No prob, if you have access to a home wifi, normally in the back of your wifi hardware is an ethernet port, if you buy a long cable and connect the ASIAir to it then you have solved the short-range wifi issue. You dont need to physically connect to the ipad, you just need to get your ASIAir on your home wifi network, even if that is via ethernet. You can mix-n-match without issue. Now just use your ipad which should be connected to your home wifi to control the ASIAir. This allows you to keep your ipad wireless. The question is if you are able to run a cable or not from your` ASIAir to you home wifi modem/router.

    Kring Wow! Even I can understand this, LOL. Thank you so much....It might be a challenge to run that cable, but at least I know what needs to be done. Can't tell you how much I appreciate your help.

    Joe

      Psy1280 Sorry for all the technicalities. It is hard to tell what people on this forum know and do not know. It seems like @Kring has provided you with a solution, at least for when you are at home.

      FWIW, DHCP is the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol and is generally used by computers when they connect to a network to obtain networking information (IP address, gateway, etc). This is used to avoid two computers using the same IP address because if they do then you'll get severe networking issues. Just imagine that you try to send a letter to a certain address and there are two houses with the same address. Who to deliver the letter to? So computers need to "negotiate" their network or IP addresses and DHCP is used for that. So at least one computer needs to be in charge and in case of only an ASIAir and an iPad, none is. So that could give problems and the default option is for neither to assume an IP address.

      This essentially means that no communication between the two can take place unless either one component starts telling the other(s) when IP address to use (this is the ethernet switch approach I proposed) OR you manually assign unique IP addresses to each component. This is fairly easy with the iPad but quite hard with the ASIAir if you are not familiar with Linux.

      I hope this explains a bit what I tried to say in a few sentences before 🙂

        Thank you so much for explaining all this. I'm sure I'll eventually get all this, but let me ask a question. If, by setting up the Ethernet connection, what would be the down side? Would I only be able to use 2.5 rather then 5.0? And if so how limiting is a 2.5 connection. I only ask this because once I had a Station Mode, 2.5 connection and the loading of an image was taking minutes (probably a very weak connection). Anyway, if you can answer my questions (or just guess) I will be most appreciative.
        Regarding your last paragraph. I'm sorry, but I'm still rather lost (or dense, LOL). Is and "ethernet switch" a physical switch you purchase? And, if I'm close to understanding this, my guess is that you're saying that if the AA+ and the iPad are not communicating, and if you then install an ethernet cable from the router to the AA+ the iPad can then log into the router Wifi and control the AA+? Am I close to understanding this? Sorry :-(

          One last question. Ethernet cables come in CAT 5, 6, 7, 8.....which would be the best to purchase?

          Psy1280 Would I only be able to use 2.5 rather then 5.0?

          Those values refer to WIFI, which you would not be using anymore at all. As a matter of fact, an ethernet connection is MUCH faster than WIFI.

          Psy1280 Is and "ethernet switch" a physical switch you purchase?

          Yes it is. It is not a switch in the sense of switching things off and on but rather a device similar to your WIFI router at home. Simply search for "network switch" online and you'll get what I mean.

          But forget about this please. I did a quick search and it seems no network switches with a DHCP server installed on it exist so this is a no-go.

              So glad to hear that Ethernet is much faster than WiFi. Can't wait to give this a shot. Please let me know if I should order CAT 5, 6, 7, 8 cable (if you know). Thank you again for your patience with this.

              Joe

                franco Cat 6 is perfect, low cost and plenty fast.

                for speed over ethernet compared to wifi it's a solid 10x faster. speed you will immediately and actually notice. if it takes you 4 seconds to load a picture now on ASIAir app, it's under a second when on ethernet cable.... assuming your iPad is within the last few years.

                I never use WIFI because I am lucky enough to run an ethernet cable along with my power extension cord out to where I park my scope.

                    All very encouraging....THANK YOU!!!

                    Kring I don't mind the extra few seconds it takes to load over wifi, it adds to the sense of anticipation!

                        franco Try with an ASI6200 either mono or color. The files are 128 Mb each and you definitely will want an ethernet connection 🙂

                            wvreeven what sort of speeds do you see? I assume you have gigabit so the theoretical maximum would be around 100MB/Sec.

                                franco It is a 100 Mbit direct connection from the ASIAir to my iPad. No switch in between. Both have a manual fixed ip address. I get 5 Mb/sec.

                                    wvreeven during the 1.8.2 borkage I used a cable to a wifi repeater and 5GHz to my phone in the house, was getting about 5 or 6 MB/Sec, not much faster than I get with the Air in station mode.

                                        franco Wow that's really nice. I don't get that with my iPad and the ASIAir, not even when I am standing next to it.

                                          I get around 120MB/sec, it takes about 1/2 second to xfer my 2600MC pics that are 51MBs. Running on a 5ghz wifi6 network that operates at 2Gbps, so with the M1 iPad Pro it really flies. If anyone was on the fence upgrading their wifi it’s significant when you move to wifi6. And that’s with 40 other devices on the network.

                                          Kring
                                          One question on the explanation you've provided (and again thank you). Please tell me if I"m correct:
                                          I run an Ethernet cable from my router to the AA+, then I access my home WiFi on my iPad and click on the AsiAir app. If I understand this, then the ASIAIR app should open and I should be able to run everything....Am I missing something (seems too easy). In the WiFi settings on the AA+ do I need to connect to the Ethernet? Are there any configurations, etc., that I need to be aware of?

                                          • w7ay replied to this.

                                              Psy1280 Am I missing something (seems too easy).

                                              No, it is really that easy, because the Raspbian OS (the OS that runs in the ASIAIR's Raspberry Pi) handles the Ethernet connection for you in ASIAIR.

                                              Connecting the ASIAIR to your router (or an Ethernet switch) is just like connecting your computer or printer directly using Ethernet to the router. They will recognize each other and do the right thing, using industry standard protocols, established since the days of the ARPANET (and wirelessly in ALOHANET).

                                              A WiFi router will then relay the data to its WiFi antenna, and from there, to your tablet -- i.e., you are using the WiFi ability of the router instead of the WiFi ability of ASIAIR.

                                              If you have an iPad, you can even connect the ASIAIR directly through Ethernet, by using an Ethernet-to-Lightning or Ethernet-to-USB-C dongle (depending on the iPad model) and get blazing image download speeds if you buy the 1000 Mbits/sec dongles. You just need to turn on the Ethernet setting in iOS.

                                              The ASIAIR's WiFi implementation (both hardware and software) is just broken (they need to hire someone who understands networking), that is why WiFi does not work for you.

                                              If you use some other telescope controller, like the INDIGO Sky, the WiFi would "just work" also. And INDIGO even has a HTTP port so you can connect a web browser to it to configure it for WiFi Station mode, etc, and at 5 GHz.

                                              With ASIAIR, I use a hybrid approach myself. I place a (eero) Mesh Router node right next to my ASIAIR, and connect the ASIAIR using a short Ethernet cable to this node. The mesh node joins my network, and thus, the ASIAIR looks like it is attached directly to the network, but using the wireless backhaul of the node.

                                              With INDIGO Sky, I simply use its WiFi capability and skip the eero mesh router.

                                              Chen

                                                  w7ay If you have an iPad, you can even connect the ASIAIR directly through Ethernet, by using an Ethernet-to-Lightning or Ethernet-to-USB-C dongle (depending on the iPad model) and get blazing image download speeds if you buy the 1000 Mbits/sec dongles. You just need to turn on the Ethernet setting in iOS.

                                                  To my best of knowledge this doesn't work since the ASIAir doesn't get an IP address since there is no DHCP server. See my comments above. Am I wrong?

                                                  • w7ay replied to this.