Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox Advanced and ASI Camera USB Troubles

[Buzzard75]

TIP: Do not use the one powered USB3 slot on a Pocket Powerbox Advanced for your imaging camera if you have anything else plugged into the camera.

Ask me how I know.

I just received my Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox Advanced yesterday that I've had on order for four months now. I installed all the software as required by the instructions. Just to test it out, I pulled my scope off the shelf and plugged my ASI183MM Pro camera into the PPBA and then plugged the PPBA into my computer. I connected my computer to the PPBA and then launched APT. My camera was recognized, however, the EFW and the focus motor that are plugged into the camera were not. They didn't show up in the Devices Manager on my PC so I could not select the COM port they were on to connect to them. I disconnected them from the camera and plugged them into the PPBA. My PC then recognized them and assigned them a COM port. I plugged them back into the camera and then plugged the camera directly into my PC and it also recognized them as it usually does. Now, I only have four ports on the PPBA. If I can't use the USB ports on the camera then I would really need five on the PPBA for imaging camera, filter wheel, focus motor, guide camera and mount. I could make it work with four though, since I have a spare USB port on my mini PC, but that's not the point and not ideal. Something told me the problem was with the PPBA, but I didn't know what at the time.

Fast forward to today and I decided to do a bit of troubleshooting as I had been thinking about it all day. I had originally plugged my camera into the one USB3 port on the PPBA that does not accept USB2 devices. That same port also supplies 3A power for devices like Raspberry Pi's. I switched the camera cable from that port to another one of the USB3/2 inputs and it recognized the camera, the filter wheel and the focus motor. I don't understand why it doesn't work on that one powered port, but it just doesn't. Something to keep in mind if you're a new owner of the Pocket Powerbox Advanced.

 

 

[johnoelliott]

It mentions on the website that the 1 USB3 port won't work with USB2 devices.

[Buzzard75]

19 hours ago, johnoelliott said:

It mentions on the website that the 1 USB3 port won't work with USB2 devices.

Understand. My ASI183MM Pro is a USB3 device though. The filter wheel and focus motor are not. But I don't know that it would make a difference. Perhaps it does.

Edited June 25, 2020 by Buzzard75

[johnoelliott]

Yes, but the EFW and Focuser are USB2.

The first port is for USB 3 devices only, the other 3 are USB3 or USB2

[david_taurus83]

It appears that actual port is USB3 traffic only. The others are backwards compatible with with USB2.

 

[Buzzard75]

53 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

It appears that actual port is USB3 traffic only. The others are backwards compatible with with USB2.

 

Thanks! I'm not a computer science engineer so I won't pretend to understand why a USB2 device plugged into a USB3 device plugged into a USB3 port doesn't work. In my eyes the camera is handling the USB2 traffic and transferring it over USB3. Again, not a computer science engineer. I do know that is a VERY new note though. The labeling on the diagram about USB3 devices only was there, but the "Important Note" with the blue bar had to have been added within the last couple of days. I'm guessing some other people with particular cameras were having some issues that they hadn't tested for.