Asiair plus power issues

[Rico]

Past couple of weeks I decided to dust the cobwebs off the astro setup and in the process decided to upgrade a few bits and bobs 😃. As you might guess from the topic, I decided to give the ZWO Asiair a go ... coupled with a new EAF, EFW, guider and 2600mm.

The issue I'm having is that during an imaging session, the power appears to be unstable. Either I get the exposure failed message from the camera, or the camera seems to freeze and the cooler switches off. I also tested the EAF yesterday, and it appears, but too early to tell, that when the EFW starts the autofocus sequence after the filter change I get the same issue. 

FYI, this is my power setup (all running from the ring circuit in the house):

DC Power (12v 6A)-> NEQ6 -> Serial-USB->ASI 2600mm

DC Power (12V 5A)-> ASI 2600mm ->

• USB3.0 (ZWO cable) -> Asiair Plus
• USB2.0 (ZWO cable) -> ZWO 2" EFW

DC Power (12V 5A)-> Asiair Plus ->

• EAF + ASI120mm (ZWO USB2 cables)
• DC Output -> Splitter -> 2 dew heaters

I originally had the ASI2600 being powered by the Asiair, but with this issue decided to give it its own power source. This hasn't resolved the problem.

Next thing I'm thinking of doing is replacing the usb cables, starting with the USB3 Type A -> Type B used by the camera.

Anybody have any suggestions?

Thanks,

Edited September 11, 2023 by Rico

[Ouroboros]

That’s quite a phew! things in your upgrade. 😀 Sorry if I’ve misunderstood your explanation, but did you try stripping right back to only running the ASI2600 from the ASIair - ie nothing else connected? See if that works. Then add other components one by one. You might also try running the guide camera as the main and only camera. I guess the thing to establish is whether this is an ASIair problem or a 2600 problem. 

Edited September 10, 2023 by Ouroboros

[Elp]

I would have thought 3 DC inputs would be adequate. I suspect your dew heaters may be causing the issue, they draw more amps than you may think. As suggested just add one piece of equipment at a time to problem solve. I only use one 12v battery most of the time (no EFW or EAF), the dew heaters are always powered with their own usb power bank and usually that power bank is the first to deplete.

Edited September 10, 2023 by Elp

[Budgie1]

To add to the above; also change the USB cables if you're using the flat ones supplied with the cameras from ZWO. These aren't the best cables and there have been plenty of people reporting connection issues with them, including myself.

Try to get good quality USB cables from the likes of Lindy, which are available through Amazon.

[bosun21]

I never ran my dew heaters directly from the ASIAIR plus. I found that it caused needless problems. Once removed to their own power source everything ran as it should. I'm 95% sure your problem is due to this.

[Rico]

A lot of suggestions there.

@Ouroboros  and @Elp... yes I need to figure out where the problem is coming from and I'll go back to adding one at a time to see where the source of the issue is.

@Elp and @bosun21, dew heaters could be a problem. I will try without and see where I get. But I was only running them at 30%.

@Budgie1, I've ordered a Lindy replacement from Amazon (the camera usb cable to start off with), to see if this is the issue.

But as @Elp says, I would of thought that 3 power supplies would be enough, surprised I've had this issue.

[Ouroboros]

 

1 hour ago, bosun21 said:

I never ran my dew heaters directly from the ASIAIR plus. I found that it caused needless problems. Once removed to their own power source everything ran as it should. I'm 95% sure your problem is due to this.

On the other hand    …… I run my dew heaters from the ASIair with no problem, although I am aware of it being reported as a problem. I similarly run an ASI2600 and mini guide cam from the AIR, though no EAF.

Something I’ve just remembered is having similar problems of 2600 disconnects when running the camera at low temperatures when the ambient temp is quite high.   It’s fine on a cold winter’s night though.  It has been warm at night recently. Could try running it with the cooling off.

As others have said, dodgy USB cables is a possibility. Fortunately ZWO include two (long and short) so a swap might be easily tested depending on distances.

[bosun21]

33 minutes ago, Ouroboros said:

 

On the other hand    …… I run my dew heaters from the ASIair with no problem, although I am aware of it being reported as a problem. I similarly run an ASI2600 and mini guide cam from the AIR, though no EAF.

Something I’ve just remembered is having similar problems of 2600 disconnects when running the camera at low temperatures when the ambient temp is quite high.   It’s fine on a cold winter’s night though.  It has been warm at night recently. Could try running it with the cooling off.

As others have said, dodgy USB cables is a possibility. Fortunately ZWO include two (long and short) so a swap might be easily tested depending on distances.

In my case I was powering the main camera, guide camera, EAF and the EFW. This to me was enough of a load on the asiair. When I tried to introduce heaters I would start to experience issues. The increased load of your camera during warm spells causing a problem suggests that you are hovering around the maximum load. I found it just as convenient using a separate battery and 2 way dew controller to power my heaters. Horses for courses as they say.

[Rico]

I did a bit of problem solving this afternoon. At the moment the issue seems to be the camera usb connection. I originally used the short cable supplied with the camera, and on running it in preview mode, having everything still connected as described in the opening message, it cut out when I also ran the autofocuser. I went ahead and wiggled each of the cable connections and the camera usb connection to the Asiair was very sensitive to the touch and easily killed the connection. At the time the autofocuser was pressing against the cable. I swapped the cable for the longer one supplied with the camera AND secured it so that it wouldn't move. Ever since then ... I have no issues. I tested everything I could. It was hot and so the cooler was running close to 100% and the dew heaters were still connected to the Asiair. Moreover, I removed the independent power supply to the camera and supplied the dc power from the Asiair and it still works. 

Therefore, my conclusion so far is that the camera USB connection to the Asiair could be the source of all these issues. 

My recommendation if anybody has a similar issue, is to use a good quality cable and to secure it to relieve any strain from the connection and avoid any movement during a session.

I will update the thread if anything changes.

Thank you all for your feedback.

Edited September 11, 2023 by Rico

[Elp]

Stress relieving is a common thing people do, I haven't had a need to do it myself as I use the shortest cables possible (0.3M ones or thereabouts), looks like you've made progress. Another thing I made sure of was the DC in cables (you should check all the 12v dc power cables for this) that their inner diameter is the correct size (they come in two sizes), I once had issues with the power to my pro constantly making it turn off then I traced it to a slightly loose 12v cable (as it was the larger inner diameter), changing to the correct cable sorted this particular issue.

[Ouroboros]

Totally agree with the securing cables thing. In my pre-ASIair days I’m sure most of the problems when I ran cables from a computer to various devices was due to cable stress. 

[Rico]

Just  a small update on the topic. I had a session last night, with no power/connection issues . Prior to this, I swapped the USB3.0 camera cable for a 2m Lindy cable, cleaned up the cable routing to avoid any snagging and all seems good. It was colder last night, so the power draw from the camera was lower than when I tested it last month, but at the moment I'm still using only one power source for the ASIair, dew heaters, guider, main camera, EFW and EAF, with no issues. I suspect that on hotter days, it may be worth to power the main camera with a separate power source.

Clear skies.