w7ay , thansk for your answer, im going to check the setting when im home. im using a Luminance filter.

btw, ive noticed smth weird in the LOG:

2022/06/30 01:08:50 Exposure 150.0s image 51#
2022/06/30 01:11:21 Stop Tracking
2022/06/30 01:11:21 [Meridian Flip|Begin] Wait 35min52s to Meridian Flip
2022/06/30 01:47:13 Meridian Flip 1# Start
2022/06/30 01:47:13 [AutoCenter|Begin] Auto-Center 1#
2022/06/30 01:47:13 Mount slews to target position: RA:18h22m4s DEC:-16°9'45"
2022/06/30 01:48:43 Exposure 5.0s
2022/06/30 01:48:49 Plate Solve
2022/06/30 01:50:25 [AutoCenter|End] Plate Solve failed, Star number = 91
2022/06/30 01:50:26 [AutoCenter|Begin] Auto-Center 2#
2022/06/30 01:50:26 Mount slews to target position: RA:18h22m4s DEC:-16°9'45"
2022/06/30 01:51:56 Exposure 5.0s
2022/06/30 01:52:02 Plate Solve
2022/06/30 01:53:38 [AutoCenter|End] Plate Solve failed, Star number = 89
2022/06/30 01:53:39 [AutoCenter|Begin] Auto-Center 3#

why asiair stop tracking and wait 35 minutes to do the flip? thats weird...

Esteban

    @esteban pacheco#56690 why asiair stop tracking and wait 35 minutes to do the flip? thats weird...

    No, not weird. You can ask it to do that.

    Check the two parameters in Meridian Flip Settings in the Mount Setting window.

    ASIAIR will strop tracking N minutes before what it thinks is the time the star crosses the Meridain (both Prime Meridian and the other Meridian for circumpolar stars). If it does not stop at the rght time, then Time and Longitude info is wrong.

    Then it waits until M minutes until the star has passed the meridian. At that point, it issues a GOTO comand to the mount, and the mount will issue a meridian flip to the other side of the pier (if the mount is so equipped).

    Check N and M. You may have them set about 35 minutes apart.

    Chen

      w7ay

      hello Chen! yes I have the GotoAutocenter option turned ON on the Asiair. Center EXP time is set to 5 s

      and about the 35 minutes, its happened that somehow the setting "Do AMF x. min after Meridian" was set to 30 minutes ( I don't know why, I never changed that on porpuse), so I brought the value back to 5 minutes. and the "stop Tracking x min before Meridian" is set to 5 minutes. are those values ok?

      best.

        @esteban pacheco#56696 I brought the value back to 5 minutes. and the "stop Tracking x min before Meridian" is set to 5 minutes. are those values ok?

        You want the first number to be a little longer (at least, not shorter) that when the time the mount itself stops tracking.

        Most mounts have some Meridian treatment and has a parameter when the mount turns tracking off itself to keep instrumentation from hitting the pier. Sometimes they are express in angles (like 1 degree before Meridian, etc), and you need to convert that to time, because that is what ASIAIR uses. 1 hour corresponds to 15 degrees.

        You want ASIAIR to stop tracking before the mount stops tracking, because that is when ASIAIR will take one final plate to solve for the positioning and camera angle before it stops tracking. If the mount stops tracking before this plate, the plate will have star trails and thus not solvable.

        The second parameter ("after Meridian") depends on how accurate your UTC time is, how accurate your longitude is, and how accurate your east-west leveling is. If all those are precise, you can make that second parameter zero, even. However, for example, if your east-west level is off by even just 1 degree, the transit time of the object will be off by 1/15 of an hour or 4 minutes.

        If it is off by 4 minutes, the mount will not perform a meridian flip for 4 minutes from he time ASIAIR starts sending GOTO. The ASIAIR does not Meridian flip -- the mount is the one doing the Meridian flip. The ASIAIR simply sends the GOTO a that time, and if the mount thinks the target has transited, it will then do a Meridian flip.

        If you don't think you can east-west level to 1 degree error, you need to give the second parameter at least 4 minutes. Otherwise ASIAIR will keep trying, and the mount will keep saying it is on the correct side of the pier and do nothing. And I think ASIAIR gives up trying eventually.

        So, if you want to reduce the wait time, make sure the mount is completely level.

        That's it. Very straghtforward.

        Chen

        In Celestron HC there is a setting to do about meridian flip
        there are parameters about the behaviour: do nothing (default), current, east, west
        and the tracking limits to check

        hello everyone! the meridian flip is now working perfectly! I changed the parameter to stop tracking 4 minutes before meridian. it does the flip and do the plate solve and continues making pictures. the problem I have now is the guiding, all images before meridian were ok, after the meridian is just lines. (guiding Gone)

        2 months later

        Hi, I've been troubleshooting a similar problem for the last couple of nights. And I have some weird things going on that might compound the problem.
        I'm using an HEQ5 connected through Synscan (EQMOD cable arriving today, but its rainy)

        This is the log from last night:
        2022/09/06 03:27:45 Stop Tracking
        2022/09/06 03:27:45 [Guide] Stop Tracking failed
        2022/09/06 03:27:45 Stop Tracking
        2022/09/06 03:27:45 [Guide] Stop Tracking failed
        2022/09/06 03:27:45 [Meridian Flip|Begin] Wait 20min8s to Meridian Flip
        2022/09/06 03:47:53 Meridian Flip 1# Start
        2022/09/06 03:47:53 [AutoCenter|Begin] Auto-Center 1#
        2022/09/06 03:47:53 Mount slews to target position: RA:0h56m56s DEC:-72°42'51"
        2022/09/06 03:48:52 Exposure 5.0s
        2022/09/06 03:48:58 Plate Solve
        2022/09/06 03:49:00 Solve succeeded: RA:2h8m22s DEC:-72°17'1" Angle = -90.7695, Star number = 379
        2022/09/06 03:49:01 [AutoCenter|End] Too far from center, distance = 206%(5.36683°)
        2022/09/06 03:49:02 [AutoCenter|Begin] Auto-Center 2#
        2022/09/06 03:49:02 Mount slews to target position: RA:0h56m56s DEC:-72°42'51"
        2022/09/06 03:49:09 Exposure 5.0s
        2022/09/06 03:49:15 Plate Solve
        2022/09/06 03:49:17 Solve succeeded: RA:2h8m20s DEC:-72°17'2" Angle = -90.7546, Star number = 376
        2022/09/06 03:49:17 [AutoCenter|End] Too far from center, distance = 206%(5.3643°)
        2022/09/06 03:49:18 [AutoCenter|Begin] Auto-Center 3#
        2022/09/06 03:49:18 Mount slews to target position: RA:0h56m56s DEC:-72°42'51"

        I've set the tracking to stop 10 minutes before AMF, and to wait another 10 minutes.
        These are my observations:
        (1) I've noticed that I cannot stop tracking, is there some setting I need to change?
        (2) Mount slews on time (confirmed, 3 nights in a row waking up at 3.40am to check)
        (3) Plate solves fine, with plenty stars
        (4) I'm under the impression that Autocenter doesn't really try to slew. The encoders whirr for a second or two and then it just assumes the job is done. Checks again, but it's just as bad as before.
        (5) rinse and repeat ad nauseam, until I give up

        2022/09/06 03:53:15 [AutoCenter|End] Too far from center, distance = 206%(5.36674°)
        2022/09/06 03:53:16 [AutoCenter|Begin] Auto-Center 18#
        2022/09/06 03:53:16 Mount slews to target position: RA:0h56m56s DEC:-72°42'51"
        2022/09/06 03:53:19 Stop Autorun Manually
        2022/09/06 03:53:19 [AutoCenter|End] Cancel
        2022/09/06 03:53:19 Meridian Flip 1# failed
        2022/09/06 03:53:19 [Meridian Flip|End] Cancel, Meridian Flip failed
        2022/09/06 03:53:19 Start Tracking
        2022/09/06 03:53:19 [Guide] Start Tracking failed
        2022/09/06 03:53:19 Start Tracking
        2022/09/06 03:53:19 [Guide] Start Tracking failed
        2022/09/06 03:53:19 [Autorun|End] Pause Autorun
        Log disabled at 2022/09/06 03:53:19
        Log enabled at 2022/09/06 04:01:39
        2022/09/06 04:01:39 [Autorun|Begin] FOV Cross Start

        Could this have anything to do with DST?

        Any help would be greatly appreciated.

        5 months later

        HI
        I've got serious issue with ASIAIR during Meridian Flip . Before the APP update with new version (January2023) everything went ok!
        Now doesn't complete the meridian flip with my Celestron AVX Mount. The mount overturn my tube (SW200/1000) by 180°, in the opposite side of sky and then try to redo focus.
        I never modified meridian flip on my AVX beacuse AVX is in a slave mode for ASIAIR and is impossible modifie something.
        Would you help me please? TKS.

        w7ay HI
        I've got serious issue with ASIAIR during Meridian Flip . Before the APP update with new version (January2023) everything went ok!
        Now doesn't complete the meridian flip with my Celestron AVX Mount. The mount overturn my tube (SW200/1000) by 180°, in the opposite side of sky and then try to redo focus.
        I never modified meridian flip on my AVX beacuse AVX is in a slave mode for ASIAIR and is impossible modifie something.
        Would you help me please? TKS.

        • w7ay replied to this.

            giubisc Now doesn't complete the meridian flip with my Celestron AVX Mount.

            There is a release note for the v2.1 ASIAIR Beta that mentions fixing a bug regarding the AVX after a meridian flip. You can check the notes in the Apple TestFlight notes to see if they sound like the problem that you have. If so, you might want to try the Beta (but be sure that you know how revert to old firmware before running the Beta, which also updates the firmware).

            Chen

                w7ay Hi Chen, tks for the answer but my ASIARI works with Android.......it's sure a bug because the mount works under all aspect except the meridian flip....TKS

                • w7ay replied to this.

                    giubisc tks for the answer but my ASIARI works with Android.

                    They should have fixed the bug in the Android Beta at the same time too.

                    Chen

                      7 months later

                      Hi, while running both plan mode and autorun modes I am having trouble plate solving after the merdian flip. I am using narrow band 5nm and 3nm filters. I have tried both plate solving methods / algorithms, the standard one and the one found under the info area of asIair. I've set the EXP to 20 seconds, which appears to be the max. The mount does the flip, but the plate solving keeps failing. Is there a way to make the luminance filter do the plate-solve after the flip then go back to whatever filter one happens to be imaging with? Its seems this would easily solve the problem. any help would be appreciated. thanks

                        Kring was there a resolution to the meridian flip problem?

                          5 days later

                          intricacy Thank you for your suggestion, we will consider this.
                          Could you back to the previou mode and take a image to check if there is any block or other problems?
                          Please also send us the fit files for analysis, thanks.

                            a year later

                            It's been YEARS that this discussion is going on. Meridian flip just doesn't work. I'm using an AM3 mount. Comes out of meridian flip and starts my plan over! And since the plan features are so completely lame and useless it will cause the current target to overflow into the time for my next target. This is easily fixable but it's not being addressed. Why do people keep on buying and recommending this good-for-nothing product?

                            After investing in thousands of dollars worth of ZWO equipment and deploying to a remote observatory, I'm looking at spending even more time and more money to re-design my approach to automation because ZWO can't make a product that works despite complaints for YEARS. You people need to stop releasing useless new versions and fix the products you've got.

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