ASIAIR User Feedback: Page 9

ASIAIR User Feedback

elpajare

gbellman I use Asiair Pro with an ASI294MC and connect with Wifi without any problem. In the documents section of the Zwo website there is a small manual to be able to connect Asiair Pro with Wifi. If you follow it to the letter you will be able to connect too.

gbellman

elpajare

By complete accident I figured out what the issue is...nothing to do with Wi-Fi range or connectivity. ASIAir would always lockup as soon as I stared Autorun sequence. Connection loss and difficulty reconnecting was also a symptom.

Maybe this can help someone else in the future. I was using and extremely large thumb drive (1T) which seemed to work fine for a month or so but something changed. I used a different thumb drive and all the problems disappeared instantly. I checked file system for the thumb drive and the drive that came with the ASIAir and my drive are the same so the only issue I could see was the size of the drive. If someone has some insight on the size or issue that would be great for others.

Good news my ASIAir Pro is now 100% functional!

Gregg

Markus

Tracking really improved with the last version. My impression is AAP it runs more stable as before, had no problems with polar alignment anymore (CEM70). Grabbing with Zwo120 mini as guiding or main cam works without problems after using the 0.001s exposure trick (this should be fixed!). Now you need only to support Nikon D780 (please ZWO put it into next release) and I would be absolutely happy with AAP.

sunshinestars

country: USA
mobile device: Samsung Galaxy A7
mount: Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro, Synscan v 04.37.
guide camera: Asi 120MM mini
camera: ASI183MC Pro

ASiAIR Pro

I believe there exist a compatibility issue between my ASIAIR Pro and my EQ6-R Pro. I can not get the RA to sync up between the two. It is not a DST issue. The RA disagreement can be as much as 8 - 12 hours. I have tied every possible startup sequence but as soon as I use a go-to control from the ASiAIR all hell breaks loose.

I am using the following settings on the telescope settings page ;

Sky scan, 9600 Baud. connected to mount via RS-292 cable (this older version of the EQ6-R Pro does not have the port.

Interestingly the ASiAIR can do everything (camera control, guiding and even PA) but when I connect to the mount and sync to the tablet and attempt a go-to control from the ASiAIR the scope slews to a position many hours and degrees off the intended target.

For now, I simply power up everything and conduct a 2 star alignment from the hand controller. Strangely it will do a plate solve & PA (shows mount moving on the tablet screen but the mount is not physically moving.) After following the adjustemnt instructions my PA is dead on. Now with PA and good star alignment I turn on the mount connection to the ASIAIR. As long as I use only the hand controller for my go-to commands I'm in business and the rest of the ASIAIR features work fine.

Is the bug in my mount, the ASiAIR Pro, the tablet or in my brain?

PMTeam@ZWO

sunshinestars Hi, you can try using eqmod connection.

sunshinestars

Will do. Just got the cable. Now I need a clear night. Florida in the summer is our winter

balimester

I first assembled my camera, efw and AAP yesterday, just gave it a dry run, check out everything works, etc.

I noticed this chequered pattern happening when I'm doing the preview. It is only visible on the jpg file, that the AAP saves onto my phone (not the thumbnail one on the thumb drive; the one saved onto my phone when I tap the download button in the bottom right corner of the app), but also, this is how I see it in the preview.
The FITS file on the thumb drive doesn't show anything like this, but it is still annoying to see my pics like this.

Details:

ASI-294MM Pro (it is indeed the mono version, so this should not be a debayer issue)
AAP (latest non-beta firmware
Astronomik 31mm L2 filter
Samsung Galaxy S21
No mount used for this run
United Kingdom

Gain 120 (medium)
Offset - well whatever goes with this, didn't see offset setting in the Asiair app
30 sec exposure
Cooled to 0C (although I noticed it doesn't matter)
Autostretched by AAP.

Tried with different gain, exposure settings, same outcome. The jpg pic (the dark frame itself) has a bit of enhanced contrast to make the issue more visible. But you can see it on the screenshot too. Also visible in the app when zooming in, have a video of it in a ticket I submitted, so it is not a magnification issue.

One pic, without the pattern was done with ASI Studio, same expo details, the file is the autostretched jpg saved onto my computer by ASI Studio (I think it looks alright, please someone say it does, so I can calm down a bit.

The last one is the same as the chequered jpg, only the FITS version of it, saved on my PC from the flash drive, stretched in PI.

Blaine Korcel in the ZWO Asiair Facebook group was kind enough to try and help, but we didn't get a solution.

Not just it is annyoing to see, but makes hard to manually focus with a bathinov mask.

PMTeam@ZWO

balimester Jpg is the compression format. The compression rate of our air is constant, which may cause this problem. It's normal.

balimester

@asiair@zwo#47180 thanks.
Does that explain though why does it look like this in the preview in the app when shooting, not just the saved jpg? I care more about the view in the app, rather than the saved jpg.
I've seen quite a few screenshots from other users of their Asiair app, never seen something like this. (My light frames look like this also).
Also it is a little bit disturbing when trying to set focus manually.

WalterT

balimester My 294M Pro looks like this for me too on my AAP. Very annoying.

sapper4484

Very happy with 1.6.

Couple of requests:
Ability to use focus tool on tracker scope without having to make it the primary.
Subs saved in subfolders by date.

Mdopp

I am having tremendous problems with the autorun function since I upgraded to 1.6.
Basically, the AsiAir will not go through with the preprogrammed sequence but rather stop somewhere in the middle for totally unknown reasons.
On two nights, I had programmed two groups but the AsiAir stopped after the first one and never started the second. Last night, I had one group with 30 shots. The AsiAir stopped after 15 shots and that was it.
In all three cases, the box did not crash, it simply stopped shooting.
That is very disappointing as I lost valuable clear sky time.
Is there anyone else with this problem?

WalterT

Mdopp Yes! That happened to me a couple nights ago. I set up four sequences (L-R-G-B), started the Autorun, and went to bed after a couple subs were done. The next morning the telescope was at the home position and AAP turned off as expected, but when I opened my usb drive I found it had only taken 7 L subs and that was it, it didn’t even finish the L sequence.

sonofstan

Mdopp I had the same problem on my last session...when I went to view the files from my 2nd and final target, there were way less files than I expected. For some reason, it stopped shooting for 1h 20m, and then started back up as the sun was rising, so I lost most of the usable time on my 2nd target. Tonight, I spent 2 hours trying to get it working, PA worked fine, autofocus worked fine, but then when I tried to start guiding, East/West went normal, and then when the AAP sent North guide pulses for calibration, it started moving in the East direction again. Everything was working fine until this last update. I'm am becoming very disappointed with the AAP. ZWO needs to give us a way to access older versions of the mobile app, so that when they break stuff with their updates, we have a way to roll back to a working version. The mini PC option is becoming more attractive every time I use the AAP these days. To ZWO: If you aren't going to give us a way to roll back the software, then you need to start doing a better job of testing the software before you roll out the app updates!

w7ay

WalterT when I opened my usb drive I found it had only taken 7 L subs and that was it, it didn’t even finish the L sequence.

Walter, if you have not erased any of the logs yet, you might be able to still see its image capture sequence. Tap on the "AutoRun log" in Storage Settings. Just for the heck of it, check both the Udisk and the sd card. The Autorun log might tell the story.

Chen

Mdopp

Walter, did you use the original USB stick that came with the ASI Air or a different and possibly larger one?
I was using a 128 GB SanDisk USB/SSD-stick. Now I am thinking that this stick may have drawn too much power possibly resulting in unstable operation of the Raspberry Pi. On the next clear night, I will try the original stick and see if that helps.

WalterT

You know what we might have the exact same thumb drive. And my drive always gets really hot when it’s plugged in regardless of what’s going on with it even if there is nothing being read or written to it.

SanDisk 128GB Ultra Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive - SDCZ430-128G-G46 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07855LJ99/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_KEJN03QE5R4ZJJ2FE26F

WalterT

w7ay Chen, I think you found the culprit. Recently, after updating from v1.5 I'm not sure at which point, the ASIAIR developed this habit of disconnecting my camera. Reading the log from that night it seems that the camera was disconnected when my "L" sequence was done and then immediately reconnected but it didn't continue with the rest of the Autorun plan:

Log enabled at 2021/06/17 01:45:36
2021/06/17 01:45:36 [Autorun|Begin] C11 Start
2021/06/17 01:45:36 Target RA:23h21m49s DEC:+61°19'54"
2021/06/17 01:45:36 Shooting 5 light frames, exposure 300s Bin2
2021/06/17 01:45:36 Exposure 300S image 1#
2021/06/17 01:50:37 Exposure 300S image 2#
2021/06/17 01:55:38 Exposure 300S image 3#
2021/06/17 02:00:39 Exposure 300S image 4#
2021/06/17 02:05:40 Exposure 300S image 5#
2021/06/17 02:06:56 "ZWO ASI294MM Pro" is Disconnected
2021/06/17 02:06:56 "ZWO ASI294MM Pro" is Connected
2021/06/17 02:06:56 [Autorun|End] Pause Autorun
2021/06/17 02:07:08 Mount GoTo Home POS
2021/06/17 02:07:08 Shutdown ASIAIR
Log disabled at 2021/06/17 02:07:08

I am certain that I had the rest of the filter sequences enabled, because they are still checked as I left them that night. I have not added components or changed my configuration so the power requirements on the system are the same as they were before. I set the cooling to -10C and it typically achieves that with between 60-80% cooling power. So now I have another ASIAIR quirk to solve.

w7ay

WalterT 2021/06/17 02:06:56 "ZWO ASI294MM Pro" is Disconnected

OK, it looks like the root cause may be a camera problem, and not an automation problem, Walter.

(Debugging is often a matter of finding what is not wrong -- binary chopping -- until you are left wth what is wrong. :-)

Downloading an image is pretty stressful on the power supply. Perhaps you can check to make sure the power supply to the ASIAIR is in good order (voltage does not sag when more current is drawn -- could just be I-R losses from a corroding connector pin).

And of course it could be corroding pins in the USB connectors too. Make sure you get USB cables with documented wire gauge. They often come with 24 AWG or 28 AWG wires. Find one that at least has 22 AWG for the power pair in the USB cable. Use as short a USB cable as you need. Don't use a 2 meter cable when all you need is 0.5 meter to reach the camera.

I assume that you also have power connected directly to the camera, right? I would highly recommend not using any one of the ASIAIR's DC output ports; I leave mine all alone, and distribute power using independent power hubs -- main distribution using PowerPole hubs and sub-distribution using a 5.5mm/2.1mm DC hub from deepskydad. I use ASIAIR hardware as minimally as possible, just for what it is primarily intended for.

If the problem only happens indoors, and outdoors during the night, it may be loose connectors from the different camera orientation. Strain relief your cables; since the connectors on ZWO cameras are really poor. I can post come images of how I strain relieved my camera connectors, if you are curious.

Chen

w7ay

WalterT

Hmmm, I just noticed there is a time gap of 76 seconds between the "300 second exposure" message and the Disconnect message. So it is not during downloading. I would check for loose connector and strain relief that I mention in my last message.

Another curious thing is that it reconnected immediately. So, it is a short glitch somewhere. And probably not an ASIAIR software glitch since the ASIAIR is doing pretty much nothing stressful while an exposure is taking place.

Chen

w7ay

WalterT

Walter, here is how I strain relieved my main camera:

A small metal bracket (with some rebending) is glued to the USB3 Type B connector and it is screwed to a nylon standoff (black). The Nylon standoff is then tied to the body of the camera with a velcro strip -- I had orginally planned on gluing the standoff to the body of the camera, but so far, this has worked well enough.

Both USB and power cables are doubles back and held to the body of the camera with that same velcro strip.

My guide camera is strain relieved this way:

This time, two nylon standoffs are glued to the USB3 Type B connector (using Bondic UV curing glue). My original plan is to then attach a flat plate to the back of the camera and to the two stand offs. But so far, the two standoffs already provide good suppost to keep the USB connector from wiggling side by side, so I have not felt the need of the support plate yet.

You can start with just using Gaffer tape profusely to see if that helps; like what I did some time ago to trace my problem:

You can see how the cables are looped back and tied to the camera body. Never let a cable just hang by its connector.

Chen

WalterT

w7ay Thanks Chen, the power supply may be the weak link in the chain since. Although, this has only happened to me at home in my backyard, for which I just use an extension cord connected to a AC→12VDC5.0A→ASIAIR→Everything. I will use a second power converter dedicated only to the camera next time I take my unit out and see if that cures it. As for the USB cables, I have gone out of my way to order cables as close to the minimum length needed as possible but have no clue what gage wires are in them, I will have to see if the vendor provides any info on that.

ps. I would definitely like to see how to strain relieve your cables when you have a chance. Thanks for the tips.

ASIAIR is doing pretty much nothing stressful

Agreed, at that point it should have switched the filter and initiated the AF routine.

w7ay

WalterT AC→12VDC5.0A→ASIAIR→Everything

Oh yeah, that may be the problem.

I use a PowerWerx 30A supply (25 amp continuous) from inside the house, using 12 AWG cable. And for critical things like my mount (which is happiest with between 15 and 16 volts), I add a buck/boost converter located at the base of my tri-pier.

If you use a separate power supply just for the camera, make sure there is a short ground strap between your camera and the ASIAIR. This will prevent return (power) currents from passing through the USB cable. Otherwise, you may generate more problem than you are trying to solve.

Chen

WalterT

w7ay Thanks Chen. I will definitely try to do something like this as my usb connectors are not as “snug” as they were when they were new and they definitely wiggle in their socket, specially on the ASIAIR end.

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