ASI2600MC AIR -> ALPACA -> N.I.N.A: Page 2

ASI2600MC AIR -> ALPACA -> N.I.N.A

HvRooyen

Correct, it still does not work. Does anyone know of a page that keeps track of the latest firmware for the camera?

More info for those who may be interested: The problem is not with Alpaca, which seems to do what it should. Everything worked until ZWO updated the firmware, and as descibed above a firmware rollback fixes the problem. I sniffed the traffic between the guide camera and N.I.N.A - the camera never sends an "image ready" reply - thus seemingly a timing issue on the ZWO side (PHD2 basically bombards the camera with "are we there yet?" requests, which seemingly unmasked a latent timing issue in the firmware). Lastly, ZWO have confirmed that they will be rolling out a fix in the next update.

HvRooyen

https://bbs.zwoastro.com/d/22635-asiair-v233-has-been-released

As we speak....

HvRooyen

New firmware update released in the past day or two seems to have fixed the problem.

AleDorigatti

HvRooyen that’s great news! I will test ASAP!

AleDorigatti

HvRooyen it is working for me too, now!

fotisr

HvRooyen can you please describe how you connect the guide sensor of 2600 air to PHD2? I can connect both sensors to NINA through alpaca, but PHD2 does not recognize any ASI camera. I have the latest asi ascom drivers, the latest PHD2, the latest ascom, the 2.4 beta asiair firmware and windows 11 pro. Thank you in advance, Fotis

HvRooyen

AleDorigatti
All seemed well until I noticed last night during a test run that I keep seeing the same satellite trail in 9 consecutive photos. On further investigation I realised that Flats Wizard in N.I.N.A. was also acting up. It seems the (new?) problem is that the main camera (randomly?) starts to send the same image repeatedly, instead of a new exposure every time. I will try to debug this one as well, but must admit I am stumped for now.

HvRooyen

AleDorigatti
Did everything work after you reset the firmware? I am seriously considering it this time.

AleDorigatti

HvRooyen apparently yes, but given the distance from your telescope I think it should be better to test the workaround only if you have the option to reinstall the latest update.

AleDorigatti

HvRooyen anyway now the new 2.4 beta is out and the changelog reports the fix to the Alpaca exposure issue… so maybe this will finally solve the problem!

HvRooyen

I think I am missing something here. Perhaps I just don't understand the software environment:
My android app is on V2.3.3 with no newer version offered on Play Store (although I see a version 2. 5 on the ZWO website), but the firmware on the ASI2600MC-AIR is reported as Firmware Build 41.63 on the bug report I sent in yesterday.
Where do you see the beta version you are referring to? Is it a firmware beta release, or the (android?) app?

The way I understand it, the latest firmware for the camera fixed the Alpaca timing issue on the tracking camera, but introduced / unmasked the duplication issue with the main camera (as I described above).

Anyway, I am now much closer to my telescope and can easily revert to factory settings - provided I have a reasonable expectation that it will work. It certainly seems preferable to waiting another 6 weeks for the next firmware update, as the duplication issue makes the camera functionally unusable - maybe even with the ZWO app!

AleDorigatti

HvRooyen take a look at the following post: https://bbs.zwoastro.com/d/22676-asiair-v24-public-beta-released

At the end of the post you will find the link to the beta!

HvRooyen

AleDorigatti Thanks. To me the changelog in the link you gave would imply that any phone / tablet using the ASIAir app also connects to the camera via Ascom Alpaca?

On the other hand, the problem is generated on the camera side - therefore the primary problem is in the camera firmware, not ASIAir related.

If I am correct in both of the above, I would be very wary of doing any astrophotography with the current firmware, regardless of the client software I use. How would you know that each exposure is in fact a new one, and not one in a train of duplicates?

Unless I am missing something?

HvRooyen

fotisr
I recall this was an issue for me as well, but I cannot remember exactly how I fixed it. I recall that this link helped me:
https://ascom-standards.org/help/developer/html/e3870a2f-582a-4ab4-b37f-e9b1c37a2030.htm

Basically you need to do discovery in some other app (not PHD2) first. Whenever things change significantly (new network config meaning new IP address for the camera), I use Ascom Diagnostics (which I recall came with the Ascom Platform download), then go through the discovery process as per the link above. This prompts me to create the device. Once that is done, the device appears in the PHD2 device list.

Hope that helps
H

fotisr

HvRooyen perfectly explained, I appreciate it, thank you!

fotisr

HvRooyen with your directions, it took me just 5 min and I found the guide camera on PHD2! I discovered the camera through the 'Ascom diagnostics' if you are interested. I can't thank you enough!
Fotis

AleDorigatti

HvRooyen if I understand correctly, the ASIAir update will also upgrade the camera firmware and the new firmware should solve also the issue with the Alpaca connection. This is my understanding, but I could be wrong. I will give it a try as soon as I can...

HvRooyen

AleDorigatti
Just downloaded and installed the beta version you linked above. It did in fact upgrade the firmware, this time (from 41.63) to 41.74. However, the duplicate / stuck image issue remains.

@PMTeam@ZWO please see bug BT20250604188698A (and probably related, but resolved bug BT20250422930752A). Could you please advise on a way we can revert to an earlier / working version of firmware so as to have working cameras while waiting for a fix? I am specifically hoping you can advise on a firmware version that should not have Alpaca timing issues like those mentioned in the two bug reports.

AleDorigatti

HvRooyen I'm testing the new update now (even if it's daytime...). I'm acquiring frames in PHD2 at 1s exposure (continuously) while I'm acquiring 5s frames from the main camera in N.I.N.A. and apparently it's all working fine: every frame seems different to me. I've also tried the subsampling option in N.I.N.A. to speedup the image download and it works ok too. So on my side I cannot reproduce the stuck image issue you're reporting...

I have also to say that some days ago I've used the flat wizard tool in N.I.N.A. and it was working perfectly also with the previous firmware, so we are having 2 different behaviors here.

HvRooyen

The first time I saw it was after about 15 * 2 minute exposures of NGC 6188 - and then I received the same image 9 times in a row until I stopped capturing. The sure fire way for me to reproduce the problem is to use the flat wizard on 30s exposures although I suspect the rapid repetition is more important than the duration. Once it happens, it sticks until you either wait a while, or change something (but what?).

AleDorigatti

HvRooyen an update to the ASCOM drivers has been released; I’ve installed it yesterday but I didn’t test it yet. Link: https://bbs.zwoastro.com/d/23504-ascom-driver-v6529-has-been-released

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