provides an interface for your Windows, Mac or Linux PC/laptop.   This port is actually a connection to a USB to serial adapter inside the hand control.  As such, once you connect to it, your computer will have a serial port that your astronomy software will interface with.  Windows, Mac and Linux will all require a driver to create this serial port.  Once the driver is installed, a serial port, designated by a number, will be present on your computer.  Configure your astronomy software to connect to this port.

The USB port on NexStar and StarSense hand control uses a mini-B connector connector.  The easiest way to ensure you get the right cable is to search for the cable used for a Canon Rebel digital SLR camera.

In some cases, once you connect your PC/laptop to the hand control, a driver will be automatically loaded. If so, a serial port will then be present on your PC/laptop.  If you do not find a serial port present after making this connection, you should manually load the driver.

The adapter inside the hand control uses a Prolific PL2303 chipset.  You can search at the Prolific website and download drivers from either of these locations (unfortunately Prolific's website is a mess so there is no telling where they might put the drivers as they post updates:

Alternately, you can download the version of drivers available in July 2020 from here:

  • Windows PL2303 Driver (this is actually an older version as some people on Windows 10 have had problems with the newer version; the newer version is available at the Prolific USA link above and might be best for Windows 11)
  • MacOS PL2303 Driver (might not work with newer version of MacOS)
  • Linux PL2303 Driver

Note for MacOS:  MacOS High Sierra (10.13) introduced a new feature that requires user approval before loading new third-party kernel extensions. Go to System Preferences - Security & Privacy and click Allow - more details here:
https://developer.apple.com/library/content/technotes/tn2459/_index.html


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