Setting time on Android Tablet While Using ASIAIR Plus - Forums

Topic starter

Jul 11, 2023 · Edited: Jul 11, 2023

Hello,

I know that the ZWO AM5 mount that I am using ignores DST and uses standard time.

I'll be imaging over the weekend in Mendocino, California, which has a time zone of -7 UTC (DST) and -8 UTC (PST).

Do I set my Android tablet's time manually to ignore DST or do I let it set itself automatically, which will be daylight savings time? Or does it matter?

I am trying to ensure that the meridian flip succeeds.

Thanks,
Jerry

Well Written Engaging

Jul 11, 2023

I had the same issue with my ASIair Mini, I switched time to sync automatically to a time server, but timezone and standard/daylight savings was manually input.

John59

Jul 13, 2023

I have only synched time and location to my Samsung Tablet as is.
I have never had to worry about whether the time is DST or not.
Seems that the plate solving sorts it out .

Jul 13, 2023

Glad you figured that out it seems.

Piotr Janicki

Jul 15, 2023 · Edited: Jul 15, 2023

I have only synched time and location to my Samsung Tablet as is.
I have never had to worry about whether the time is DST or not.
Seems that the plate solving sorts it out .

Even with time zones being out of whack, it will "find" itself in the sky and crawl its way to the target over several iterations of plate solve. Problems start when it's time to do a meridian flip, or generally when the object is near meridian.
It if the time settings are off, it might with foolhardy determination attempt to approach the object from the wrong side and inevitably smash itself into the tripod.
Both Asiair and the mount are "dumb" so to speak, they don't really "know" where they are and when they meridian flip with an hour off, depending on where the object is - might gleefuly run your image train into the tripod while trying to zero in on the object.

52 deg. North here. Been there, done that, desperately trying to wrangle it into behaving, as it just as desperately attempted to commit suicide on tripod leg while trying to gather data on the Elephant's Trunk last year.
Actually forgot about DST going into effect and ended up having a tilted focuser after it tried to meridian flip without my supervision and smashed into the tripod. One of the screws fastening the focuser to the tube wasn't super tight, and the whole assembly shifted around 2mm. Took me weeks and a library of curse words to pinpoint the source of tilt to that tiny gap, and then several more precious nights to iteratively, ever so slowly correct it.

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Maged

Jul 15, 2023 · Edited: Jul 15, 2023

It may affect your meridian flip so the mount doesn’t film on time.

I would advise to be beside your mount at the meridian flip and watch if the flip is executed or not. If not then you have to set the time zone on your tablet to UTC and it will get it right next time.

don’t worry about the AM5 damaging your scope if it misses the meridian flip because when the mount misses the meridian flip the mount automatically engages brakes and stops tracking to avoid any damage.