Hello folks, just a little heads up here about a conflict I ran into between my AAP and newly bought 2021 CEM40. When I plugged in the USB2 cable from the back of the CEM40 to a USB2 port of the AAP, I lost all USB3 devices being recognized and working with the AAP that were connected by a 24-watt powered USB3 hub from Ikuai. Why did that happen?...I did not expect the 0.5A/5V power rating of USB2 to add such a power load on the AAP that it would cause other devices on the AAP to be lost, especially given they are hosted by a powered USB3 hub. I swapped out my hub with another 60W Anker USB3 hub that I have, and that made no difference...any devices plugged into it were lost upon connecting the CEM40 USB2 to the AAP USSB2 port. However, I later discovered the problem when I found dew forming on my lens despite using a dew heater. The dew heater was "USB powered", so while I've used it in the past plugged into my USB3 hub, this time I chose to keep the cabling short and tidy since I had the DEC plate USB2 port nearby. Well, lo and behold, the dew heater is rated at 5V 0.8A, beyond the USB2 spec and it was the source of the failre seen when connecting the USB2 B port of the CEM40 to the ASIAir!
How does that relate to this particular topic of wiring the CEM40 via USB2 to the ASIAir? Only to bring to your attention that one must ensure all USB devices are powered from ports sufficient for their power requirements. If you have anything mismatched as I did, then you may see problems elsewhere that you don't really connect the dots on as being caused by some other seemingly unrelated connection.
Unlike those of you using an astro camera with active USB hub built-in, my ASI120MM-S USB3 camera is hubless and provides only an ST-4 guider output port. I've tried and tried to find out a way to have the AAP recognize the CEM40 2021 version, and nothing works. I'm stuck with ST-4 guiding, unaware if that also limits what functionality of the AAP can be used in controlling the CEM40, but hopefully not. The iPolar guide scope is useless with the ASIAir Pro from what I've seen, so that may be the primary incompatibility.
My configuration consists of a ZWO Mini Guide Scope using an ASI120MM-S USB3 camera for autoguiding, a Nikon D850 DSLR as my main camera, a pair of USB-powered dew heaters, and a Samsung USB3 256GB flash drive. The two cameras, flash drive, and a now both dew heaters are all connected to the USB3 hub. The CEM40's USB2-B port is not connected, as it seems useless. My only connections on the DEC plate are the ST-4 guider input from the ASI120MM-S and 12v power to my D850 via a voltage transformer/battery eliminator.
