opinions on how round my stars are using ASIAIR-Ioptron mount

SFn8CieR

I have run into a dead end with ZWO on a recent forum called weird goings on. They are saying my stars are not round and it is due to my ioptron mount and not the ASIAIR+. I have uploaded my guiding graph on a particular night . As you can see the RA axis is good and the DEC has gone nuts , but my 5 min images taken at that time shows nice round stars. even zoomed up 200 to 300 times!

ZWO's response to this was highlighting a particular star in Siril and looking at the FWHMx and FWHMy values which show some eccentricity in roundness, = 0.88 and saying that it is my mount that is the problem and not the ASIAIR. I have checked the field flatness on this pic and it is very flat varying b/w 0.69 and 0.7 across the whole full frame image. Also it seems that I cannot upload any more images here so I cannot show you. Is there a limit of how many images you can upload or a size limit here?
I have seen other forums here saying the same thing about guiding issues using an ASIAIR on an Ioptron mount and they are having similar issues but not getting any responses or reasonable ones. Let me know what you think and if you are having similar issues with your Ioptron mount.
cheers
Nick

Corsair

SFn8CieR found your previous thread here: https://bbs.zwoastro.com/d/18700-weird-goings-on

I am considering getting an iOptron mount to do unguided EAA with my C8 SCT, f/6.3 Focal Reducer, ASI294MC Pro camera (with ZWO UV/IR Filter) and Celestron Aluminium Dew Shield (no EAF, no EFW, and of course, no guide scope, guide camera due to doing unguided EAA).

I'm concerned that I'll run into problems, though. I wonder if anyone else on here has any issues with their iOptron mount setup with the ASIAIR?

Out of curiosity - what's your list of equipment?

Mount: iOptron CEM70EC2
Main OTA:
Main Camera:
Guide OTA:
Guide Camera:
6: ASIAIR Model: ASIAIR Plus (32 or 256GB model)?
Any other equipment (EAF, EFW, etc):

Hope this can be resolved @Tech@ZWO @PMTeam@ZWO

SFn8CieR

Corsair
Hi, this is what I am using.
I dont think the ASIAIR is giving accurate guiding numbers or graphs. with Ioptron CEM mounts.
My stars are very good and ZWO say they are not. Ok they may be a little out of round but hardly noticeable at very high magnifications, but this does not account for the ASIAIRs guiding graphs showing my DEC axis nose diving and coming up for air each time while the RA stays quite level. There is an issue with the ASIAIR and Ioptron CEM Mounts and I have seen other forums mentioning this and also giving up with ZWOs responses. Only problem is I cannot find these discussions. I know Kevin (one of the top responders) had these issues and they never got resolved.

I dont have an issue with my mount, all of my pics come out great and the stars are very nice. I try and keep it running below 1 rms for guiding, mostly around 0.5, but the ASIAIR sometimes loses it and the guiding goes bad. What can I say?

Mount: iOptron CEM70EC2
Main OTA: Askar 130 PHQ
Main Camera: ZWO ASI2400MC Pro and ASI533MC Pro
Guide OTA: William Optics Uniguide 50
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI 120mm mini
6: ASIAIR Model: ASIAIR Plus (32 or 256GB model)? 256
Any other equipment (EAF, EFW, etc): EAF, Dew heaters,

Astrop

Id take anything the asiair reports with a pinch of salt. I've even had a guiding instance at one point where it was very much near ZERO rms total, for ten minutes until it dithered my mount, then normal behaviour resumed.

Your graph however looks weird as it shows consistent deviation even though your images as you state are fine (if they are why the issue with it?).

Have you also tried imaging unguided (mounts own tracking only) to see if the stars show any mechanical issue, have you tried the PC version of PHD2 to see if it reports the same thing?

Generally my ioptrons work fine with the asiair.

SFn8CieR

Astrop
This is what I mean about weird goings on. Zero rms for 10mins , wow. Generally the asiair works fine for me too but the little green gremlins appear as shown on my log. So what is my issue with it? The Asiair is not doing its job properly. It is not reporting the correct numbers. ZWO will not or cannot properly answer this query but instead blame it on a slight out of roundness of a star shown in Siril. This does not explain the nose diving and coming up for air graph for DEC that the Asiair shows. ZWO will not acknowledge this and are just sweeping it under the carpet.

SFn8CieR

Yes I have tried the mount unguided but at f7.7 I can only get about 2 mins before the stars are affected. On a f4 I can get 3 mins. Also it depends on seeing conditions as to how long you can go.

Astrop

I'd suggest trying a different version of phd2 to see if it shows the same thing, process of elimination.

SFn8CieR

Astrop
Yes I will probably end up doing that but trying to avoid it atm. What got me back into astrophotography after a 15 year hiatus was seeing a youtube on the asiair. I was so impressed that I bought it and some astro equipment just to try it out and I must say I am still impressed with it. It bothers me that the asiair is giving incorrect data on my guiding and zwo are basically blaming my equipment and not looking into this issue properly. If it was just me having these issues, then fine, but I have read about others in the same boat with their Ioptron mounts. They have turned to phd2 and have not bothered progressing the issue with zwo as it seems they cannot solve the problem.