How To Setup The ZWO AM5 With The ASIAir

[@meibergstrmandersen9181]

Hey Danno, just got the AM5 2 days ago, was setting it up for shooting tonight. Your video cleared several of my cabling q's. Thanks !

[@AstroDanno]

Awesome! Enjoy that mount and clear skies!

[@mauricethethespian8744]

Finally!!!! Someone has actually been kind enough to make this video. I’ve been having nothing but issues trying to get my new rig to work and can’t get the plate solving to work, over the last two weeks. Looking forward to disconnecting everything and going through this tutorial on the hook up. Fingers crossed and hoping to get this finally set up. Thank you sir, very very much for your time and actually making this step by step, easy to follow/understandable set up. A true kind hearted gentleman…

[@AstroDanno]

Thanks! I was going to go through setting it up on the ASIair, but I wanted to keep the video short. Check and make sure you have the correct focal length entered when trying to plate solve. I’ve had issues with that before. Hope you get everything sorted!

[@3_Gold_Coins]

Now show how to dial in a guide scope with the same setup

[@AstroDanno]

@@3_Gold_Coins that would be a good video. It took some doing to get it dialed in!

[@ekalbkr]

Big thanks! I was confused as to how the Asiar communicated with the AM5, but you clear up what the USB 'printer cable' was for. What you didn't mention was that an ST4 cable was needed for the ASI 120 mini camera (like with my IOptron mount) So I tried it without one. Problem solved!

[@AstroDanno]

I’ve never used an ST4 cable, even when I was using a laptop to image with. I think usb has basically replaced those cables in most cases. Glad to help!

[@marvinwhisman3333]

New subscriber. Very good instructional video. Appreciate you showing how you actually wired things. Now put a cover plate on that wall receptacle. It was driving me crazy. :)

[@AstroDanno]

😂 Thanks! I was planning on installing a dimmer switch and never got around to it. 😂

[@fabrizziofalconi]

Nice setup. How much weight the C8, camera, OAG, reducer???

[@AstroDanno]

Thanks! I think it’s about 10 kilograms. Somewhere around 22 lbs if I remember correctly.

[@mikehardy8247]

I'm of the same mind set, Grab-N-Go! I have my main scope, camera etc ....ready to go. Usually on the mount, on 3 wheel furniture casters. Roll it out my patio doors onto the deck, take it off casters, check level, PA, That's it, 15 minutes fromkitchento planning the imaging session. My second rig, right now is a Rokinon 135, custom 3D printed mount equipped with it"s own EAF, ASIAIR mini and astromoded T7i. I'm contemplating a second guide scope/camera. I love the convenience of the "solar generators", mine is one of 2 Jackery's. People contemplating these should consider the BLuetti's. Better battery chemistry.

[@AstroDanno]

I have a Rokinon I have been running this summer. I really wanted to go the route you did with a cradle so I could add an EAF, but I built mine out without a printed cradle. The Bluetti will probably be my next battery I get. I don’t like the Jackerys because of the lack of 12v ports.

[@mikehardy8247]

@@AstroDanno My 500 WH Jackery has the cigarette plug, and 2 weird barrel connectors no one, including Jackery has cords for WTF! I Found adapters to the "5521" barrel connectors. When I bought my Jackery, I didn't know of the others. And it was $100 off. 2nd is a 200 WH, I got at harbor freight for $200. IT Sits nicely on the SW SA GTI spreader plate. Otherwise I hang the 500 from Caribbeaner hooks. That's my counterweight. I use the 3D printed holder from "THINKABLE CREATIONS". His is very smart, and well made. It's on Etsy. So, are you using multiple asiair's? The 135 is hard to focus! The EAF is very welcome, but pricey.

[@AstroDanno]

@@mikehardy8247 I think I was looking at the smaller Jackery and it didn’t have any 12v ports like my Wattfun has. It has 4 barrel ports and the cigarette lighter port. I try to run everything DC. I have a Rockpals 500wh battery but I learned the hard way that the 12v ports are not regulated. My next big battery will probably be the Bluetti. My Rokinon has a stiff focus, so it holds pretty well once I get in focus. I use a bahtinov mask that fits the 135mm. I’d rather have the EAF, but I’d never want to manually focus again if I had the choice. 😂 Oh, and yes! I have multiple Airs now. I can interchange them between different setups.

[@mikehardy8247]

@@AstroDanno EXACTLY ! The mini air will be swapped around with other camera lenses "as required ". So the multiple 12V barrel connectors are 5.5x2.1. Sweet! I cut the RCA plugs off my Dew heaters, shortened the cords, and soldered 5521 plugs on so I can plug into asiair power ports, or Pegasus if I end up using that. I bought the adapter you use when someone mentioned Highpoint had them, after I hacked mine. Oh well.

[@AstroDanno]

@@mikehardy8247 yeah, those male to male cables are light and they work well for me. I have a few of those ZWO splitters for specific dew heaters. I used to use usb dew heaters, but they take up too many slots on the air.

[@MrWilsonsChannel]

I have a similar rig and am thinking of getting the am5, but I've read they don't recommend going above 900mm with it. Your telescope is 2000mm (1280 with the resucer), so I'm curious what your tracking numbers look like with and without the reducer? Thanks for the help ☺️

[@AstroDanno]

I had read the same thing too, and then I saw people using SCT’s on it. I primarily use it with the reducer on. It plate solves to around 1486mm. Last time I used that setup, I was getting under 0.5 on 5 minute subs. I have imaged at the native focal length, but not very much. I think it can handle it fine.

[@MrWilsonsChannel]

@@AstroDanno thanks for the quick reply. This is great news. I think I'll go ahead and pull the trigger on it. I love the idea of not having to lug around the 75lbs eq6-r pro anymore 😀

[@AstroDanno]

@@MrWilsonsChannel I rarely set mine up anymore! I use it for planetary mostly, because platesolving at that focal length with the air/AM5 is likely a problem. The AM5 with a smaller scope with no need for a counterweight is so quick and easy to setup.

[@davidjennings2733]

Hey AstroDan, Thanks again for sharing your setup and rigging. Two things, get a wall plate on your light switches, your going to electrocute yourself. haha, same as no to a bb gun, your going to put your eye out. j/k... Anyway, just wondering how you are doing wtih the WIFI on the ASIAIR or are you using something else to control the unit from the recliner? I have my unit all set up and have yet to test due to weather, guess I can do a dry run during the day but just curious as to how others are doing with the WIFI and if it's working ok for them. Thanks again and clear skies. DJ

[@AstroDanno]

I bought a mesh WiFi network system that has the 3 little towers. That helped push my WiFi out to my front yard a bit more than just my router was capable of doing. I set up about 30 yards away and I’m able to switch to station mode on the air and it connects to my home WiFi with no issues. If you are able to set up closer to your router, you shouldn’t have any problems. Just go into station mode(can’t use 5G I don’t think) and configure your home WiFi. It’s great for these cold nights!

[@fotografiabymiguel]

Nice setup, AstroDanno. I have the same setup and I enjoying it. Like you, I leave it all connected, set up takes under five minutes. I am waiting for the weather to improve to get more use of it. I am curious about the Guide Calibration settings you use. example: Calibration Step: 2000 ms Max DEC Duration: 2000 ms Max RA Duration: 2000 ms

[@AstroDanno]

Thanks! There’s a good blog on guide settings online. Just search East Wind Astrophotography guide settings and it should pop up. I need to take a look at mine and see if I can make it better. I think he recommends using 500ms for longer focal lengths like the EdgeHD 8, but I’ll have to go back and read it to be sure.

[@AstroDanno]

In that blog, he says to leave the max duration settings at default and if using an off axis guider, 250-500ms on calibration settings as a starting point. He says you want your calibration to be set in 4-5 steps. Mine is taking longer than that.

[@chrislee8886]

Thanks for taking the time to explain this. However i am curious about your setup. You seem to have the Edge using an OAG. When i try this on my 8”SCT and an AM5 i find these strain mounts require the OAG to have calibration dwell times of 0.5s vs the “normal” 2s or so. With an OAG on such a scope you get faint stars and i found 0.5s is just too short an exposure time to get great tracking and so had to give up using AM5. How are you achieving guiding using your even heavier setup? Thanks again.

[@AstroDanno]

So I used to just use the standard 2 seconds on the guide cam. I now use 1 second with the AM5 and I adjust the gain until I get decent stars. 1 sec is as short as I go. I don’t have the lowest guide numbers, but as long as my stars are round, I don’t really care too much about the numbers.

[@paskoh]

@@AstroDannoI have a similar setup as yours and getting sub 1 rms guiding but my stars are not round. Not sure what’s going on. Curious what rms error you are getting? Thank you

[@AstroDanno]

@@paskoh do you have an EdgeHD? It could need collimation. I usually get around 0.6 on guiding with this setup. There will be some elongated stars sometimes in the corners, but I can crop or bit or fix them in post. I’ve heard that the reducer can cause issues as well.

[@paskoh]

@@AstroDanno I have a regular c8 and indeed using a reducer so it’s possible that this is part of it. I’m going to try to learn to drift align which is supposed to be the most accurate way to PA and hopefully this will help. I am using the asi533mc p which is a very small sensor but similar pixel width as the 2600 so it’s kind of automatically cropped. Thanks for your reply

[@AstroDanno]

@@paskoh it very well could be the reducer that’s causing it. I have issues with my reducer on a different scope. If the stars near the center look round and the corners don’t, that could be the cause and not polar alignment.

[@davidgalemusic7447]

I have pretty much the same setup but a regular C8 with Hyperstar and a 533mc. I noticed your tripod leg spreader seems to be absent. Is there a reason for that? I think it does add some stability.

[@AstroDanno]

It’s on there, it’s just really small on the TC40 tripod. I haven’t felt like it was going to tip over, I think the counterweight in the sandbag/tray and the counterweight on the mount help balance it out so it doesn’t tip over. I could probably run this scope with no counterweight if I used my EQ6 tripod, at least I’d feel more comfortable trying it.

[@Star_Geezer]

Would you be able to link me to that Alstar mounting bracket you’re using to mount your Air on the CGEM? We have same equipment and I’ve been looking for something that works!

[@AstroDanno]

@@Star_Geezer amzn.to/4dPfi4n

[@AstroDanno]

@@Star_Geezer I believe that’s the one. It fits well because it is slightly curved.

[@Si-fp2ij]

Hey dude just a thought, instead of the cigarette lighter cable for power to the cooling, you could run a 5.1/2.1 to one of the ASI air 12v power out. Might be one less long cable to avoid tripping on in the dark! Cheers Si

[@AstroDanno]

I had seen where people were having power issues with cooling the camera from the air ports, so I’ve always just gone directly from the battery. I’ll probably try it one day and see if it works without any issues.

[@Si-fp2ij]

Might be worth a test, if your like me I have tons of those cables spare. 😂

[@AstroDanno]

@@Si-fp2ij oh yeah, can never have enough! 😂

[@AstroDanno]

@@Si-fp2ij I just ordered some short cables after reading up on it a little more. Gonna try cooling it through the air on my next night out. That’ll be one less cable to hook up outside if it works. 😂

[@Si-fp2ij]

@@AstroDanno Let me know how it goes mate but I’m confident it will work for you.

[@KJRitch]

I have a C8 on an AVX mount. I purchased an ASIAir Plus in October. I am having troubles with the ASIAir Plus GO TO feature. It fails to find targets and if it does often can't center. I started using an ASI585MC but after many failures trying to use this camera I found the sensor on the 585 is too small for the focal length of the C8, F/10 2032mm, F/6.3 1280mm. Now I'm trying to use my Nikon D5100 with a APS-C sensor. Again the issue is GO TO. At F/10 GO TO fails. I'm kinda at a dead stop now. I've been messing around with ASIAir now for almost two months and have yet to get the GO TO functionality to be consistent and reliable. Maybe the AVX mount and ASIAir don't work together well. I don't know. Maybe ZWO will reply to my request for assistance. Plan B is to go with a Mini PC.

[@AstroDanno]

Do you do or need to do a star alignment with that mount? If you are able to plate solve, it should automatically center the target whether you use the sky atlas to frame or tonight’s best list. I cannot plate solve with my 224mc planetary camera because the Field Of View is too small for the air to plate solve. I’m able to plate solve using my aps-c sensor and the 0.7 reducer. I think I was able to plate solve with a crop sensor at native focal length as well(2032mm). The 585MC sensor may be too small to plate solve with, but not sure why it won’t work with your dslr. Try upping your exposure to 3 or 5 seconds on plate solve. I have to use 5-10 seconds when using my Optolong L Ultimate filter, because it is so dark.

[@KJRitch]

ZWO recommended to power up the AVX mount. Make sure the hand controller is not connected to the ASIAir. Go through the verifying time, date, lat/long. Local time should be set to local time always. Power up the ASIAir and connect to via the tablet or phone App. Connect the USB cable from the hand controller to the ASIAir. Go to the Mount section in the App. Enable the mount. Verify time, date, lat/long are correct. Perform ASIAir polar alignment. When completed use the ASIAir App Mount Return to Home feature. From home position slew away from the NCP to a random part of the sky and perform a manual plate solve and if it passes then select Sync to Mount. I then slew to an opposite side of the sky and perform a plate solve and sync. Now Go To is ready. With my D5100 at F/10 Go To has worked successfully the last couple of evenings on multiple targets and centers. I will try the ASI585MC next.

[@AstroDanno]

@@KJRitch do you have to do all that every time? I thought my EQ6 had a lot of steps!

[@2badger2]

Why don't you plug the camera cooler into your ASIAIR?

[@AstroDanno]

There were people having issues doing that a while back, so I just power it directly from the battery. I’ve not had any issues doing it that way.

[@carlosmaurixio]

Why not run the AM5 with the ASIAIR through WiFi instead of printer cable?

[@AstroDanno]

I used to use WiFi with my EQ6. I haven’t tried the WiFi with the AM5, but it’s just so quick and easy to use that cable for me.

[@carlosmaurixio]

@@AstroDannoI might try the wired connection. I hate having to plug in the remote to get the WiFi to work (WiFi is in the remote) because it just dangles there uselessly haha. I wasn’t sure if there was an additional advantage.

[@AstroDanno]

@@carlosmaurixio that’s why I never tried the WiFi! I’ve never hooked up the hand controller yet. 😂 I don’t miss the extra steps I had to make with my WiFi dongle on the eq6. I plug in about 3 cables and I power it all up. If they would’ve built the WiFi in without the use of the hand controller, I probably would’ve tried it that way.

[@Si-fp2ij]

Vnice Danno, gotta get me an AM5 and a 2600

[@AstroDanno]

ZWO keeps knocking it out of the park. I love the AM5 and the 2600!

[@Si-fp2ij]

@@AstroDanno I just don’t know if I should go MC or MM

[@AstroDanno]

@@Si-fp2ij I’d love to go Mono one day, but I just don’t have the time for it. I barely have the time for one shot color! Maybe if I ever make it to retirement.

[@Si-fp2ij]

@@AstroDanno Yeah I know watcha mean, Maybe I will start OSC and go Mono in the future. FYI it turned out my GTI mount wasn’t fixable but skywatcher is sending me a new mount as it was only a year old. Very good customer service I have to say

[@AstroDanno]

@@Si-fp2ij that’s awesome they did that! I hope they improve the build quality. We shouldn’t have to be tinkering with a new mount like that. Even though I’ve had issues with mine as well, I still like it as a quick grab and go for small setups.