ASIAir Pro WiFi Extender Problems

BBB

I drank the Koolaide and spent the $20 shipping to get the new ZWO WiFi extender from China. It is very disappointing.

Very glitchy and when you finally establish a solid connection with the IPad, on either 2.4 or 5.8, the reliable range is about 20 feet with no obstructions. If you place a wall or just turn your back to the extender while holding the IPad, it loses the connection and ruins your Autorun sequence.

Has anyone had any good results using the new unit? I don’t see any tricks that I am missing but who knows?

At this point, it is simpler to remove the unit and just keep the IPad close to the AAP as I have been doing with good results.

I like the AAP system and most of the features have been great. It surprised me that ZWO’s new extender is useless.

BBB

I attempted to use this again this morning. Completely useless. I removed it. As sharp as ZWO usually is, they missed the boat on this one. Don’t waste your $60.

yf222000

BBB. I’m using the TPLink Traveler router WiFi extender in both of my portable OTA rigs. Works perfectly for far.

Byrdsfan1948

@yf222000 I was tempted to purchase the ZWO extender you purchased, but I simply cannot bring myself to pay ZWO to resolve a problem that they themselves have created. Further is seems clear that just how effective this "solution" really is varies dramatically from good to bad. Bottom line I just use a 50 foot CAT 7 Ethernet cable from the ASIair to my home router and my connection is rock solid. End of my problem NOW, and I don't need to wait for ZWO to solve it for me.
These threads already clearly show that there are just too many other ASIair Pro issues here to deal with. At least for the WiFi problem the Ethernet connection is a 100% fool proof solution that costs a fraction of the price of an extender to resolve. Plus it works!!!

yf222000

Byrdsfan1948. Well. I keep both of my OTA rigs as portable as possible. So, the TP-Link Traveler Routers I have on them have been working really well as far as extending the WiFi range of the ASIAIR. I didn’t purchase the ZWO one.

BBB

I am in a rural area with no hardwired Internet access. My only solution is access point Wi-Fi generated by the ASI air pro.

w7ay

BBB My only solution is access point Wi-Fi generated by the ASI air pro.

You should not need a cable modem or an internet feed to set up a router at home. Think of the router as a hub that directs network (Ethernet and WiFi) traffic in your local home network.

Towards the end of this post, I will also mention a direct connection that does not require a router. I do recommend a router though, because of flexibility, and ability to roam wirelessly through the house, showing off the images from ASIAIR to your spouse :-).

Multiple devices can be connected to this router, including extra Ethernet switches. If the router supports WiFi, the devices can be connected wirelessly, for example to transfer files between computers.

In your case (for ASIAIR use), just get a WiFi router. It can be as simple as a TP-Link WiFi Travel Router, or as complex as a mesh router. Connect the ASIAIR to the router's LAN port with an Ethernet cable. You can then connect your tablet to the WiFi router. Be aware that some travel routers do not support a LAN port. The reason the TP-Link Travel Routers are popular is because of the existence of a LAN port, and the ability to work off of a 5V power supply, instead of having to be plugged into a wall outlet.

The ASIAIR hides the Raspberry Pi's antenna inside a metal case. In first year Electrical Engineering, that is called a Faraday Cage, and is the principle behind "shielding". I.e., a metal box is used in engineering to prevent wireless signal from going out and prevents wireless signal from going in.

A properly designed wireless device, like a WiFi router or your tablet, do not shield their antennas.

This is precisely why the enclosures that are sold by Raspberry Pi themselves are made of plastic, which lets WiFi signals through.

By the way, there is also another solution for you, and that is to connect your tablet directly to the ASIAIR's LAN port.

With an iPad, you will need either a Lightning-to-Ethernet adapter or a USB-C-to-Ethernet adapter, depending on the model of the iPad (both are easily available at Amazon and even Apple stores).

In the iOS Settings window, you will find an "Ethernet" item pop up (just below the Wi-Fi settings) right after (well, might take a second) you plug in the Ethernet adapter. Once activated, and with an Ethernet cable connecting said adapter to the ASIAIR LAN port, the ASIAIR app will magically see your ASIAIR (and with absolutely blazing image download speeds, faster than what people get by connecting the ASIAIR to their router). With this method, you can still use a moderately long Ethernet cable (100 meters if you use a CAT6 cable), but no other tablet can share the ASIAIR (with a WiFi router, multiple tablets can be concurrently monitoring and controlling your ASIAIR). When Ethernet is activated in iOS, you can continue to use cellular and WiFI connections; the Ethernet port is just an additional port.

I am reasonably certain that this method will also work with Android tablets, but since I avoid Android like the plague, I do not know the exact steps to get them configured.

Chen

BBB

I use an extra cell phone to establish a LAN for my house. It acts as a wifi router and allows 10 devices to be connected, i.e., printer, garage door opener, security cameras, etc. What I don't have is any method to hardwire an ethernet cable to provide internet access.

Isn't that the idea of the ASIAir Pro Vonet device? To act as a bridge/amplifier to provide a connection between the AP's ethernet cable and a wifi device? In this case, to provide a reliable, strong signal to link with an IPad.

A review of the various threads indicates that there are other similar devices, i.e., travel routers, that do work with the AP in the same manner. There seems to be a problem unique to the ZWO provided Vonet device, whether it is caused by software issues and/or the actual device.

I have been in touch, via email, with ZWO tech support regarding the problem. They suggested that I check the wifi signals with wifi analyzer app's on the IPad/Iphone. I did this but the app's only measure signal strength by ping speeds and also measure download speeds.

I did this for both the 2.4 and 5.8 modes on the Vonet device but the app's would not look at the signal when the IPad was connected directly to the AP via the internal wifi. The results produced nothing extraordinary and the range at which both the internal wifi and the Vonet generated wifi dropped were not much different, about 25 yards.

The Vonet device would sometimes randomly disconnect when the IPad was close to the AP, and sometimes require connecting to the internal wifi, prior to being able to reconnect to the Vonet wifi.

I am waiting for a response from ZWO because I believe it is the weekend there.

Even if it was an option, a long ethernet cable doesn't seem like a great solution to maintain a link while inside the house. A reliable, strong wifi link should be able to accomplish this.

Thank you for your comments and I appreciate further ideas/assistance if you have any.

I will continue posting my results/ZWO's recommendations/actions.

w7ay

BBB The Vonet device would sometimes randomly disconnect when the IPad was close to the AP, and sometimes require connecting to the internal wifi, prior to being able to reconnect to the Vonet wifi.

If the Router signal becomes weak compared to ASIAIR's signal (but potentially still usable) or your other hotspot's signal, the iPad will switch to the ASIAIR or that hotspot.

To avoid this, select the WiFi Settings. Then get close to ASIAIR (like within a meter), and select it in the WiFi settings. Once connected to ASIAIR, the WiFi settings will show an "i" in a circle at the far right side of the ASIAIR selection. You should new see a window that includes an "Auto-Join" item. Unselect that.

Repeat this with your internet hotspot. And your neighbors' hotspots.

This way, iOS will prefer to stay with the Vonets instead of switching to the ASIAIR or the internet hotspot. You can additionally make sure that the same Auto-Join setting for Vonets is turn on.

Your iOS device should now prefer to use Vonets.

If iOS is still looking for your other hotspot, turn on Airplane Mode in addition in the upper level Settings menu (above the WiFi/Bluetooth/CellularData menus), since your Vonets does not have an internet connection and iOS will prefer to find a WiFi connection that can access the internet. Turning on Airplane Mode will keep the iPad from searching for an internet connection.

A word of warning, if this is the same Vonets model that is being sold at Amazon for $39.88 (Prime shipping), the Vonets' LAN port is only capable of 100 Mbps. This will limit your transfer speed even though its WiFi speed is faster. This is why connecting the ASIAIR directly to a router that can handle Gigabit Ethernet (or directly to the iPad) can produce more satisfying image download speeds. I am pretty sure the ZWO web page does not reveal this severe limitation of the Vonets. Caveat emptor. There are some other things that are mentioned by the Amazon reviewers; overheating (keep an eye on it during the hot summer nights), and non-FCC and CE compliant (bogus FCC and CE marks; something to avoid if you hold an FCC license, like myself).

(The Raspberry Pi 4 LAN port is known to work to a little above 900 Mbps.)

Chen

BBB

Thanks for additional info. I was/am aware of auto join, etc. The issue of the Vonet wifi (particularly 5.8) not reconnecting with the IPad when disconnected is not related to those settings. Sometimes after disconnecting, the Vonet 5.8 network will not be available at all, not appearing on the IPad wifi available networks. Under those circumstances, if I connect with the AP internal wifi, the Vonet 5.8 will again appear and be re-joinable.

With the additional info regarding the Vonet that you have provided, it may be an issue with a not so good device made by Vonet. It does get warm also, and this is cold weather. I was wondering about that. Maybe ZWO should step up to the plate and market a different unit/brand.

I really like the ASIAir Pro system and other than having to leave the IPad near the AP, it generally is flawless.

Do you have any recommendations as to what to purchase in a different travel router, etc. to perform the same function as the Vonet but successfully?

I really appreciate the discussion/info.

w7ay

BBB Do you have any recommendations as to what to purchase in a different travel router, etc. to perform the same function as the Vonet but successfully?

I had used a spare TP-Link AC750 travel router that I had when I first turned on the ASIAIR v.2 (so-called "pro") and found the ASIAIR's WiFi to be unusable.

The reason I had picked the TP-link is that you can power it from 5V (or from 12V using a buck converter). I do not lead 110V AC out to the telescope; I lead out a 12V 30A DC power supply, together with a secondary 12V 5A uninterruptible DC power supply for the mount (lots of power outages in the boonies of Portland; too many trees). So everything has to run on 12V.

The TP-Link's LAN port is also limited to 100 Mbps.

Since my ASIAIR is inside a large waterproof box at the base of my Tri-pier with lots of space left, I eventually replaced the TP-link with an eero Mesh router that is part of my home mesh network (price is of course not even in the same neighborhood :-). The eero is MIMO, and uses 3 bands (2.4 GHz, 5.2 GHz and 5.8 GHz, with the backhaul on its own private network), and its Ethernet interface is Gigabit. Effectively, the ASIAIR is now connected directly to my home network as a node of the mesh. I use a USB Power Delivery (PD) adapter to convert 12V to the USB 9V specs that the eero needs.

If you check the ASIAIR Facebook page, many folks are using the TP-Link. Some use using the GL.iNet devices, which can also operate off of 5V.

If you don't want to fuss around, and if 100 Mpbs is fast enough (you would want a faster download with an ASI6200 camera), just get the TP-Link AC750 version (the price difference from the N300 version is pretty insignificant, so you might as well opt for the one that is 5 GHz capable). Lots of people got it to work with the ASIAIR.

In any case, the AC750 travel router from TP-Link should have virtually the same specs on paper as the Vonets (both limited by 100 Mbps LAN), but based on Amazon reviews, and now a couple of unfavorable mentions on the ASIAIR Facebook page, the Vonets may have problems with WiFI range that the TP-Link does not.

Now, if you are adventurous, this particular GL.iNet model (Slate) could be quite interesting:

https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-ar750s/

It also has AC750 specs on the WiFi side, but is 50% more expensive at Amazon than the AC750 version from TP-Link. However, it has a Gigabit Ethernet port (3 in fact). So, the speed through WiFi is now potentially the full 430 Mbps, instead of being limited to 100 Mpbs by the LAN port.

I have no experience with it, however. But if I were to look for a 5V powered router for the ASIAIR today, the GL.iNet Slate is probably at the very top of my list. An icing on the cake is that when you are next to it, you can connect an iPad to one of the Slate's unused Ethernet ports, and get up to the 900 Mbps speed.

IMHO, the Slate wipes the floor with both the TP-Link and the Vonets in terms of bang-for-the-buck. For raw speed and integration into my home network, it still won't be as good as the eero mesh router, though :-).

By the way, I could not figure out why there are so many complaints on both Amazon and the ASIAIR Facebook page about heat from the Vonets. If you look at the power that FCC allows you to transmit on the WiFi bands, and even assuming a pitiful 50% transmitter efficiency, there is still no way a WiFi device could get that hot. If it were transmitting more power than FCC allows, why are there are also complaints (again both on Amazon and ASIAIR Facebook page) that the WiFi range is questionable. The combination of high heat and poor range just don't reconcile.

Heat anywhere close to the light path of a telescope is bad news -- I definitely would not mount it anywhere on the OTA.

Chen

BBB

BTW, I am imaging with it as we speak.

yf222000

BBB. I don’t know how far you want to be away from your image rig with your iPad. For me. Before I bought the TPLink AC750 Traveler router. I couldn’t get any signal from the ASIAIR itself just from having it out in the driveway and me sitting inside the warm garage during the past cold months. With this router acting as a Range Extender. I can now have it set up as far as across my court while sitting inside my garage and still getting fast image download on my iPhone. It’s pretty small. 3x3x1 inch is small enough, light enough to fit under the Mini Guide Scope and here’s the kicker. It acts as a dew heater from the little radiate heat from it for the guide scope too when I was using it during the cold weather recently.

BBB

yf222000 Thank you for the info I’ll take a look at that one. That’s another issue I have is mounting it on the aluminum body of the OTA. It seems like that’s going to mask some of the signal strength depending on what orientation you’re in.

yf222000

BBB. On my Stellarvue OTA. I cut a small, thin brass stock about 5 inch long. Drilled 2 holes. One for the guide scope’s mounting shoe to the main scope ring. The other hole is for the ASIAIR to mount on. Then I put the plate on the scope ring, and the guide scope shoe on top of it and screw the whole thing together. As for my 8” SCT OTA. I did the same thing. The only difference is that I use a piggyback bracket for both the guide scope and the router to be mounted together on top of the tube. 🙂. So far. I haven’t seen much of degradation in signal strength when scope is in different angles or orientation.

w7ay

BBB That’s another issue I have is mounting it on the aluminum body of the OTA.

My recommendation is to never, ever mount anything that has an antenna on the OTA.

The reason is that no practical antenna is isotropic (or even non-directional). There is always a couple of dB of change (and sometimes deep nulls of tens of decibels, as I had written up in this forum after I measured the ASIAIR v2 when it came out).

If anything with an antenna is mounted on an OTA or the declination dovetail, which moves in the course of the night, the signal will rise and fall in mostly unpredictable manner.

The larger the antenna relative to the wavelength in use, the greater the directional effect ("directivity"), You can model antennas with a program that I wrote for MacOS X to study directional effects:

http://www.w7ay.net/site/Manuals/cocoaNEC/index.html

I either cringe, or alternately LOL, when I see pictures of ASIAIR and travel routers that are mounted on the OTA. I use a side-by-side dual saddle plate to mount my guide scope next to the OTA (RST-135 mount has lots of torque to allow that), with power and USB hub in between them -- my ASIAIR and router are fixed, inside an waterproof ABS box that sits near the ground, strapped to my tri-pier.

It is fine to mount the ASIAIR on the OTA as long as you add a router whose antenna does not move during the course of the night relative to the other send of the WiFi connection, since in that case, you will not be using the ASIAIR's antenna.

Chen

BBB

Do you have any pic's of your mounting setup? I just finished processing tonight's NGC2264/The Cone Nebula/Edge HD 11/Hyperstar/ASI6200MM/Optolong SHO Filters but I am unable to attach it to my post even after reducing the file size. If you have any pic's my email is bobc1@live.com Thanks, Bob.

yf222000

BBB. Email sent.

yf222000

w7ay. Hi Chen. The router isn’t getting that hot. Just the minute radiated heat from it was enough to keep the guide scope’s lens from fogging up in the 40s weather.

BBB

Great info. Thanks for the picture of your setup. This gave me a lot to research. I will wait to hear back from ZWO but it looks like a new router is in my future.