ASIAIR is not responding by directly plugging the USB cable to the new CEM40 (2021 version). Anyone experiences the same? Please help.

CEM40--USB cable--ASI Cooled Camera USB Hub/A external USB Hub--ASIAIR USB port.
It's an iOptron Chip issue with the ASIAIR driver.

20 days later

@tech@zwo#47643

I've seen this in other posts and tried it but I wonder if I understand perfectly because it is not working and there are two possibilities.

1) Connect the USB 2.0 port on the back of the declination drive on my CEM40 to my ASI cooled camera USB 2.0 hub, then connect the other USB 2.0 hub on the cooled camera to an unpowered external USB 2.0 hub, then connect the external USB 2.0 hub to the ASIair USB 2.0 port using a USB male USB male connector cable. These are all USB 2.0 connections since I still use one USB 3.0 on the ASIair to the USB 3.0 B on the cooled camera and the other ASIair USB 3.0 port for the memory stick.

2) Connect the USB 2.0 port on the declination drive to the USB 2.0 hub port on the cooled camera, then use the USB 3.0 B connector on the camera to plug in to the external USB 2.0 hub to the USB port (but which one, the USB 2.0 or the USB 3.0) on the ASIair?

There are other possible combinations, so we need to be very clear about USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports, connectors, and hubs.

    DocO_R_Us
    Either you use our cooled camera USB2.0 hub or you use your own external USB hub, "/" means "or", no need to use multiple hubs.

      I used the USB 2.0 B port in the back of the declination drive and connected that to the back of my ASI071 cooled color camera. I used the USB 3.0 B port on the camera to connect to the USB 3.0 port on my ASIair pro computer. I tried the CEM120 option on the ASI app and used 19200, 9600, 115200 baud rates but all of them gave a failed to connect, be sure to use the correct baud rate error message. I tried the same baud rates for both the CEM40/... and the CEM40/...old options and the CEM70 option. I got the same failed to connect error message with all four of these options and all the baud rates listed above.

      My app says it is version 1.6.2 and the firmware listed on the app is 8.1

      Do I need some updates or something?

        DocO_R_Us I got the same failed to connect error message with all four of these options

        Many users use CEM40 (2021 version) through the USB hub successfully, have you tried your mount on PC to make sure there is no problem first? Or try to update the mount FW.

          The iOptron software upgrade utility is very buggy, DO NOT attempt to update the firmware, or you will brick your CEM40.

          Ok, I after some extensive troubleshooting I found that even using the hub method I was constantly getting issues.
          The mount would just not respond after the initial connection to the asi air and pretty much just bog down the system until it eventually dropped.

          I started removing items from my system until I came across the main camera (2400mcpro). Looks like for some reason the 12V 10A power supply (camera only power, asi air had its own power supply) must have been noisy or something and it was causing my mount to drop out. I can only assume the USB system is sensitive to noise? The camera worked just fine (cooled, images etc.... , only the system USB was acting strange.

          I replace the Camera power supply and the mount & ASI Air started behaving. Strange I know.....

          9 days later

          First, I tried SteveD's fix using separate power supplies. No luck.
          After sfoo wrote about buggy firmware updates from iOptron, I decided to go the other route and test controlling the CEM40 with my PC. Works fine. More research gave similar control problems using the newer ASIair pro with the new EQ6-R pro mounts. A facebook forum there said the real problem was that the new ASIair pro has a new Raspberry Pi chip (PL2303 to PL23D3). They ran the output from the RPi4 and it was not correctly assigning a COM port due to kernal issues with the new chip. He altered his firmware in linux (something I'm not ready to try) and everything worked fine once the firmware assigned the COM port correctly.
          The ASIair pro makes astrophotography fun instead of a complex nightmare, so I'm unwilling to give up the ASIair pro. The CEM40 is such an excellent mount, I'm unwilling to give that up. (On the ZWO website page for the ASIair pro, they list the fix I'm referencing: https://gist.github.com/timucingelici/217ac492bc2b127c6645ce033463d265) Since I don't know how to program in linux, I'm going to have to wait for updated firmware from ZWO so it correctly assigns COM ports on the new kernal chip. I've heard very good things about ZWO making sure new features and fixes appear fairly often in their firmware, so I hope it won't be too long.

            7 days later

            I thought I already wrote a reply to to this, but it isn’t showing. I saw a post on a facebook ZWO ASIair connection problem to the 2021 CEM 40 mounts. They said they finally got it to connect when they stopped trying to use the cable that came with the mount and used the USB 2.0 cable that came with the ZWO camera instead. I figured I had tried everything else, so I gave that a shot. It worked. For some reason the cable that came with the mount does not work.

            I plugged the ZWO USB 2.0 cable into the declination drive port on the CEM40 mount and plugged the other end into my ZWO camera hub. I connected the ZWO camera to the ASIair using the ZWO USB 3.0 cable. In the ASIair app, I selected the CEM45/CEM40 ... old option.

            20 days later

            Dear Asiair user , I have the CEM40EC , the only way I find to connect using the DEC USB B port is:

            1 connect the usb of CEM40 on the RA usb B port them connect to the usb A on the Dec ,

            2 connect a on DEC USB B port them connect to Asiair

            3 the USB B port on the DEC it’s a pass usb port only

            4 the best way to connect its Using a USB B cable on the RA to USB B to the DEC usb B port , them connect a USB A cable on DEC to a USB A to Asiair

            5 I try using a Zwo usb cable Usb2.0 on DeC usbB to Asiair or to camera but don’t work!

            beat regards

            12 days later

            @tech@zwo#48905 do you know if anyone solved it with a new AAP image file on the SD card? I also have the cem40 2021 and the last AAP (the red one without antenna) and I have the same problems. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Often AAP freezes after the preview continues to adjust the focus: it no longer sees any peripherals, it freezes, the commands to the mount arrive after several minutes ... etc. Do you know when definitive updates will be released to fix the problem on the USB ports?

            10 days later

            I had a similar problem but could solve it. Following ZWO technical advise I took a USB cable from my 2600mc pro 2.0 hub to the USB port of my CEM40 (the one for controlling the CEM40, not the one on the DEC plate). I attached my 2600mc pro to my AAP with USB 3.0 (don't forget 12V power!), select the CEM40 HC-FW 210101+ (as I run the most actual version). Now you can see USB attachment has changed (accepted) and your mount is shown as "Connected" using serial (baud 115200). By activating the mount in AAP it runs smoothly and you have full control. Notice the remark on DST to be disabled in HC.

            13 days later

            I am experiencing the same issue with my CEM40 ... On my Maksutov with the camera in the back it isn't a big issue to use the hub on the camera ... but for my RASA with the camera up front and cords obstructing the main lens, I'd rather not run an extra USB cord up there.

            I would love to see this problem fixed ... however when I asked ZWO support when that might be, the reply was that this was a hardware issue so theoretically would never be fixed. Is this the general understanding?

            If that is the case, then on to my next question -- has anyone used a USB hub outside of a ZWO camera for this? Passive USB hubs are relatively inexpensive, and Amazon sells a rather tiny one that looks like it can be taped to the side of the AAP, but I thought I would check before buying one.

            Thanks. John

              jkowtko I got my CEM40 a couple of weeks ago and I can confirm that plugging in a USB hub directly into the AAP works.

                  Ramsay -- great to hear ... can you tell me make/model of your hub? All other features equal I'd rather grab the one that is already reported to work 🙂.

                  Passive vs Active is also a question ... I assume the AAP, camera and mount have active hubs, but I would rather use a passive one if it will work.

                  Thanks. John

                    5 days later

                    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.

                    SUCCESS! Hi folks, I'm happy to report I've got my 2021 CEM40 mount seen by and working with my ASIAir Pro. Things got a bit confusing as I read in various places of others with problems as well, but often having just slightly different configurations, key among them being the use of astro cameras with USB hubs which I do not have. So, to report my solution, please note that it was what I found necessary for use of my ASI120MM-S guide camera (USB3 and ST-4 connections only) with the 2021 CEM40 mount, my Nikon D850 DSLR, and the ASIAir Pro.

                    The solution: Firstly, the 8407+ GoToNova hand controller has no USB ports on it as do some other GoToNova models. But, that controller has to be connected to the ASIAir Pro and the common way mentioned is via an RJ9 to 9-pin connector cable which is then connected to a USB to 9-pin converter cable, iOptron's user guide stating the converters with an FTDI chipset are recommended. I didn't like the 2-cable solution and found on Amazon that there was an RJ9 to USB2 cable with an embedded FTDI chipset in the USB connector header, so I bought that https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08BZ7N962 but upon connecting both the hand controller with that cable and also the CEM40 with its USB2 cable to the 2 USB2 ports of the ASIAir, still the mount wasn't seen. Going further, I'd seen comments here and elsewhere about using hubs, so I tried using a passive (unpowered) 4-port USB3 hub, plugging that into one USB2 port and the then both the mount and hand controller cables into it. Still, no mount connection. The solution occurred upon deciding to try that hub out in the unusued USB3 port of the ASIAir, fortunately available by virtue of using a powered USB3 hub connected on the other port to support my 3 USB3 devices and 2 dew heaters. So, it seems the issue was the lack of enough power at the USB2 ports to support both the mount and controller. To confirm this, I also found an old, powered USB2 hub that I had and connected both controller and mount to it, then plugged that hub into a single ASIAir USB2 port. With the hub unpowered, the mount was not detected, but with power applied to the hub the mount was seen!

                    So, depending upon your port availability on the ASIAir Pro, to get the CEM40 working with connections to both the mount via USB2 and the controller via a USB2/RJ9 FTDI serial cable, you will need those connections to be either to a passive USB3 hub plugged into a USB3 port https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FCKTG8L or an active USB2 hub plugged into a USB2 port.

                    Cheers!

                    10 months later

                    9.97 broke this. It was working fine when connecting the CEM40g usb-b to the built-in hub of a ZWO camera. Now it gives me a can not connect error.