ASIAIR pro and clouds.

[Detec]

I was thinking of getting an ASIAIR pro to save leaving my laptop outside. I only need it for guiding, but I was wondering; If a cloud comes over and blocks the guiding star, what would the ASIAIR do. Would it erratically move my mount about looking for the star, or would it just stop working? Because I dont want to get anything broken. Would the same happen if I used PHD2 guiding with a laptop? Or would my mount still track but without any guiding?

Thanks Guys

[Crackabarrel]

I can't speak for the ASIAIR, but as far as PHD2 goes if a cloud blocks the guide star PHD will throw an error stating the star as lost and it will continue looping while looking for guide stars.

The mount wont move erratically, it will continue tracking normally in unguided mode, once PHD2 has found a guide star again the guiding will kick back in.

[Davey-T]

The ASIAIR uses a version of PHD2.

Dave

[johnst]

I am also interested in getting the ASIair pro so I'm keeping an eye on this thread, obviously I can't comment about what it can or cannot do but it's serious money so need to make the right  decision.

[Detec]

Thanks for the replies. I too think this is a lot of money, and from what I read from varius places, some people have had quite a lot of trouble with this device. I dont know if it is the way it is setup or bugs in the software. But I was hoping if I just use it for guiding it might be ok.

 

[Thorney]

I use the ASIair and as far as I’m aware when clouds roll in you’ll get a message to say guide star lost, the mount still tracks but unguided then when the asi can pick the guide star up again it will continue to guide.

I have no experience with imaging and guiding with a laptop as I haven’t been doing it long but I find the ASIair very easy to use. 

[Detec]

I just now read on the astrogeartoday website an article about the ASIAIR, but the one part that concerns me is

quote"Two-axis guiding on my German equatorial mounts, including the entry-level Sky-Watcher EQM-35, also worked well.  I encountered no issues with oscillations, runaway stars, or imprecise guiding — unless clouds moved in and the guide star disappeared. The app then proclaims “Star Lost,” in which case the autoguiding corrections can go wild, instead of just stopping."

"Going wild" are the words that are worrying me about this device. I dont think I would like my DSLR camera banging against a tripod leg.

Could this be the case?

[Jonny_H]

I have an ASIAir Pro and have been using it for a few months now.

I have to say I haven't had any real issues with mine *touch wood* other than the odd initial connection problem. But the built-in wifi isn't very good in terms of range.

Re: the star lost message - this is correct. This has only happened to me a couple of times and can't say the images were really impacted.

I do appreciate though that a number of people have complained about multiple issues with their units so maybe I was just lucky with mine....🤔

Thanks,

Jonny

[david_taurus83]

I wouldn't get an ASIAir just for guiding. It's designed to be used mainly with ZWO products and most* DSLRs. A cheaper option would be to get a Raspberry Pi and install Kstars and Ekos on that. This will work with any brand of astro products unlike the Air. Or if you can't be bothered with trying to learn the workings of Rasberry (Linux) get a cheap second hand laptop. Mount control and guiding really doesn't require much computer power at all.

[Detec]

I have just received my ASI120mm mini and guide scope. While I decide whether to get the ASIAIR or not I am going to try guiding with PHD2 and laptop. I was watching a video today on how to set it all up. The guy says to first polar align my mount and then slew to the target before I start guiding.

Does this mean polar align then "star align"? So that the mount is already tracking? When PHD2 starts to calibrate, will this hurt the mount if its already tracking my target?

If this guy means only polar align then slew to target I cant always see the target so how can I slew to it? I have to star align then Goto to the target normally.

This might seem a basic question to the seasoned pro's but I havent used PHD2 before.

[Davey-T]

Are you using the ASIAIR polar aligning routine ?

Dave

[Detec]

No I just polar align like I always have with my synscan.

 

[Davey-T]

Sorry misread your post,

Polar align first then if you're imaging something GoTo that, centre it with hand control and sync on it, same as one star align, then connect ASI120 to PHD and set it looping using 3 or 4 second exposures.

Choose a guide star and click on it and wait for it to calibrate when it should start guiding.

Dave

 

[Detec]

Thanks Dave. I was just a little worried that once the mount was already tracking something , then th phd2 moves the mount about a bit to calibrate, I thought it might confuse the mount?

So I will polar and star align, goto the target which is then being tracked by the mount. Then I will start PHD2.

Hope im understanding this correctly.

Chris

[Davey-T]

I generally don't bother with star aligning if I'm only imaging a single target, just GoTo target and sync on it then run PHD on a suitable star or you can let PHD pick one.

Dave

[Detec]

The targets I have captured in the past I couldnt see because of all the bad light polution. So I have to star align so the mount takes me there. Although I still cant see my target I trust the Goto function has positioned me correctly.  But I cant just goto a target until I star align.

 

Chris

[Davey-T]

If I can't see the target I sync on a nearby bright star then GoTo the target usually works ok.

Dave

Edited May 7, 2021 by Davey-T

[Detec]

I had my first attempt at guiding last night all be it only short before our local clouds arrived. I polar aligned, then star aligned. Started the guiding and it worked. I took 2 m 30secs images with my celestron C8 with no star trails, where previously 45 secs was the max I could get. Great.

The only thing I didnt manage to work out was how to set exposure and gain to get the best guiding picture I could.

Thanks Guys

[Detec]

When I'm guiding, should the power light on my HEQ5 pro mount be flashing on and off?

[powerlord]

just tap the guide icon at top to set exposure and gain.

I regularily just leave the thing all night so when I'm up at 7.30am it's been 4 hours or more since it last managed to see a guide star - it just keeps in sidereal mode - no biggy.

I've had my asiair about 3 weeks now, and I love it. I've used it with my DSLRs and my asi224 as main camera, and used my asi120 mini and the asi224 as the guide camera.

A tip - I use it with 3 different setups (eq5 with eqstarpro,az gti), and the eg5 i use with my ed72 and a big sw 200p.

to avoid faffing about changing settings each time and probably forgetting to reset something or other, I just made 3 cd card copies - and wrote on them what they are for.

So I just pop in the correct sd card for the session. means I often don't need to recalibrate guiding, and gains, and everything is all setup correct ready to roll.

Not a big saving, but in the dark at 1am.. easy to forget something, so if I can do anything to minimse the number of things I can forget to do, that's a win to me.

 

[iapa]

On 16/05/2021 at 19:03, Detec said:

When I'm guiding, should the power light on my HEQ5 pro mount be flashing on and off?

I don’t have any Starwatcher mounts, but, I would duffest a flashing power light is unusual.

What are you using to provide power to the mount? It feels like what you have is not enough. As I say, don’t have HEQ mounts, but after a few decades with electronics/tech …..

[Clarkey]

On 16/05/2021 at 19:03, Detec said:

When I'm guiding, should the power light on my HEQ5 pro mount be flashing on and off?

Probably power related but I believe on some of the skywatcher mounts power LED flashes while it is learning through a PEC routine. Could this be some thing to do with it?

[Detec]

I put a bigger battery in my power supply and it doesnt flash anymore.

Thanks Guys