FIXED - HELP - Can't get my EQ8-R to connect to the ASI Air Pro

[Catanonia]

Just got my EQ8-R mount and it is a beast

But I cannot for the life of me get my EQ8-R mount to connect to my ASI Air Pro

• The mount operates fine on its own
• I am not using the hand controller and it is not plugged in (makes no difference when I test it connected)
• I am using a Printer USB cable (square white end to normal USB) from the square USB port on the mount just above the main power to the ASI Air Pro USB slot.
• I have tried in ASI Air Pro to use EQMod Baud 115200 as recommended (and others) and NADA, ASI constantly says nothing attached
• I have tried 2 cables, same result
• I have checked and on the latest EQ8 SynScan and ASI Air firmware

 

I know you can connect the ASI Air Pro via USB to the EQ8-R, but for the life of me I cannot get it to work after trying all combinations

Do I need a special EQMod cable or am I using the wrong EQMod option in the ASI Air ?

 

 

Edited January 28, 2022 by Catanonia

[Catanonia]

Trying this fix - Apparently ZWO have a special OS firmware build with the newer drivers for serial / USB in them

https://bbs.astronomy-imaging-camera.com/d/12655-how-to-connect-the-new-sky-watcher-eq6-r-pro-to-asiair/31

Fingers crossed

[Tomatobro]

I removed my EQ6-r off the pier and put the EQ8-r on and connected it up the NUC using the same FTDI cable I used on the 6r. EQmod worked without any issues in that it did not know that the mount had changed.  I would guess that the ASIair would not know that the mount is a 6r or 8r based on that so reading the link you attached it should work ok.

[Catanonia]

YES YES YES !!!!

Now works with the "special" image from ZWO for the ASI Air Pro.

This changes the base OS and drivers, then the update updates the actual software.

So now with a single standard USB cable I can control the mount without hand controller and have all the ASI Air Pro features

HAPPY BUNNY

[Catanonia]

16 minutes ago, Tomatobro said:

I removed my EQ6-r off the pier and put the EQ8-r on and connected it up the NUC using the same FTDI cable I used on the 6r. EQmod worked without any issues in that it did not know that the mount had changed.  I would guess that the ASIair would not know that the mount is a 6r or 8r based on that so reading the link you attached it should work ok.

SkyWatcher changed the USB / Serial hardware in the middle of last year and the ZWO ASI Air Pro base OS does not have the correct drivers. Using the image I posted sorted this out

[StevieDvd]

The problem with 'some' of the newer SW mounts with onboard usb port is that the driver needed is different on some production models. Not such a problem on Windows as the  driver is easy to update. On Linux the driver is part of the kernel and an rpi-update command can resolve this. So a user with a self installed Linux where they have access to the command line can do this, but the ASIair is restricted.

Either use a reliable eqmod cable, download the image file for the ZWO modded OS or if you are a techie add ssh to the ASIair as per Github instructions and update the kernel.

Update

OP has found the link to modded image file and used that.

Edited January 28, 2022 by StevieDvd
updated as the OP has resolved.

[Catanonia]

2 minutes ago, StevieDvd said:

The problem with 'some' of the newer SW mounts with onboard usb port is that the driver needed is different on some production models. Not such a problem on Windows as the  driver is easy to update. On Linux the driver is part of the kernel and an rpi-update command can resolve this. So a user with a self installed Linux where they have access to the command line can do this, but the ASIair is restricted.

Either use a reliable eqmod cable, download the image file for the ZWO modded OS or if you are a techie add ssh to the ASIair as per Github instructions and update the kernel.

I used the new "special" firmware and working perfectly now.

Thanks

[Clarkey]

4 hours ago, Catanonia said:

But I cannot for the life of me get my EQ8-R mount to connect to my ASI Air Pro

Serves you right for the 6 months of cloud....🤣

Just kidding. Glad it is resolved.