ASI Air Pro Connectivity - My solution - Forums

Topic starter

Jan 21, 2022

I love the ASI Air Pro and, it's functionality is all I need to enjoy this hobby. But like many ASI Air Pro users I've been battling the terrible internet connectivity for about 6 months now. My experience are rich and varied every night. Bar adding a antenna (I'm not that handy) I think I've tried everything. Even at home where I've set up station mode one or other of my modules (I run two in tandem for two cameras) will forget what it did last night and I'm back in a clear sky wasting cycle trying to get station mode back in action. At 10 F outside I just cant be out long enough to control my set up so I need something that let's me be inside while it works it magic.

Anyway the good news is I think I have a fix which will avoid needing to drop another bunch of $ on the ASI Air Plus so I thought I'd share. I bought a Vonets WiFi extender and then because I have two modules connected them to the Vonet's via a cheap ethernet switch. The extender works well with one module and linking to the second with an ethernet cable works a charm. At home I just log into my home WiFi and there are the Pro's if I'm out of range of home WiFi the Vontes creates a mini network that I can use in the field. It does add an extra ethernet cable between my two scopes but I think I can live with that. The crazy thing is even with the scope 6' apart and the Vontes on one the second ASI Air struggles to pick up the network - hence my switch to the cables.

Anyway I thought I'd share because I can't imagine I'm the only one that has been driven nuts by this.

I also have an old Ipad Mini which I use to monitor one scope while I control the other from my phone.

Thanks

John

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John Favalessa

Jan 21, 2022

I run 2 rigs with 2 ASIAIR's. I have 2 wifi extenders at the rigs, each extending my home network. they are directly cabled to the AIRs with RJ45 cat 5 (don't think that matters). I didn't have to change any default settings in the AIRs. (it just works). I join my iPad to my home wifi network and I can see both AIRs when scans. The top first menu choice in the AIR interface on the iPad at the bottom is "switch device". (I am testing the beta so don't know if you have this available yet). Switching devices is easy but the screens do not immediately update the picture showing but the guiding immediately updates. hope this helps. I like the idea of having a hub out at the extender so I can run both AIRs with one extender…I'll give it a try one of these days. -john

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John Noble

Topic starter

Jan 21, 2022

Thanks John I did buy two extenders then sent one back to try and keep things simpler. Your way works just as well!

The switching between cameras is a little cumbersome. I hit switch select the ASI Air Pro then it spins for a few seconds and comes back with the same connect screen so I select the ASI Air again and this time we are in! Not too bad considering it's all on an I Phone. That's why I decided to dig out the old IPad and just use that to monitor one of the rigs…..

Mike Lockwood

Jan 22, 2022

John Noble:
I love the ASI Air Pro and, it's functionality is all I need to enjoy this hobby. But like many ASI Air Pro users I've been battling the terrible internet connectivity for about 6 months now. My experience are rich and varied every night. Bar adding a antenna (I'm not that handy) I think I've tried everything. Even at home where I've set up station mode one or other of my modules (I run two in tandem for two cameras) will forget what it did last night and I'm back in a clear sky wasting cycle trying to get station mode back in action. At 10 F outside I just cant be out long enough to control my set up so I need something that let's me be inside while it works it magic.

Anyway the good news is I think I have a fix which will avoid needing to drop another bunch of $ on the ASI Air Plus so I thought I'd share. I bought a Vonets WiFi extender and then because I have two modules connected them to the Vonet's via a cheap ethernet switch. The extender works well with one module and linking to the second with an ethernet cable works a charm. At home I just log into my home WiFi and there are the Pro's if I'm out of range of home WiFi the Vontes creates a mini network that I can use in the field. It does add an extra ethernet cable between my two scopes but I think I can live with that. The crazy thing is even with the scope 6' apart and the Vontes on one the second ASI Air struggles to pick up the network - hence my switch to the cables.

Anyway I thought I'd share because I can't imagine I'm the only one that has been driven nuts by this.

I also have an old Ipad Mini which I use to monitor one scope while I control the other from my phone.

Thanks

John

thank you John for this info. I purchased a Vonets extender from the get go shortly after purchasing the Pro last year. Works well with my home network, but at times I have to enter the IP address....seems to always happen when it's cold as H*ll outside .
May I ask for you to post up an image of your setup .....I'm more of a visual type of guy.

thank you in advance

John Noble

Topic starter

Jan 22, 2022

Mike

Here you go. I’ve attached the Ethernet switch and the Vonets to the dovetail with Velcro. The Vonets is powered by the asi air, then plugs into the switch. I then run a cable from the switch to the asi air. There is a second cable not shown that goes to my second rig.

The switch also needs a 5 V power supply which I take from my AC strip.

Of course the switch doesn’t have to be on the scope it could be anywhere it just seemed more compact to me!

Hope that helps.

john

John Favalessa

Jan 22, 2022

very nice idea! love the cable management. I recently purchased the Air Plus. I like some of the features, but not worth it if just for an upgrade. I the wifi is much stronger; the power management is better; and no more SD card; the eMMC memory is very fast. I now have an extra AIR Pro which I'll probably sell.

Mike Lockwood

Jan 23, 2022

Thank you sir - very well done. I can understand the setup much easier now ( hard to teach old dawgs new tricks

).

So - then you connect the second cable to your second rig and all works well ? Brilliant idea !!

Clear Skies

Howard Richard

Jan 23, 2022

I have a TP-Link AC750 Wi-Fi travel router. I set it up as a range extender. It runs on USB power connected to the Goal Zero power supply. No cables to the ASIair.