ASIAIR Pro and Celestron AVX connection failure

allee8285

I have a CGX mount and use ASIAIR Pro to drive the mount. This configuration works great for the last 3 years.

Recently I got a AVX mount and tried to use the same ASIAIR Pro to drive the newly acquired AVX but had never been to able to connect to the mount from ASIAIR. The symptoms is: an error dialog is posted when try to connect to the AVX mount in ASIAIR.

Android phone message: "Connect Failed Please make sure the mount is connected to with the serial cable and the baud are correct"
iPad message: "Connection failed: Polar and 3-Stars align required and please update the HC FW to the newest version, or check the connection of the USB cable"

Based on various previous postings that addressed this similiar issue, here are what I had done:

cable and baud: I verified the cable is not the problem. The cable works on ASIAIR to CGX and the baud is set to 9600.
AVX mount: I also verified that using the same cable connecting to a mini-PC (Mele) and I can connect to and drive the AVX mount using NINA.
Firmware: ASIAIR Pro is upgraded to 2.3.2(11.81)
NexStar+ hand controller is upgraded to 5.35.3179
Boot Loader is upgraded to 4.1.3160
AVX App is upgraded to 7.15.8270

I followed AstroBlender (as suggested in some thread) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l4fiu4MTbk for the procedure to configure ASIAIR Pro to AVX. I can get all the other attached devices: ASI2600MC, ASI120MM, EAF connected and working EXCEPT the AVX mount.

I read that there may be some issue with the Prolific controller between AVX and ASIAIR Pro but this requires some sort of OS refresh, which I don't fully understand what it is and don't want to touch it unless it is absolutely necessary.

Can some kind soul help and point me to the right direction to take to get this configuration (ASIAIR Pro -> AVX) to work?

Thanks in advace.

allee8285

Just to be clear of this issue I ran into. I was never able to connect to the AVX mount from ASIAIR controller, i.e. the mount enable switch is always off and I can not do any mount operation, polar alignment, or taking any picture with tracking or guiding.

allee8285

After browsing the forum threads, I found the solution and was able to get my ASIAIR pro connected to the AVX mount.

Since there are many threads and various branches to the discussion, I will attempt to summarize my workflow and observations in one place for posterity and for those who may run into this issue in the future.

The source of the problem is the current version ( as of 5/2025) of the AVX mount uses a different USB/serial controller (I believe it is the Prolific controller) that ASIAIR Pro (AAP) OS does not have the driver included in the image, hence AAP can not find a matching driver to the Prolific controller and failed the connection.

Here are the related threads that lead to the solution:

Thank you for these folks that follow through with the proper authorities to resolve the problem.

Here are what I did:

download and unzip new_airpro.zip from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fvWM1lenwQP29G9_Q_XCMKhm0_IB2ULH/view
- This is the AAP OS image that includes the Prolific controller device driver at v 2.3.2 (9.5.3).
download and unzip imageUSB from https://www.osforensics.com/downloads/imageusb.zip (instead of Win32 disk imager) to write the AAP OS image to a 32Gb micro SD flash drive.
- You don't need a 64Gb flash drive. Imageusb will handle a 32GB write. You can use a 64GB flash drive and it will work, but AAP only uses 32Gb as stamped in the original image and you will not see and wasted the additional 32Gb for additional fits image storage .
After the image is written to the 32Gb flash drive, you will see that are 333 items in the root of the BOOT drive. There are 3 folders and 330 data files. In the original OS flash drive, there are 3 folders and a couple of data files.
Insert the flash drive with new_airpro image and turn on the AAP.
- From your cellular phone or iPad, connect WIFI to the AAP. The WIFI network name (SSID) is "airpro_new" NOT the normal ASIAIRxxxxxx .
- Start ASIAIR app.
  - First, it will ask to update the firmware. As of now the AAP firmware is updated from 2.3.2(9.5.3) to 2.3.2(11.8.1)
  - Then, you will go through the "Authorization" process:
    - Change WIFI connection to your normal internet accessible SSID
    - get the QRCode from the ZWO server and store it in the Photo folder (allow the ASIAIR app to access the Photo album)
    - Change WIFI connection back to "airpro_new" SSID and
    - Activete the QRCode
- Now you are back to business and use AAP as normal. The AVX mount should be detected by AAP and you can turn on the AVX mount for use.

Clear sky and good luck!!