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Questions For Anyone Running Two Rigs

ZWO ASIAIR Plus Equipment Help Needed
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GiffS avatar
GiffS avatar
I am going to be running two rigs using ASIAIRs, one will be my ASIAIR+ and the other will be a ASI2600 AIR.  My question is this, can I run them both off of one iPad running the ASIAIR App?  I know there is a switch device under the Wi-Fi menu will that allow me to switch from one telescope/mount to the other? If I am shooting a session on one and use the switch device to the other will the first instance keep on doing what it is supposed to?

For those who have done it help me avoid stupid mistakes. Is it better to run two IOS devices? Any insight appreciated.
Itto Ogami avatar
Itto Ogami avatar
I use 2 ipads for my 2 asiairs. Its not better to run on 2 devices, just nice to be able to see them both at the same time. That being said, if you switch back and forth via wifi between the two, it will not affect the session runnning on each air when you reconnect. You would be fine to switch back and forth on 1 ipad smile

Regards,
Itto (Jim)
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Razvy avatar
Razvy avatar
I run two all the time, no issues off the same device. It does take a minute to switch between them so I will use my iPad on one, and phone on the other for convenience… but if there are no issues it’s not a big deal to wait while it swaps and reloads.
BattleOP avatar
BattleOP avatar
Just throwing this out there.   If you have any kind of virtual machine environment running on your PC you can always spin up virtual Android devices and control your Airs in separate instances on the same box.
Roy Hagen avatar
Roy Hagen avatar
No problem running two rigs on the same Asiair, but you can always run on on you phone or on a Macbook..
I do the setup on one iPad switching between the two rigs.
When collecting photons  I run on of them on my i Pad and on on my Macbook, and yes, the app works fine on the Macbook.
Heyward avatar
Heyward avatar
I regularly run 2 rigs. I travel to a remote site, but while there I take one of my old outdated routers and set up a local WiFi (no internet). I then run LAN cable to each ASIAIR. I  log my iPad onto the local network in the field and open the ASIAir app while connected to the local network. From there I can easily access either devices from one ipad and switch back and forth between the 2 rigs with the switch device option in the app. For me this connection is much more stable than logging off and on the wifi for each ASIAIR.
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Mike Wrobel avatar
Mike Wrobel avatar
I am trying to run 2 ASIairs in station mode. It shows my EQ6 but not the AVX. I either have to turn off the EQ6 or switch to the SSID specific  to the AVX.  That defeats the use of Station Mode. Am I missing something?
GiffS avatar
GiffS avatar
Mike Wrobel:
I am trying to run 2 ASIairs in station mode. It shows my EQ6 but not the AVX. I either have to turn off the EQ6 or switch to the SSID specific  to the AVX.  That defeats the use of Station Mode. Am I missing something?

I would like to be able to help you but I can't. I'll be interested in the replies you get as I intend to run in Station Mode as well but I will be using AM5 Mounts so hopefully that will help things to play nicely.
Klangwolke avatar
Klangwolke avatar
I'm running three in station mode and the switch between them on my Mac or iOS is seamless. One thing I've learned is to switch before the interface enters a modal dialog like "find focus", because then you are stuck there until that operation is completed. Would be nice if there was a meta interface which just captured say the current status of all devices in a few lines. Wouldn't be difficult given the token-based protocol they use but as far as I know there is no official open source access to their protocol.
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GiffS avatar
GiffS avatar
I was thinking it would be nice to be able to open a new “instance “ of App for each device running or simply have a tab structure at the top.
Mike Wrobel avatar
Mike Wrobel avatar
I'm running three in station mode and the switch between them on my Mac or iOS is seamless. One thing I've learned is to switch before the interface enters a modal dialog like "find focus", because then you are stuck there until that operation is completed. Would be nice if there was a meta interface which just captured say the current status of all devices in a few lines. Wouldn't be difficult given the token-based protocol they use but as far as I know there is no official open source access to their protocol.

Can you explain the process of how you switch between them?   I had both rigs in my house doing some testing (switching from target to target... with the lens caps on... and hitting stop as it tried to center).  Maybe I am using the wrong procedure (hitting the wrong buttons)??
cougar1 avatar
cougar1 avatar
great information. I actually run 2 rigs (ASIAIR)(AM5) one controlled by 1 iphone and one controlled by ipad ( turn off autoconnect on both or the iphone and ipad can connect to wrong device). I have gone down the road of keeping it simple (my brain gets all scrambled up once complication of  running 2 systems  on one device enters the scene along with 1 malt beverage)
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