Had it with ASI AIR !!!!!

The last two outings with two different ASI AIRS were a complete nightmare - clear sky is rare and not to be wasted on sub cheap par equipment

Frustrated !

Can you specify the nature of your problems with ASI Air.

Have been using ASI Air Plus for over a year now and had nearly zero issues. There was some WiFi connectivity loss issue some months back but that is also gone.

Would be keen to understand the issues you are facing

Thanks

Same here using asiair for over 2 years and it works very well.

I program 2 or 3 objects in the plan and go to sleep with great subs and guiding.

Sorry you are having issues but as stated it would be helpful to hear what specific issues you are experiencing.

Vic

Disconnects devices regularly

Loses Network frequently

Has regular device errors (EFW stops, can’t see EF, PA stops half way through… etc.))

Also loses device power often

Yes, it worked for me for some time too but then ; (above)

I had the WiFi Network loss issue sometime back. This was rectified with an updated OS version and positioning of the WiFi Antenna. Never had Power loss or issues in PA at all. I dont have a EFW and hence cannot comment on it. But all other features like Auto guiding, Creating time schedule programs and executing other commands work very well

Pls check if there are any mounting issues which interfere on the Power cables causing some of this glitches. Check the Power Supply as well. Some temporary loss of Power can create these issues

Yes, that has all been done - as I said, worked well for awhile and then went rogue .. (two different units) ..

I’ve used Asiair for years as well, and currently have three separate units running. I can see that you are frustrated, but this post lacks a lot of information. Most of the time such issues are user-related and having the same issue with two units makes that more probable. Most of the issues you mention are quite common errors if the Asiair is not getting enough power, I’m not saying that this is necessarily your issue though. It could of course be that your two unites have developed the exact same fault for some reason, highly unlikely though.

The wireless connection isn’t great, it works but if it’s downloading images it becomse very slow. It has a limited range, but when it’s running it’s not needed anyway so I don’t really care. I personally just move to where I get a signal and check things if I want to. I have an original A+ and two A+ 256G. The latter has some improved performance overall.

If you’re in a spot where you have a bad connection you can see a lag, where the screen buffers and it isn’t showing the right numbers, menu or status.

Just some things that should be part of the initial post:

What are you running?
How do you power your rig?
How have you got everything connected?
Can you see any warnings/issues in the power distribution menu?
Do you have any logs so you can see what actually happens?
(The Asiair stores logs, and could hopefully save you/anyone a lot of grief)

Also, include everything you’ve tried in order to resolve your issue. If this information is given, then someone has a better chance of giving you the advice you need.

AstroRBA · Aug 22, 2025, 06:57 AM
Yes, that has all been done - as I said, worked well for awhile and then went rogue .. (two different units) ..

If you say you have done that, then no further comments. But you may want to check how the ASI Air is being powered. If it is via the Mount then maybe there is a problem in the output of the mount. You may try a separate Power source to check. I have a AM5N mount and the ASI Air is powered from the Mount output. Works well for me .

Pls raise this issue with ZWO team and seek their suggestions

AstroRBA · Aug 22, 2025, 04:28 AM
The last two outings with two different ASI AIRS were a complete nightmare - clear sky is rare and not to be wasted on sub cheap par equipment
Frustrated !

If you had the same frustrating experience with two different ASI AIRs the obvious question to answer is: What do the two setups you tried have in common?

From the description of your problems my first guess would be that there is something fishy going on in the chain between the power supply and your ASIAIR.

Good luck and clear skies

Wolfgang

AstroRBA · Aug 22, 2025 at 06:57 AM
Yes, that has all been done - as I said, worked well for awhile and then went rogue .. (two different units) ..

Two units is not a huge sample but, as others have suggested, I would suggest looking for things in common when those two units were “misbehaving.”

I also think this sounds like a problem with connections or power delivery. Maybe both.

Should go without saying but when troubleshooting, change one thing, then test, then revert and change the next thing. If you change a bunch of things at once and it starts working fine then you won’t actually know what caused the problem.

I agree with the others. It sounds like a power supply issue. I would get another and not think about it. The chances your camera, eaf, and asiair all having bad cables or bad ports or drive boards ect is extremely low. The power coming in is a highly likely source to give a myriad of issues. I would try a new power supply with a high enough amp rating and see what happens.

You need to give a lot more information. I would suspect a voltage issue. That’s the only time I’ve had issue with the unit, and I have 4 of them. The other issue I’ve had is poor cables. I use them in station mode and I can access them via my phone anywhere around my house without issue.

You need to give a lot more information. I would suspect a voltage issue. That’s the only time I’ve had issue with the unit, and I have 4 of them. The other issue I’ve had is poor cables. I use them in station mode and I can access them via my phone anywhere around my house without issue.

I agree......I've had my unit for about 3 years now. The cables supplied with the unit were inferior and I had a lot of the same issues early on. I've since bought top quality USB and power cables and things run smoothly now. Also, sometimes during a run, my cables have snagged on the mount during flips, causing the cables to pull loose and disconnect. A friendly reminder to check that your cables are bundled to prevent droop and have sufficient length to travel during slews and flips. Sometimes these systems are like 3 year old children; they behave when watched but left on their own for a little while, run amok and create havoc. I hope things work out.

CS
Patrick

I never had any major issues with my ASI Air. I only stopped using it because i was doing a dome and needed to control it. That did provide me the opportunity to go with non ZWO cameras so now i could never go back.

Agree with all the other commenters. I used the ASIAIR and the 2600 MC Atir last night without any issues. I have a separate power source fot the 2600 Air camera. But the other is powered through the mount. Also use Eero setup for inter’net connectivity and have never had a problem. Good luck.

It uses a proper ZWO adaptor and the drop outs occur whether I split the power off from the ASI OR run individual adaptors (all from each associated manufacturer) to each component (ASI, Camera, Mount, Dew Heater etc.)

All issues also occur whether or not it’s in direct or station mode AND whether I run the App with an iPAd or iPhone. Firmware is current. Tried replacing cables, tried switching around the ASI USB’s, tried the Camera USB’s, etc.

No matter what changes I make, the component drops (seemingly random too, sometimes filter wheel sometimes focuser, sometimes guide camera, often the main camera, etc.) and wifi disconnects persist. I already had to replace one ASI AIR in the past that had virtually no wifi signal strength unless you were right on top of it and also suffered from the above issues.

One of the more bizarre issues is how the PA will get about half way through and then freeze up, and then work say, on the third or fourth attempt. I’ve also had auto focus issues where a focus point is supposedly met and yet stars are giant donuts !

The mini PC’s that I run on other rigs are much more reliable!

It uses a proper ZWO adaptor and the drop outs occur whether I split the power off from the ASI OR run individual adaptors (all from each associated manufacturer) to each component (ASI, Camera, Mount, Dew Heater etc.)

All issues also occur whether or not it’s in direct or station mode AND whether I run the App with an iPAd or iPhone. Firmware is current. Tried replacing cables, tried switching around the ASI USB’s, tried the Camera USB’s, etc.

No matter what changes I make, the component drops (seemingly random too, sometimes filter wheel sometimes focuser, sometimes guide camera, often the main camera, etc.) and wifi disconnects persist. I already had to replace one ASI AIR in the past that had virtually no wifi signal strength unless you were right on top of it and also suffered from the above issues.

One of the more bizarre issues is how the PA will get about half way through and then freeze up, and then work say, on the third or fourth attempt. I’ve also had auto focus issues where a focus point is supposedly met and yet stars are giant donuts !

The mini PC’s that I run on other rigs are much more reliable!

It sounds like you just have bad Asiairs.... It is odd that thousands of people use them with absolutely no problems.
I have 3, they all work fine. Once you have programmed the Autorun sequence it doesn't matter if you lose wifi connection,
the program will run regardless.
I would just not use them if I were you since they appear to not work for you.
Pretty strange....

AstroRBA · Aug 22, 2025 at 06:33 AM
Disconnects devices regularly
Loses Network frequently
Has regular device errors (EFW stops, can’t see EF, PA stops half way through… etc.))
Also loses device power often
Yes, it worked for me for some time too but then ; (above)

I’ve had an ASI Air and it has worked great, except when I got some new cables. With the new cables, I had frequent errors like you describe. When I went back to the old cables, the issues went away.

Regarding network connectivity, you could also use click-on ferrite core beads on any USB 3.0 cable you have running to the ASI AIR. Click-on the beads as close as you can to which ever end you are inputting into the ASI AIR. I believe, ASI users please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, that the computing module is a RPi 4. USB 3.0 is known to interfere with the 2.4 GHz frequency for WiFi and is known to cause issues with the single board RPi 4.

Well there is another view.

I did a lot of experiments on mine - which also lost the connection frequently between the app (iPad/iPhone) and the ASIAir.

The issue IS NOT the ASIAir per-se. The issue lies in the app running on iOS or Android.

The first symptom I found is this:

using ASIAir in close proximity to other units is likely to trigger the WiFI failure.
using ASIAir well away from all other WiFi units it was reliable.
using ASIAir via ethernet to your own WiFi hotspot, it works fine.

Conclusion: their WiFi implementation is buggy, either/both in the app or ASIAir.

What pinpoints the app itself as the culprit was this: If you restart the phone/tablet, reconnect the WiFI and start the app again you should find ASIAir is still happily taking subs the whole time and will reconnect.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NB in a former life I wrote TCP/IP and X.25 drivers and know my way round the bowels of the low-level code. It appears ZWO have implemented the TCP/IP layer poorly and its buggy.

The cause is probably a memory leak in their implementation of TCP which results in the app hanging the connection. Rebooting the device clears the memory bottleneck.

I have written to ZWO about it but I daresay they wont fix it.

MaksPower:
Well there is another view.

I did a lot of experiments on mine - which also lost the connection frequently between the app (iPad/iPhone) and the ASIAir.

The issue IS NOT the ASIAir per-se. The issue lies in the app running on iOS or Android.

The first symptom I found is this:

using ASIAir in close proximity to other units is likely to trigger the WiFI failure.
using ASIAir well away from all other WiFi units it was reliable.
using ASIAir via ethernet to your own WiFi hotspot, it works fine.

Conclusion: their WiFi implementation is buggy, either/both in the app or ASIAir.

What pinpoints the app itself as the culprit was this: If you restart the phone/tablet, reconnect the WiFI and start the app again you should find ASIAir is still happily taking subs the whole time and will reconnect.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NB in a former life I wrote TCP/IP and X.25 drivers and know my way round the bowels of the low-level code. It appears ZWO have implemented the TCP/IP layer poorly and its buggy.

The cause is probably a memory leak in their implementation of TCP which results in the app hanging the connection. Rebooting the device clears the memory bottleneck.

I have written to ZWO about it but I daresay they wont fix it.

It is a $200 computer.
It has some glitches that are easily fixed by most users.
I run 2 aisair's at time with $100 Samsung tablets laying side by side so whatever problems you have are not universal.
There are Thousands in use all over the world, your experience is the Outlier.
There may be bad AsiAIR's out there like any product but a few users problems is not a reason for a Rant.
For the money, it is a fantastic product.

I used ASIAIR Plus for over 2 years in my backyard and at a few dark sky site. It worked pretty well. When I switched to remote imaging and learned NINA, I saw the limitations of ASIAIR. If I had a backyard to image from that wasn’t close to the California coast and foggy most of the year, I’d find a way to use NINA on a Windows machine and control everything from my house. I would not go back to ASIAIR and a smaller screen tablet.

I know ASIAIR works well for lots of people, and it’s really quite versatile for the price and the size can’t be beat for traveling. But NINA is definitely a few steps up. The advanced sequencer takes some study, but once you learn it it’s amazingly good.

I also had occasional power issues with ASIAIR, often a bad cable but sometimes I never figured out what the problem was.

Jerry

https://www.youtube.com/@astromusicvideo

https://www.jerrygerber.com

What is your power source? Battery or AC?