ZWO Seestar 50

[AstroTin]

Afternoon star gazers.

First time posting so I'm sorry if this has been mentioned but as far as I've read my problem doesn't seem to have been.

My seestar updated on the weekend and since then it won't let me view saved images on the seestar nor will it let me manually stack,when I attempt either of these it seems to go back to the main screen and for a split second I can see that it's reconnecting so I'm suspecting that it's disconnecting during the process (which it didn't do before the update).

Using Samsung fold 3 too incase it's a phone issue. 

Anyway just thought I'd share.

Edited June 13 by AstroTin

[happy-kat]

The google Playstore when viewing the app mentions under 'about this app' says requires Android 8.0 and up

[Geoff Lister]

38 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

The google Playstore when viewing the app mentions under 'about this app' says requires Android 8.0 and up

It would be nice if this information was obvious on the ZWO web site, perhaps somewhere in the specifications sections and in the manual. Pages 9 & 10 discuss how to obtain the app from Google or Apple, but no mention of required Android or IOS minimum versions. The ZWO site also has the latest app file available to download (from Google or Apple servers) in the "Mobile APP" section, but again, no mention of Android/IOS versions.

At least, my old Samsung tablet (Android V7) runs my Dwarf 2.

Geoff

[AstroTin]

The problem doesn't seem to be the android version.... for me at least as it worked flawlessly before the update,unless the updates changed this.

[Neil H]

I just had alert on my phone for seestar update so not going to do it , my phone is on 1.19  but my tablet is one behind that , I thought they would had been the same ?

[M40]

Hello @AstroTin and welcome to the site. There certainly seems to be a few challenges with the latest updates so I suppose the way forward is to spot any common points first. What app version, seestar release and android version are you on? Are you on station mode?

I cant help with any clues on manual stacking, I just let it do it's thing and use the image in the phone gallery so hopefully someone will jump in here.

Edited June 13 by M40

[M40]

1 hour ago, Neil H said:

I just had alert on my phone for seestar update so not going to do it , my phone is on 1.19  but my tablet is one behind that , I thought they would had been the same ?

The wonders of modern science Neil 😄 I only have the app on the phone so at least I have avoided one challenge 

[Appiantiqua]

As i say before i  managed to update the app using a friend's Apple tablet...

Yesterday evening I was able to have a very good session with a clear sky.
What is certain is that there are many faults in the current update and ZWO has announced that they will remedy them as soon as possible.
I sent them an email to invite them in the future to leave the one or two previous versions of firmware available to prevent such situations from happening again and to give users the possibility of reloading an earlier edition.

I invite everyone world to join this request to encourage them to move in this direction.

[trailer]

The sun this afternoon. A rare visitor to these parts recently.

This was from a 20 second AVI stacked and with an ND1000000 filter on the Seestar. I believe the lower two sunspots are named AR3712 and AR3713.

Edited June 19 by trailer

[paulastro]

Has this hapoened to anyone else with a Sestar?

Last night I was out from 00.00 to 3am, taking about twenty exposures.  When I had finished I looked at my Gallery to have a quick review, and none of them appeared  I  the folder they always sent to.  Couldne see them anywhere else either.

When I checked 'My Album' on the Seestar, thankfully they were all there.

Can anyone suggest a reason why it should have stopped sending the copies to the usual file on my phone?  I've never changed any settings as far as I know.

An hour before I went out I had downloaded a Samsung software update - ironically because they had scheduled the update for 2am when I knew I would be using  the Seestar and didn't want it to mess up the session!

The functions of the Seestar had not changed and the session went well, though I have noticed the update has changed the interface of the imaging manipulation software for the phone's camera.

Here are three of my pics from the night. Not too bad for a nearly full Moon with a limiting magnitude of between 3 and 4.  I wish my telescope could show M22 as well. It never rises above 12 degrees altitude up here so it's rare to have a decent view of it.

 

 

[StevieDvd]

I seem to recall that some Android users needed to give permission for the app to save on the phone. Perhaps the phone upgrade reset permissions.

[paulastro]

2 hours ago, StevieDvd said:

I seem to recall that some Android users needed to give permission for the app to save on the phone. Perhaps the phone upgrade reset permissions.

Many thanks Stevie.  I'll check this out.  It would be great if you're right.  I dont recall if I had to give permission for this purpose. 🤔  Thanks again.

[Geoff Lister]

18 hours ago, paulastro said:

Has this hapoened to anyone else with a Sestar?

Last night I was out from 00.00 to 3am, taking about twenty exposures.  When I had finished I looked at my Gallery to have a quick review, and none of them appeared  I  the folder they always sent to.  Couldne see them anywhere else either.

When I checked 'My Album' on the Seestar, thankfully they were all there.

Can anyone suggest a reason why it should have stopped sending the copies to the usual file on my phone?  I've never changed any settings as far as I know.

It looks as though you were experiencing problems similar to those I identified in the "UPDATE" section of my posting on 13th June.

I have just looked at the Seestar app in the Google App Store, and it is showing the release date of 20th June, with "What's New" of (1) Fixed some users get stuck in Seestar Album, (2) Fixed some users Firmware cycle update issue, and (3) Fixed stargazing JPGs not save in Phone Album.

Geoff

[paulastro]

1 hour ago, Geoff Lister said:

It looks as though you were experiencing problems similar to those I identified in the "UPDATE" section of my posting on 13th June.

I have just looked at the Seestar app in the Google App Store, and it is showing the release date of 20th June, with "What's New" of (1) Fixed some users get stuck in Seestar Album, (2) Fixed some users Firmware cycle update issue, and (3) Fixed stargazing JPGs not save in Phone Album.

Geoff

Thanks Geoff. Excuse my ignorance, but are you saying these faults are supposed to be  sorted out now?  If it's not fixed when I try it out again, what do I need to do?

[trailer]

These are the latest update revisions I believe…..
 

Edited Friday at 10:59 by trailer

[AstroTin]

I can confirm that the update has fixed all of the issues with the seestar s50 that I had phew.

[Appiantiqua]

No automatic update for me... I live in France... maybe I should wait or do you think I should uninstall then reinstall the app? Thank you in advance for your help

[AstroTin]

I checked the play store and the app had an update which in turn sent an update to the seestar.

All I can suggest is to keep checking ,sorry that's not much help.

[DaveL59]

or download it direct from the XWO site, you'd probably need to turn on developer mode depending which device it is.

[paulastro]

1 hour ago, Appiantiqua said:

No automatic update for me... I live in France... maybe I should wait or do you think I should uninstall then reinstall the app? Thank you in advance for your help

I went to the Play Store and went to the Seestar App and it had an update banner. I downloaded it and installed it on my phone.  Then set up the Seestar which then prompted me to install the update in the normal way.

I last used the Seestar on 19th at which time it didnt  prompt me, so presumably it wasn't available at that time.

[Appiantiqua]

Thanks to all of you! I just solved this problem. In fact, I first deactivated automatic updating on Google Play and I must therefore do it secondly, which will allow me to wait before the next changes to be certain that there are no bugs.

The system ask me to use the reset button and now it seems that all work fine.

[Geoff Lister]

On 21/06/2024 at 08:13, paulastro said:

are you saying these faults are supposed to be  sorted out now?

This morning, my Seestar app was still showing V1.20.0, and when I tried to connect to the S50 I kept getting connection failure messages, at different stages of the startup, and with the tablet less than 2 feet from the S50. Clearly, there was not the automatic update that had been the case for previous updates. I went on to the Google Play site, and it was showing V1.20.2 as the current version, (dated 20th June) with the option to install the updated version, which I did.

I started the updated app, and it give me the non-optional firmware update banner, so I accepted. The update went as normal, except that the "Updating Firmware" voice did not occur until about 30% into the update (from memory it had been about the 14% point on previous updates). A subsequent check showed firmware V2.76.

I tried solar imaging. It found the Sun and I managed to get solar photos and a time-lapse video on my tablet without problems. I have not tried the Stargazing yet, but so-far-so-good.

I went on the ZWO site and downloaded the Seestar_v1.20.2.apk file, to join previous versions on an external hard drive - just in case I need to go back to V1.19.0. What I don't know is if the S50 will accept earlier firmware.

Geoff

UPDATE:- This evening, "Stargazing" downloaded image JPG files correctly - normal service resumed.

Edited Sunday at 00:02 by Geoff Lister
UPDATE added