GoTo Issues After Polar Alignment

Deuero83

I am experiencing a recurring issue with my SkyWatcher IWave 150 GoTo mount in combination with ASIAIR Mini and the SynScan Pro app. My setup is as follows:
• Mount: SkyWatcher IWave 150
• Control Software: SynScan Pro App
• Guiding & Mount Control: ASIAIR Mini
• Polar Alignment: Performed via ASIAIR Mini
• Mount Connection: Tested both via WiFi and USB

The Problem

After successfully completing Polar Alignment using ASIAIR Mini, the following issues occur:
• The right ascension (RA) axis is tilted by approximately 60° and does not return to the initial home position.
• When using SynScan Pro for GoTo, it roughly finds the correct targets like Jupiter, so basic functionality seems fine.
• However, GoTo via ASIAIR does not work correctly – it moves to incorrect positions, to my feeling round about 60° RA!
• Even when I use SynScan Pro to return to the home position, ASIAIR GoTo remains inaccurate.
• “Sync to Mount” in ASIAIR has no effect.

This issue has occurred before but could not be reproduced the following night. Now, however, it persists.

I have conducted a variety of tests and troubleshooting steps to isolate the problem:

Manually Resetting the Home Position
After Polar Alignment, I manually moved the telescope back to the home position (realigning RA & DEC).
I attempted to set the home position in SynScan Pro, but I could not find an explicit option for this.
Despite correctly setting the home position, the issues in ASIAIR persist.
Reset & Reinitialization of SynScan and ASIAIR

-Cleared all alignment data in SynScan (“Clear Alignment Data”).

Turned the mount off and restarted it.
Connected SynScan Pro to the mount first, then started ASIAIR.
Executed “Sync to Mount” in ASIAIR → No improvement.
Checking Time & Location Settings
Checked date, time, and time zone settings in SynScan:
Verified location settings in ASIAIR:

Firmware Updates & Hard Reset
Updated SynScan firmware to the latest version
Factory reset ASIAIR
Factory reset the mount-
Reconfigured ASIAIR and reconnected to the mount → Issue persists.

I appreciate any help! If there are any other debugging ideas, I am happy to test them.

regards

Tobias

w7ay

Deuero83 • The right ascension (RA) axis is tilted by approximately 60° and does not return to the initial home position.

That is perfectly normal. With the ASIAIR, the mount is left where it is after completing Polar Alignment.

However, GoTo via ASIAIR does not work correctly.

You might try this to see if it works:

1) after finishing Polar Alignment, disconnect the mount from the ASIAIR in the Mount Setup window. I think your experiments did not include this step.

2) manually move the mount back to its's home position, then reboot the mount (power mount off and then back on), just in case the mount has lost its position. Mounts that have at least relative encoders usually don't require this step.

3) reconnect the mount to the ASIAIR Mount Setup window.

If step 2 is done gently, polar alignment (mechanically pointing the RA axis at the celestial pole) should not have moved. So, you don't need to polar align again.

The reason what I described might work is that the ASIAIR assumes (yeah, stoooopid assumption; it will come back to bite them sooner or later) that the mount is at the home position when the mount is first connected to the mount.

Chen

Corsair

Question: when you first turn on the ASIAIR - is your mount/telescope in the correct physical Home position (i.e. counterweights down)?

The ASIAIR sets the Home position when it first turned on.

Deuero83

Corsair yes it is in "normal" position

Deuero83

w7ay Dear Chen,

I’d like to thank you for the tips.
I tried the whole process yesterday.

So, first I performed the Polar Alignment as usual,
then disconnected the mount in the ASIAIR Mount Setup window,
after that, I moved the mount to the Home Position in the SynScan Pro app.

Unfortunately, the mount still doesn’t correctly align with Jupiter, for example.
I suspect that there is some mistake on my part in the settings,
because the whole setup worked fine in the beginning.

regards
Tobias

w7ay

Deuero83 I moved the mount to the Home Position in the SynScan Pro app.

Did you 1) disconnect the mount from ASIAIR, 2) reboot (power off and then on) the mount, and 3) reconnect to ASIAIR after you used SynScan to move the mount?

If not, that (moving the mount with SynScan) is most likely to be your problem.

That motion by an external device (be it manually, or by using SynScan) is not known by ASIAIR (the ZWO devices are made to be simple, and they only work if you do exactly what it wants, and not what you want).

ASIAIR establishes the position of the mount (sync) right when it connects to the mount.

It then assumes the position from then on is relative to the command that it gives to the mount. Any external movement can cause ASIAIR to think that it was still located at the location is last knew about. So, disconnecting and reconnecting the mount after it has been repositioned back to the home position will resynchronize the mount.

You might be able to get things to work if you perform a manual sync. I.e., do a plate solve and then ask the mount to move and sync. If it is very far off, just do a couple of plate solves. The problem is that this will not work every time -- e.g., if the ASIAIR has also lost the pier side of the OTA. I have monitored the USB commands from ASIAIR to my mount, and have never seen ASIAIR query the pier side, which is critical to know with German Mounts; ASIAIR just make wild assed assumptions.

Chen

Deuero83

Thank all of you for your Support.
Tonight was the first night where I was able to try out a few things again. I roughly prepared the Manuel mount and carried out the PA. After that, the home position via ASIAIR was also correct. Reference positions were also approached correctly.
Now I have created a plan to photograph 3 objects. Unfortunately, I keep losing the WLAN connection to ASIAIR after I have started the plan.
This would not be a problem if ASIAIR continued to work on its own, but unfortunately this does not happen. When I re-establish a WLAN connection after a few minutes, the main camera is always deselected and deactivated. However, the guiding is running.
What could be causing me to lose the connection?
ASIAir is running in state mode in the WLAN
Thanks for your help

Corsair

Deuero83 Unfortunately, I keep losing the WLAN connection to ASIAIR after I have started the plan.

This actually sounds like you might be having an issue similar to those in this thread: https://bbs.zwoastro.com/d/21201-asiair-plus-network-connectivity-dropping/23