Stellar Mate woe's withe the ASI120mm original

[sulaco]

Morning folks,

I recently switched to Ekos on the laptop for full control and it works brilliantly so after hovering between the ASIAIR Pro and Stellarmate in PI4 I felt the Stellarmate with a Pegasus PBA would be best......then came all the issues.

I haven't bought the PPBA yet just use a powered usb hub; I've set up all the software on the Mac and iPhone indifferent configurations to ensure sure it would connect outside and it worked well but when it comes to capturing the ASI120mm usb 2 will not capture anything and plate solving with with the ASI or DSLR just won't happen either just keep getting messages that the Plate solve was aborted.

The ASI120mm usb 2 works perfectly when connected direct top the laptop and shows connection on the mobile app but just won't work.

Has anyone got any tips or experience with this setup, I felt that the stellar mate would just work but no so.

Thanks

Campbell

[fozzybear]

Have had a look on the indilib forum about changing the firmware on the ASI120mm. I think it has been mentioned on here before as a problem with the ASI120MM and linux  @alacant i think raised this 

https://www.indilib.org/forum/ccds-dslrs/8807-asi-120-mm-usb-won-t-capture-anymore.html

and the files here drive.google.com/file/d/17SuwrJaj9T1uEG_...S-h/view?usp=sharing

Edited February 27, 2021 by fozzybear

[Stuart1971]

6 hours ago, sulaco said:

Morning folks,

I recently switched to Ekos on the laptop for full control and it works brilliantly so after hovering between the ASIAIR Pro and Stellarmate in PI4 I felt the Stellarmate with a Pegasus PBA would be best......then came all the issues.

I haven't bought the PPBA yet just use a powered usb hub; I've set up all the software on the Mac and iPhone indifferent configurations to ensure sure it would connect outside and it worked well but when it comes to capturing the ASI120mm usb 2 will not capture anything and plate solving with with the ASI or DSLR just won't happen either just keep getting messages that the Plate solve was aborted.

The ASI120mm usb 2 works perfectly when connected direct top the laptop and shows connection on the mobile app but just won't work.

Has anyone got any tips or experience with this setup, I felt that the stellar mate would just work but no so.

Thanks

Campbell

As @fozzybearhas already said there are known issues with ASI120 driver and camera, and it is also no longer supported by ASI or INdI, but there have been some people with more knowledge and skill than me that have hacked up a working camera, so unless you are up to date with Linux code, personally I would not bother...sell it and buy the USB 3 version, if you plan on sticking with Ekos, it’s really not worth the headache...👍🏼

Edited February 27, 2021 by Stuart1971

[alacant]

9 minutes ago, fozzybear said:

indilib forum

Hi

The firmware update is easy to do, takes only a minute or so and gives you a sensitive camera which works over both usb2 and usb3. Recommended.

Cheers

[fozzybear]

Just now, alacant said:

Hi

The firmware update is easy to do, takes only a minute or so and gives you a sensitive camera which works over both usb2 and usb3. Recommended.

Cheers

cheers you chipped in as did mine the same way 

[sulaco]

Thanks for the feedback, I've heard that there is a problem with the usb 2 version and the new usb 3 version is fine with Ekos and Linux but the original one works no problem if plugged directly into the laptop. It's just when using the PI4 with stellar mate, it can see the camera and connects but won't allow image capture. How do I go about flashing the camera, I've got a new driver that might work?

 

[fozzybear]

1 minute ago, sulaco said:

Thanks for the feedback, I've heard that there is a problem with the usb 2 version and the new usb 3 version is fine with Ekos and Linux but the original one works no problem if plugged directly into the laptop. It's just when using the PI4 with stellar mate, it can see the camera and connects but won't allow image capture. How do I go about flashing the camera, I've got a new driver that might work?

 

is your laptop a Mac  or PC windows. Just download the  link I provided to https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1eXBCN06Uz6pGdf-TDd_8ETVW5QRw9zSO and download the whole bin folder then extract and run the app under your OS concerned. If you have a Mac I am flying blind as do not have one.

[alacant]

50 minutes ago, fozzybear said:

12 minutes ago, sulaco said:

How do I go about flashing the camera

 

Download the firmware. There's a readme file in the same folder:

drive.google.com/file/d/17SuwrJaj9T1uEG_...S-h/view?usp=sharing

On a pi, choose the arm version. On your laptop, the x86 version. Don't forget to have your camera plugged into a usb2 port.

Cheers

 

[sulaco]

2 hours ago, fozzybear said:

is your laptop a Mac  or PC windows. Just download the  link I provided to https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1eXBCN06Uz6pGdf-TDd_8ETVW5QRw9zSO and download the whole bin folder then extract and run the app under your OS concerned. If you have a Mac I am flying blind as do not have one.

Thanks for the link, there doesn't seem to be a way of flashing the software. I can see the usbtool file but it won't launch on windows it just tries to find software that can open the file. ZWO also don't have the tool on their website anymore.

 

[fozzybear]

what os are you using?  windows?

 

[Stuart1971]

2 minutes ago, sulaco said:

Thanks for the link, there doesn't seem to be a way of flashing the software. I can see the usbtool file but it won't launch on windows it just tries to find software that can open the file. ZWO also don't have the tool on their website anymore.

 

Honestly just ditch it....it’s not worth the bother, as when there is an update for INdI, which is quite regular, it will probably break it all again, there are very few people that have a fully working ASI120 all the time...some do, but they are usually the Linux savy ones....👍🏼

[alacant]

15 minutes ago, sulaco said:

it won't launch on windows

It runs on Linux. Use your stellarmate;)

 

[sulaco]

2 hours ago, fozzybear said:

what os are you using?  windows?

 

Yep, using windows. Do all the 120mm/mc cameras have this problem such as the new mini version ? I want to stick with ekos as it’s miles better that flicking between several programs on windows and my hope is to reduce the set up time using the stellarmate. What other ASI cameras are more robust with indi? Or switch to the QHYL II

[Stuart1971]

38 minutes ago, sulaco said:

Yep, using windows. Do all the 120mm/mc cameras have this problem such as the new mini version ? I want to stick with ekos as it’s miles better that flicking between several programs on windows and my hope is to reduce the set up time using the stellarmate. What other ASI cameras are more robust with indi? Or switch to the QHYL II

The mini is ok as far as I know....👍🏼

[alacant]

11 hours ago, sulaco said:

using windows.

Your stellarmate runs Linux!

[sulaco]

If I flash the camera with the arm7 driver I’m assuming it might not work on windows anymore?

[alacant]

9 minutes ago, sulaco said:

arm7 driver

It's not an arm7 driver. It is software which runs under arm (or amd or intel or WHY)  to update the camers's firmware. It doesn't matter which version you use, you end up with a camera with the new firmware.

If you don't know how, your local astro club (or anyone running Linux) will be able to do the upgrade for you in a matter of minutes. 

Cheers.

Edited February 28, 2021 by alacant

[teoria_del_big_bang]

5 minutes ago, sulaco said:

If I flash the camera with the arm7 driver I’m assuming it might not work on windows anymore?

The drivers are on your laptop / computer / or RPi running the acquisition software  (Stellarmate)  so the software can communicate with the camera,  the camera needs flashing with firmware. 

Steve

 

[sulaco]

Nope, Can't seem to get this camera to work through the PI 4 with stellar mate, so it's being pushed into an All Sky camera on top of my workshop and I've bought a ZWO 120mm-S. Hopefully this should be good with this setup.

Thanks for the help and advice.

Campbell

[Stuart1971]

24 minutes ago, sulaco said:

Nope, Can't seem to get this camera to work through the PI 4 with stellar mate, so it's being pushed into an All Sky camera on top of my workshop and I've bought a ZWO 120mm-S. Hopefully this should be good with this setup.

Thanks for the help and advice.

Campbell

Good decision....👍🏼

[kamayok3]

No one seems want to check on the VL805 firmware. The latest VL805 eeprom firmware is one of the main culprit for this. I have my ASI120MC running fine on rpi4 4GB and 8GB board. 

Good luck.

[Paul M]

I tried running the firmware updater on my 120mm mini. It won't work on that camera.

I think that camera is much of the reason why Astroberry wouldn't behave for me. But that's history.

[TerryMcK]

On 28/02/2021 at 00:14, Stuart1971 said:

The mini is ok as far as I know....👍🏼

I can concur the 120MM mini is fine on Pi.

[fozzybear]

On 06/03/2021 at 07:04, kamayok3 said:

No one seems want to check on the VL805 firmware. The latest VL805 eeprom firmware is one of the main culprit for this. I have my ASI120MC running fine on rpi4 4GB and 8GB board. 

Good luck.

mine is at VL805 and works fine fore anyone interested Raspberry Pi 4: New Firmware Reduces Power Consumption and Board Temperatures | Geeks3D

Edited March 8, 2021 by fozzybear