ASIAIR v3.0 has been released!

Luxo

I don't know where ZWO think they're taking ASIAir, but there's nothing useful/relevant to me in version 3.

If you want your rig to work reliably and get on with imaging stay with 2.5.2.

What I am quite disappointed by is that there are MANY things users have requested here, and not a single one has been implemented. Most were practical, useful and sensible.

supertele

I had been using my remote telescope at SFRO without any issues, but after the latest update, I could no longer figure out how to reconnect to it.
For those of you who operate your equipment remotely, I'd recommend being a little more cautious before installing firmware or software updates. It's probably best to wait a while and make sure there are no unexpected issues before updating a remote system.

heyjp

supertele

I too have had good results running my remote scope at Starfront. Except for lack of local timezone support and no predictability of the CAA rotator (which are supposed to be fixed in v3.0.

I don’t use the “hidden” WiFi network approach for remote control. I setup a Tailscale vpn which has been working flawlessly accessing my remote scope and seems to be working with v3.

Jim in Boulder

supertele

How can I go back to the previous version?

Luxo

supertele
Reverting to earlier versions is covered in the missing manual.

magore

Just a comment on the state of feature priorities. It great to see some progress but you still can not do fundamental things like being able to search for a majority of the visible stars in the sky by name. Pick any constellation in the night sky and try to go to each star by name. Only a tiny tiny number exists in the catalog and this feature has been requested for years and years. (Why even have a suggestion page for catalog features if you don't even use it? ). How about being able to do an all sky polar align for any quadrant of the sky or hemisphere and also without fear of crossing the meridian all when the basic mathematics are so trivial?. These are truly basic function and far far more important then many of the features that are being worked on. I own lots of zwo hardware - two asiairs, two cooled cameras, two guider cameras, a planetary camera, two filter wheels, two focusers, and am5 and tc40. Yet I have been forced to buy a mini pc and dive into nina just to be able do fundamentally basic tasks like this. You have great products! But please spend some more time on basic usability features first. Sorry for my rant. Thanks for listening

SKG95T28

magore I understand you! I just receave my ASIAIR Plus, I havent use it outside whit my telescope and I allready aide it! The SeeStar S50 it's much better to use. Exemple : No video timelapse in video for the sun in ASIAIR. The interface is very hard to use in general (not user frandly at all).
I look to lurn to use N.I.N.A. and buy a mini PC. An application for cell Android (not IOs) just begin to control the N.I.N.A. but not completly (to follow...).

magore

I have been imagining the Sadr region tonight and it's going well without issue meridian flip and guiding is working well.

Larry.Cable

Luxo tried a variety of the tools you suggest to access/reinstall prior versions of ASIAir; iMazing "isnt", and ipatool would be great (to reinstall on mac silicon) if logging in using it actually resulted in a 2FA code being generated - just FYI.

🙁...

caracol_uk

Moontanner I use the iOS version of the app on my phone and the Android version on my laptop using Bluestacks. The options I mentioned are shown in both, but they are on the "information" page, right down at the bottom underneath the experimental features. I'm not at home at the moment so can't check the version of firmware on my ASIAir, though it did update the firmware after I connected. Is it possible that you have the automatic update option turned off on your ASIAir and the firmware has not yet been updated, only the app?

Moontanner

caracol_uk
Interesting. I've definitely updated the firmware after installing the 3.0 app and even went back to the last beta build to see if I'd missed them there.
The firmware actually rolled back to 1439 vs 1442 from the last beta I tested last night. The higher version had the extra CAA tab with a Flat Panel section which has vanished now.

I guess I'll give it a couple of days and check back to see if you get an answer from ZWO.
Thanks for the info.

caracol_uk

Moontanner I'm home now and have just checked mine. Looks like we're both running the same version. I'm using the ASIAir Plus, in case that makes a difference.

Moontanner

caracol_uk
Thanks. I'm running the update on an ASIAIR Plus also.
Maybe you snagged a slightly different download when first released, or the rest of my equipment means I don't get those options.

It's interesting that ZWO hasn't mentioned anything yet.

Luxo

Moontanner

If you look closely there are two versions - ZWO has released 3.0.0 (14.39) so all users with auto update on will get that, while the beta has been moved on to 3.1_0727 (14.42) - which has the two CAA tabs.

"RA Axis Rotation Distance" is interesting, from theory 60 or 90 degrees should work really well compared to the default value.

"AF Test" and "Snap mode"... no idea what those do - possibly for DSLRs - but I guess someone will find out.

"Turn off mount meridian limits" is a disaster waiting to happen, though I can understand why some might want it eg. fork mounts (no flip) or imaging circumpolar objects from a high latitude.

Green

And it’s a piece of shit !!,, 2 hours trying to do what I did before the upgrade on a rare clear night…..
PISSED OFF DOESNT START TONDESCRIBE MY FRUSTRATION… I knew I should t upgrade and in a moment of stupidity did

Moontanner

Luxo
Yep. I was testing the 3.1 beta when they released the official 3.0. Aside from a slight guide calibration glitch, it nailed a whole plan and seemed to upload images much faster.
ZWO responded to my bug report straight away and said to roll back to 3.0 official.

I'm interested to know if anyone else has the extra options on the About screen? This is the only mention of them I've heard so far.
The Play store 3.0 download is also smaller than the same download through the ZWO site, but I still don't get those options with either version.

"Turn off GoTo Auto-Centre" Sounds like it was designed with you in mind, Luxo. It sounds like a handy feature for when the goto auto centre routine doesn't work, but your mount knows exactly where it's pointing.

caracol_uk

Luxo "RA Axis Rotation Distance" could be very useful indeed if that relates to the polar alignment process. From my observatory I only have a view of the pole star with the mount positioned with the counterweight down. After the 60 degree anti-clockwise rotating the pole star is obstructed by the observatory roof. I currently get around that by starting the PA process with the mount rotated clockwise by 60 degrees.

As for "Turn off mount meridian limits", I agree, that would have to be used very cautiously. Personally, it could be quite useful as my Losmandy G811 can image about 2 hours past the meridian with the pier extension. As I usually start imaging a couple of hours before the meridian, that would often mean I could avoid a meridian flip entirely.

R0k9pZfT

Annoying bug already. I never go into the focus menu, but today I did. After using it and the zoom option, the zoom button won't go away in Preview. If you tap it, the background image goes away and nothing else happens. Bug report submitted.

Luxo

Your Losmandy mount is safe - it has slip clutches. Mine does not and if there’s a collision it’s going to break something expensive - the camera + focuser or the mount. Either way that’s $4k - $5k to fix.

I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion I won’t let version 3 near my rig, ever. Maybe it’s ok for small rigs that are easily replaced and you accept it’s disposable, but mine is not.

I’ve been bitten before and is simply not worth the pain.

I don’t like the direction ZWO are going with version 3 so it looks like time to switch to a PC + NiINA.

caracol_uk

Luxo I must admit that I've only recently switched to using the ASIAir Plus on my rigs after using SGPro on an old PC for the last 17 years. After I got that working reliably I never updated it unless I had to in order to support a new camera. Once you lose a night of imaging because of a recent software upgrade you soon learn to be cautious about updates. I had to upgrade the PC because it was getting old and unreliable and I'd already been using an ASIAir Plus on my portable rig, so it made sense to use one in the observatory too. I haven't given v3.0 a proper test yet, but if I do have any issues I think I'll just revert back to the previous version of firmware. Probably best to set up an hour earlier my next time out, just in case!

Dsqh3WbQ

Luxo Fear not, skywatcher synlink is coming. Who knows what it's UI will be like, but the hardware features it has is probably what many wish the asiair had. I had Ben contemplating another air for a new rig I am building but with what the air seems to be going for at this point, I'll hold of and see what the synlink turns out to be about, and consider diving in to learn what NINA is about when I break out the old minipc.

Larry.Cable

Luxo try PINS + Touch n' Stars - moving to Windows you are only trading frustrations with ZWO to MSFT

7u684p10

PMTeam@ZWO

Horrible update.. completely broke all of my devices. I cannot connect to any of my asiairs. I invested in 8 zwo cameras, 6 asiairs and locked into your ecosystem, but you do not make a major update into a smooth transition for us.

None of my asiairs connect, my phone sees the boxes and then fails to connect. And why can't we just opt out of this? Because you want us to pay for a subscription? Ive spent thousands on zwo gear and refuse to spend a penny on a subscription especially after this experience. Thank you for ruining a good night of astrophotography..

Luxo

7u684p10

1 - turn off automatic updates on your device
2 - roll back to 2.5.2 - the details are in the missing manual

I won’t be using version 3 that’s pretty clear, ever, so I guess 2.5.2 is the end of the road for ASIair for me.

Won’t accept a subscription to use my gear or a company putting themselves in the loop - that’s unacceptable security-wise - and I won’t tolerate the risk of meridian limits being disabled - ever.

If their software quality was high it might be different, but it isn’t. Their software quality is so poor I do not trust them to not introduce a fatal bug - with potentially catastrophic consequences for the rig. - there are many examples over the years since 2018.

They keep breaking stuff that worked fine, they introduce features nobody asked for, and have never addressed any of the things users have asked or for years.

Time to look elsewhere.

PMTeam@ZWO

7u684p10 Hi, We’re sorry for the inconvenience this has caused.

Could you please try uninstalling and reinstalling the app? If the issue still persists, could you record a screen video and send it to me? We’ll continue to follow up on your issue until it’s resolved. You can reach me at: tianfeng.chen@zwoastro.com

Thank you for your feedback!