ASIAir is still broken.

UnhappyWithPlus

Tried shooting another target last night (first time in a month) and I'm STILL having mount disconnections when using the ASIAir Plus. Any other software, controller is fine but Plus shows it is connected to the mount (CEM70), but when I try to slew the mount, or make any changed I get the message "Mount not connected". This has been going on since I bought the ASIAir Plus two months ago.
I have replaced the mount's power supply, backed off the Plus' firmware then reinstalled, turned off all power and restarted, rebooted each connection, and everything I can think of, but all that was as useless as this ASIAir Plus. I'm an I.T. guy and performed every troubleshooting trick I could think of, nothing helped. Last night I kept fiddling, rebooting and trying different things over two hours till the mount was finally detected. I was able to image for an hour before the mount disconnected. I was able to reconnect and get several hours in. After imaging I clicked on the ASIAir app for the mount to go to the Home Position when the mount showed it was disconnected. That was four hours ago. I'm still not able to detect the mount. Even when the Plus' App shows the mount is connected and I click to turn the power on (for the mount) the app displays "No mount connected".
ZWO, I have been putting up with this for two months now. I have sent in logs (two today, with photos) and not sure what to do.
I know I'm not the only one having this problem (a Google search shows that) so please at the least reply to this and tell me to F off if you're not going to help. At least then I'd know you see my multiple requests for help.

Tech@ZWO

UnhappyWithPlus Could you tell us the email address you use to submit the log and when you uploaded? so we can locate your log, and analyze it.

Tech@ZWO

UnhappyWithPlus In addition, please use an extra 12V power supply to power the mount to tery. And your mount can work fine on PC, right?

franco

When you click on the slider next to the mount setting, ASIAir starts the indiserver. In your case in runs the command indiserver indi_ioptronv3_telescope. These are independent programs and are part of the INDI open source project.

See here: https://indilib.org/telescopes/ioptron/cem120.html

Note that the version of indiserver on the ASIAir is old, 1.7.5, latest version is 1.9.4

If you don't get any response from ZWO I suggest you install kstars/ekos, works best on Linux but it is supported on most platforms. Then connect your mount and see if it is stable. This would tell you if it's an old driver that's at fault rather than the ASIAir itself.

UnhappyWithPlus

Hey Franco,
I really do appreciate you taking the time to send me this info.. I have gotten so frustrated this afternoon I took the scope, mount and everything apart and put it in a closet. If ZWO ever responds I'll gladly set it up again, but this is the second weekend I've lost trying to get this system stable. I'm fed up with it. I don't even want to think about it anymore. I have only had Astronomy as a hobby four months and most of that has been waiting for ZWO to assist getting this resolved. I have almost every piece of gear ZWO makes (about $5,200 worth) and none of it is usable because of this fricken Plus.

I would consider applying the driver you mentioned. While it doesn't list CEM70 not too many things do.

Thanks again,
L

Even their Forum sucks. Why it turns text bold and larger text, no idea.

franco

I'm still in my first year taking astro photos and can assure you once you get the ASIAir running you will love it. I spent a good few months trying to understand imaging and guiding and couldn't get anything to work and then got the ASIAir and boom, first image that appeared on the screen blew my socks off.

I do Linux for a living so love to tinker and the ASIAir is a cool Raspberry Pi project, it's a shame ZWO are not more open about how it works but I guess most people don't care or want to know.

You can't update the indi drivers on the Pi because the OS is too old - newer drivers use things from newer libindi libraries that aren't present in the stock libraries. You can build stuff from source if you know what you are doing.

It's time ZWO did an OS update for the Air but they will need to change their app/software update strategy from push to pull. Don't know if the app stores have the option to stop Android/Apple from doing automatic updates but it's the ASIAir app that needs to check for updates and do them based on the OS version, and give the user the option to opt out. Or they could do an Apple and obsolete all current hardware.

darkmatter

franco It's time ZWO did an OS update for the Air

Sounds like a good idea, it's not like their software updates have caused any issues so far... If ZWO ever decides to go down that road I'll immediately stop using my Asiair for a few months and wait to see when, or more likely if, the bugs will be solved.

franco

Just had a thought. ZWO has an OS update for the EQ6 mount with USB, maybe that also includes updates for some of the other indi telescope drivers?

Don't know how to get ZWO's attention to ask the question but I've had prompt responses to emails sent to support@zwoptical.com.

Swizerlan

Do you have another mount to test on? Can you download ioptron commander and try to control the mount from a pc? Im wondering if its a bad cable or possibly a bad connection. Could be the air or the cem 70.

I use a small pigtail cable on my air for the mount because I can strap the pigtail down. This puts cable tension on the pigtail instead of the asi air usb housing itself. When it gets cold my cables get very stiff and Ive had disconnect issues on my cem25

UnhappyWithPlus

@tech@zwo#54061

Hi, I submitted the logs using the address: xxx
In addition. I got so frustrated I brought the scope and all inside the house. I then bought a new power supply for the mount and tested it several days later. I was able to connect to the mount (from the ASIAir) and make adjustments, so the Plus was working at that time. With this in mind these are the things that changed:
1: I had no weight on the mount, usually there's about 40 pounds on it.
2: The temperature in my house is 64 degrees, where it has been around 15 outside.
3: Even though the USB cable I have been using is a new one, I used another one.
4: I used a new 12 volt power supply to the mount.
5: When the Plus failed to connect in the past, sometimes turning everything off and waiting worked, In this case I had everything off a couple days.
At the moment I seen the mount moving I thought the power might be a factor so I purchased an 8-port 12 volt power bank, which will arrive three days from now, over the weekend. This will replace all the power going to all the systems on the scope, ASIAir Plus, Camera, Mount etc...
I have also purchased an 8-port powered USB hub which I'll connect at the same time, over the weekend. It is a USB 3.0 hub and I thought I've heard ASIAir has issues with 3.0 on some things, but I'm hoping that isn't the case.
Or do think using all 3.0 would be an issue?
I'll be setting the scope up this weekend and trying out the additional stuff I've mentioned. If you could please review the logs to see if there's anything helpful, Also, please let me know if using 3.0 USB for all connections is okay, I'd sure appreciate it. I'll post here over the weekend with any updates.
I do thank you for your request for information. I've had this entire system for several months and most of that time I've been fighting to resolve mount-disconnect issues. Thank you!

Thank you,

ckoos

FYI, the AAP is not spec'ed to 15 degrees, I think I read that the supported limit is 32 degrees. I've had my unit stop working at 15 degrees. Later, after the temperature went up a bit, the AAP came back to life and continued on as if nothing had happened. I now wrap some cloth around the unit when it's going to be below _20F. That seems to be helping.

This may or may not be related to your specific problem, but it may be work considering.

UnhappyWithPlus

"The AAP is not spec'd to 15 degrees"
Ckoos, I've never heard this before but it aligns with time/temp alignments and issues. This would be such and easy fix, just wrap a small dew heater around the Plus. I hope that could be either the problem, or part of it. If so,
1: Why wouldn't ZWO support ever mention this "small" detail over these last few months? Better yet,
2: Knowing these devices are used at night, with other equipment designed to be used in sub-zero temps, why would the working temp be cut off around the mid 30s?
I hope you're right for the sake of a (possible) final solution.

I hope you're wrong because this would be a huge failure on ZWO's part, in designing such a low minimum running temp and worse yet, not suggesting this as a possible reason for failure when support receives a ticket, exactly like mine. IF the temp is the reason.

-

ZWO, Is there a minimum temp this Plus can function at, before failure, and if so, what is the minimum temp?

Thank You,