Asiair pro android ver. 1.8.2 connecting problem

astrosatch

Well, I don't know where to start. I have this problem since first beta and have done many tests. Final conclusions? Have no idea.
The problem is inicial connection with android device. I made 25 steps of power cycles with asiair pro with different scenarious and almost every time asiair behaved differently. I won't bother with details, just give you some idea of what is going on. I'm using galaxy tab a and never had any problem with wifi connection before. I have always updated to latest betas as soon they were available. But since 1.8.2(including official one now) there is problem to get connection. Asiair pro is actually behaving really strange and unreliable. I'll try to do my best to explain in few steps .

Turn on Asiair pro. Wifi shows asiair is available. Open asiair app. Service unconected. Connection failed, please check IP and reconnect. Tried several times, doesn't work. After a while it succeeded but main camera doesn't work. I had to unplug it and plugged it back to work. Then it was working ok. Then I restarted asiair in app. There was nothing. No asiair wifi available and power light on asiar pro was Off. Turned off asiair pro.
I turned on asiair pro again. Asiair wifi available and it works. Everything is ok. Restarted asiair from asiair app. Nothing. No asiair wifi available, but power light on asiair pro is On and usb ports are powered. Strange. Turned asiair pro off.
Same as 2.
Same as 2, but power light is Off.
Turned on again. It works. I shut it down from app. Power light is On, usb ports powered. I turned off asiair pro.
It is the same as in step 1, except I shut it down in app. Power light on, usb power off. Turned off asiair pro.
It works. Shut down.
Like in step 6.
Like in step 6, except I did restart and for the first time it worked. Restart again.
Like in step 6.
It works.
There is no way to find a pattern that would make this work more reliably. I can actually use asiair without problem once connection is successfully established, but it can be frustrating and I really don't want to unplug camera and pressing on/off button all the time. By the look of things I'm the only one with this issue and have no idea why.

Any help would be appreciated.
Br,
Andrej

Byrdsfan1948

astrosatch Well there are many times I believe that I am the only one having whatever problem I'm having as well. Never the less, since I have what maybe the same Samsung Galaxy Tablet A and a Pro let me at least tell you how I connect. FWIW I just updated to the very latest FW a few days ago, and I had my first imaging session with it last night. All went perfectly. No problems with PA, Plate Solving, Go To, Plan Mode, Guiding, or any disconnects. First time ever so trouble free. So fingers crossed. Back to your issue here is how I connect:

After I turn on my ASIair Pro I wait to find it listed under the WiFi list on my Tablet. BTW I did get my Pro modified a few months ago with an outside antenna so it's WiFi range is now far better than it originally was. It is now strong enough for my home WiFi to find it. In any case once I see it listed in the WiFi drop down list I click on it to connect my tablet to the ASIair.

After it connects, I then go to the WiFi tab on the ASIair and go to the Station Mode tab. When I open that my home WiFi is listed. I click on that to connect to my home WiFi and that is it............. Yesterday however I did have to cycle off, and back on, the Station mode slider before it connected. After that as you say clear sailing.

I am a total idiot when it comes to fulling understanding how all this is supposed to work and a lot of the solutions others mention, so all I can do is tell you what works for me......... For example my son had to do whatever was necessary for my Home network to be able to find my ASIair.

Before I had my ASIair Pro modified with an outside antenna I could not connect this way...... Back then I just used a 50 Ethernet cable to hard wire my Pro to my home WiFi. That still is my gold standard rock solid most trouble free connection method with virtually instantaneous downloads....... So you may want to give that a try too, if you never tried that. Al

astrosatch

Byrdsfan1948
Thank you for your reply. I don't use station mode, asiair is connected through tplink extender directly to my android device. Before no problem. As of 1.8.2 version problems started. Since official version is out I can see some other people have trouble connecting too. I hope ZWO finds solution soon.

Byrdsfan1948

astrosatch I just ran through connecting my set up and the only issue I ran into is having to cycle off then back on the Station Mode slider for me to connect to my home network. Certainly no big deal. Everything else worked fine. I wish I could be some help in particular since we seem to have essentially the same set up. Beyond me suggesting that possibly you consider deleting the ASIair APP and then reinstall it. DISCLAIMER!!! I'm not sure if that is a good, or bad idea :-)). Anything else I might suggest would be pure guessing..........

As to your comment about some other people having the same trouble...... It seems to me that for some reason these sort of problems affect some people and not others. Which makes me wonder why it is that some nights the ASIair can be as easy as 1,2,3....... And the next night a nightmare..

astrosatch

Byrdsfan1948 Which makes me wonder why it is that some nights the ASIair can be as easy as 1,2,3....... And the next night a nightmare..

Exactly!
Asiair is a great tool for patient and not easily annoyed people.😄
I found that problem with connection is somehow related to main camera. In my case asi1600mm pro. If it is not connected to asiair, wifi connection is established without problem. Every time. So before turning on asiair, I unplug camera and after wifi is connected I plug it back in and that's it. I didn't tried this with station mode since I don't use it. Maybe it can help. I'll be using this method until ZWO fix this.

Byrdsfan1948

astrosatch I understand. It seems we all find our own ways to work around all the problems with this product. ZWO needs some serious competition..... As long as they are essentially the only game in town this way, it looks like those of us who are willing to accept this sort of poor quality in place of learning how to do this the old fashioned way are condemned to suffer the consequences.

kvastronomer

Another way of handling poor quality of AAP software is not to update phone app until you confirm for yourself it is safe to update. I usually patiently wait for new official release, then for weeks follow this blog to figure out what got broken this time and if new issues are not deal breakers, I update the app. My current version is dated June 2021, since then they broke more than they fixed.