ASI Air plus and Skysensor 2000pc

Astro1

Hi guys
Did any body ever get to the bottom of why the air system won't connect to the Vixen skysensor any more?

I have read on a forum somewhere that it used to all work but since version 1.8 of the software that all changed?

ASI still claim compatability between the two but I am pulling my hair out trying to get further than the basic up down/left right buttons which DO work , everything else fails dramatically.

As a last resort , is it possible to roll back the software to version 1.7 which apparently DIDwork ?

Any help appreciated .

Duncan

elviejo

Astro1 The short answer is no. I spent several months trying to resolve the problem when it happened originally but wasn’t successful. While ZWO continue to say the ASIAir is compatible I can assure you that it isn’t. I eventually came to the conclusion that they had implemented the driver incorrectly and the guiding capability was lost, making it useless. I used it as a polar alignment tool for a while but then shifted to NINA. If someone has solved the problem I’d be really interested to know how so that I can take my Atlux and SS2K out of mothballs and use it.

Astro1

elviejo

I am still pulling hair out , waiting for a clear night to try things out , I did read that if you roll back the air software to 1.7 it would work, so , having an old tablet I have loaded 1.7 on to it . Wow the software development has come a long way between then and 2.1 but I am still unable to confirm it works for guiding , raining here in London all day !!

Seems a tad strange that it works to move the mount to PA , and also seems to work for go to's but just not guiding ?

I love my SS2k ( Polaris DX ) the mechanics of which had been copied over and over but , I believe , never to the same quality ( Japanese , vs Chinese) .

Are you able to use your mount with Nina ?

I love my Raspberry Pis and for a long time have used Kstars / ekos ( which also says it is compatible but isn't ) .

I am aware that the Ascom driver for the SS2k only runs in 32 bit mode so I guess cant be run on a 64 bit windows machine, but I am suspicious , that as both Kstars and Air use the indi framework , it may be an issue with the indi driver ?
I also read some where that there is an issue with the date/ time format used by the drivers , I need to go back and re read the post .;
regards

Duncan

Astro1

Up date on Skysensor 2000PC and ASI Air plus .

Ok , so after some failed attempts and now a lot of background reading the skies cleared here in London late last night and I put my small rig out to try and amalgamate the two .

Mount is a Vixen GP DX controlled by a Skysensor 2000PC with software version 2.10 ( the last version) .
ASI Air Plus.
Connections , Guide camera ( 290mm) to main camera ( 294mcPro) , usb3 to Air .
Skysensor 2000PC to Air via RS232 lead and Serial to USB converter .
ASI Air set up to talk Mount ( Skysensor 2000PC) ,
Skysensor2000PC set as Skysensor in its menu ( not LX 2000 )
Backlash setting within SS2k left on .
Initially tablet with air app version 1.7 , then tablet with version 2.1
Result ,
Polar align , Brilliant , Air controlled the mount / moved the mount through 60 deg etc .
Go Too's , Brilliant , even centering etc .

Guiding , calibration failed several times , but then said it was guiding !!! The guide graphs were off the scale most of the time, in fact from the start of the guiding both Dec and RA went in opposite directions but there were periods when the graphs came back to the center. The graphs showed that corrections were being sent , but I was never able to tell if the mount actually received them or acted on them , it was just working away in the back ground on its own.

I did have a second tablet with an older version of the Asi app on it ( 1.7 ) this controlled the mount in the same way but made no difference to the outcome so I stuck with the latest version ( 2.1) .
I was planning to roll back the firmware on the Air but I am not sure I really need to do that as the result of all the above was so good .
I ended up taking some images ( 28 no ) of NGC 281 which is high for us in the norther hemisphere at the moment, I took a selection of 60 sec , 120 sec , and 180 sec shots and all had round stars , this could easily be that the initial polar align was very good and the SS2k was just able to track accurately on its own ? I cant tell .
For some reason I cant get media manager to let me up load the images , will keep trying , but the final image was really good for a short stack .

elviejo

It has been almost a year since I last looked at using the AA with my SS2K. At that time everything except the location setting and guiding calibration worked perfectly using the LX200 setting. Don’t think I tried the SS2K command protocol because the supplemental manual tells you to use the LX200 or Ultima protocols, but if it works, brilliant! If I feel the need to waste another night I might give that a go. Nina works flawlessly with the SS2K and atlux.

Astro1

Elviejo ,
Well I wasted another night a few days ago , as previously PA and GO TO's worked flawlessly , but Guiding fell over all the time as , despite saying the AIR was sending move commands to the SS2k they had no effect , spent hours in the dark with every cable known to man but gave up dejected .
Last night, clear again and my wife persuaded me try again , HEY PRESTO , PA brilliant , GOTO Brilliant ( inc Plate solve and minor corrections ) , then it jumped straight to guiding , NO CALLIBRATION process enacted just straight to guiding !!! ( I think in my desperation I had ticked a box in the guide camera tab to auto restore a previous calibration ????
Mount worked flawlessly , took up top 5 min frames and had round stars , dithered every 5 frames and got no walking noise in the images when stacked .
WHAT a result !! So it seems it is only the calibration routine that fails , I have used the AIR , with the same guide camera and same guide scope on my EQ8 and I can only guess it picked up the calibration results form then.
I think I may write a ticket to ZWO with this info and see if they can tweak the software , maybe this info will help them pin down the issue ?

elviejo

Astro1
Hi Astro1,

This sounds really promising. So, let me get it straight. SS2K set to SS2K protocol, AA to SS2K not LX200 and uncheck restore previous calibration. Then what? Tap the guiding window in AA and don’t do any calibration run and just let it go? I think I may have tried this before but with the AA set to Lx200, so it’s worth another go. What do you mean when you say it jumped straight into guiding? Not sure ZWO will be too concerned about updating something related to a 20-year old controller but no harm in trying. Like you, I tried every combination of cable, serial adapter and protocol arrangement I could think of but never managed to get any guiding control or calibration only elongated stars. It just occurs to me now that doing a platesolve on the guide camera output might be an alternative way to “calibrate” the guidescope scale for guiding. Who knows? Anyway, thanks for letting me and any other long-suffering SS2K owner know what you have found out. Clear skies and happy imaging!

Astro1

elviejo

Sorry for the long pause , I have only just seen your reply ,

Whilst I am waiting for ZWO to work on the SS2k issue the work around , as proposed by someone else on the forum is as follows .
Connect SS2k to Air via its RS 232 port , cable then goes through a serial to USB converter and then in to the Air via a USB port , Air to to mount SS2k .
Point Scope to approx pole and then let the AIR do its polar align ( it is able to communicate successfully with the Mount and move the mount etc )
Once polar aligned , select target and use the Air GOTO command , all works well and the scope finds and then goes through the re align to accurately centre the object .
But that's were the Air currently falls over, if you try to use the AIR guide command it is NOT able to move the mount .

Solution is at this point to leave all wiring as is switch mount to " on camera ST4" and connect an additional ST4 cable between the guide camera and the SS2k hand box " Auto guide connection " VIA an SS2k to ST4 box ( this just swaps around some of the cables in the wires as the SS2k does not use the std ST4 pin out , I use one from Shoestring astronomy although you could make up your own lead as the pin outs are available on line ) .
This time when you select "Guide" in the Air software the system works as planned and runs through the calibration routine and then moves to guide.
Long winded but does allow you to use your SS2k, to select a new object you currently have to unplug the ST4 cable and re select SS2k in the mount section of the software .

Sorry again this response has taken so long .

Duncan

elviejo

Astro1
Hi Duncan,

Hmmmm…figured it wasn’t that easy. In the end I mounted both the AA and a Pegasus astro UPB. Used the AA for polar alignment (simplest process) and the just swapped the cables to the UPB and used NINA for acquisition. I did try an ST4 cable but obviously didn’t choose the right pairings as it didn’t work. It’s been well over 2 years since this problem was first raised with ZWO and still nothing has been done, so I wouldn’t hold your breath. Thanks for taking the time to reply and detail the work around. I think I’ll stick with NINA when using the Atlux.

Regards,
Rob