EAF Max Steps

jfletcher

I'm using a EAF installed on a C9.25 SCT with Feather Touch micro focuser. There does not appear to be any way to setup this type of configuration, to allow full travel of the focus, with the Max Steps of the focuser limited to 60000. This value needs to 10X that to allow people to use the full travel of the SCT's. I see that people of figured out half a$$ ways of getting around the limit by travelling to the 60000 limit and then resetting the current position back to 0 and then going another 60000, but you have to be kidding us if you think this is at all acceptable. I use my SCT as an f/10 and also with a focal reducer at f/6.3. The focal range of the two is far enough apart that someone cannot swap between the two types without some work around and this all has to be done in the dark outside. This NEEDS to be changed ASAP otherwise this thing is a damn paper weight to a lot of people. ZWO, WHEN are you going to fix this?

Sam@ZWO

you can edit the current position to 0, then you can go another 60000 again

jfletcher

Sam if you had actually read what I posted previously you could have saved anyone else reading this the trouble of wasting their time. I had already stated that as a half a$$ work around and that it is unacceptable to the people that own a SCT and EAF. Limiting the max steps to 60000 is like 1/6th of the full travel. The software design was not thought out correctly. It needs to be fixed.

When is ZWO going to release a fix for this?

w7ay

jfletcher When is ZWO going to release a fix for this?

It is now February 2023 , and ZWO has finally claim (read on) that they have increased the upper limit of the EAF steps to 600000 in the ASIAIR v2.1 beta. (yes, I had carefully counted the number of zeros :-).

The January 18 v2.1 Beta (build 9) release notes says there is a need to update the firmware of the EAF (written as "EFA firmware" in the release notes, but it is likely just because no one proofread the notes carefully). However, the latest firmware at ZWO's site is still stuck at 3.3.5, so I have no idea what the real story is.

FWIW, with the latest EAF 3.3.5 firmware that is available at the ZWO FW Update web site, the ASIAIR Focuser settings still won't let me raise the EAF limit to above 60000. So, practically, the same situation right now as back in November 2020.

I also have no way to test if the EAF can slew that 600000 steps at higher speeds. At the original stepping speed, it would take a looong time to slew 600000 steps.

Seriously ZWO, if you ask customers to help beta test the software, at least make sure all the components are there for us to test with. At this point, I am no longer going to test the EAF, since my refractors don't need the extended reach. Someone else can monitor this situation.

Chen

Tech@ZWO

w7ay The new firmware of EAF will be released with the official v2.1 of ASIAIR app.

w7ay

Tech@ZWO The new firmware of EAF will be released with the official v2.1 of ASIAIR app.

Why is it included in the list of things to test in the v2.1 Beta, if the Beta tester cannot test it?

Chen

taro@seki.tv

I use EAF with NINA. So when effect 600,000 steps Native diver or ASCOM?

Tech@ZWO

taro@seki.tv We released the EAF firmware V3.3.7, and ASIStudio v1.8 to support the 600000 steps.
The newest EAF SDK will be released tomorrow, you can replace the sdk file in the ASCOM installation folder or NINA installation folder to set 600000 steps.

@rac Yes, the new version EAF firmware has been released on the new software&driver download page. https://www.zwoastro.com/downloads/eaf
You also need to install the latest version ASIStudio(v1.8) or the ASIAIR public beta version(V2.1) to set 600000 steps.

rac

There another download site at https://www.zwoastro.com/downloads/eaf which has version 3.3.7 of the EAF firmware. I downloaded it but the limit still seems to 65,000. I am not sure how this download site differs from https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/software-drivers but it seems to have later firmware updates.

The latest version of ASIStudio mentions an increase of MaxSteps to 600,000. It had a occured to me that they would have to make the same change to ASIAir before they could release a matching firmware update, to avoid confusing the punters (us) with mysterious errors if mismatched versions of applications and firmware were deployed. I imagine that there may be two additional firmware entry points in the API such as EAFGetPosition2 and EAFSetPosition2, supporting 600:000 steps, in addition to the current EAFGetPosition and EAFSetPosition, which support 60,000 steps.

Maybe we have to patient and wait for the next release of ASIAir.

rac

Tech@ZWO Thanks, I tested the 3.3.7 driver with the very latest ASIStudio and, at first glance, it still seemed to be limited to 65,000 steps. Have I missed something, for example a setting somewhere to enable 600,000 steps?

enaiman

rac You missed the need to run the latest Beta version.

w7ay

rac I tested the 3.3.7 driver with the very latest ASIStudio

It does not appear to be supported yet with ASIStudio (at least, not with ASICap v2.8).

It might only be available for now on ASIAIR v2.1 and later.

Chen

rac

The message does say ASI Studio 1.8 OR ASIAir 2.1 beta. I will try the latter when I get a chance.

EDIT: Come to think of it, I don't have the hardware platform to test ASIAir.

w7ay

rac The message does say ASI Studio 1.8

Yeah, that is why I menation that I am running ASICap v2.8 -- that is the latest copy I have for macOS).

I can however set EAF to larger than 60000 on ASIAIR v2.1 Beta (Build 26, Firmware 10.74); note "Current Position" and "Limit":

BTW, that Coarse icon is still bogus and misleading. The EAF does not slew faster. It simply slews with a longer step each time.

Chen

rac

87,564 steps, fantastic. What a welcome sight!!!

I guess that Course doesn't actually mean fast although the icon shows a running person. The only time that I see a faster speed is when using the hand controller, when has slow and fast speeds. It would be logical to request slow and fast speeds from software, now that the larger numeric range is available. Meanwhile, the hand control may by a good option for longer transits.

Tech@ZWO

Released ASIStudio V1.8.1. https://www.zwoastro.com/downloads/asistudio
It can set the EAF max steps to 600000 in it if you upgrade the EAF firmware to V3.3.7.

w7ay

Tech@ZWO It can set the EAF max steps to 600000 in it if

Has ZWO tested to see how long (time) it takes to move the 5V EAF by 600000 steps?

Chen

tjey

Any update on when the new SDK will be released?

rac

SDK V1.6 has just been made available.

tjey

Will the existing EAF ASCOM driver work with the new SDK? If so, are there instructions to get it work?