ASIAIR Plus and Dew Heaters

First thing is to make sure in the "power" menu on the asi air app that you have the correct label on the correct input.  I have wondered why my camera wasn't powering before and realized that it was labeled as "dew heater".   
If that is ok, and the Asi is not sufficiently preventing dew, I would go to something like a dew master https://agenaastro.com/pegasus-astro-dewmaster-five-channel-dew-heater-controller.html
I have this unit on my esprit120 and it has its own temperature sensor (sold separately I think).  Once I set it to "autodew" it automatically controls the heat to the dew straps with changing conditions.  This unit is very easy can't remember the last time I worried about dew or frost on this rig.
My SCTs get powered from the Asi and it does well on those units.

Yep.  I just purchased the Pegasus dew heater with 2 outputs, that's all I need. 
I've never been able to get the ASIAIR to power dew heaters well…

Jay Hovnanian:
What @Jeff Horn says is important.  The correct option makes a difference.  I image in far-less-than dry air and my set-ups are typical - a dew strap on an imaging refractor and guide scope.  I used to use a dedicated dew control piece, but am now drawing directly from the ASIair Plus, which I turn on as soon as I've balanced my set-up (as much as one hour before imaging).  I've not had any issues with this configuration and procedure.  Perhaps getting a head start gets and keeps the glass where it needs to be?

 

Jeff Horn:
First thing is to make sure in the "power" menu on the asi air app that you have the correct label on the correct input.  I have wondered why my camera wasn't powering before and realized that it was labeled as "dew heater".   
If that is ok, and the Asi is not sufficiently preventing dew, I would go to something like a dew master https://agenaastro.com/pegasus-astro-dewmaster-five-channel-dew-heater-controller.html
I have this unit on my esprit120 and it has its own temperature sensor (sold separately I think).  Once I set it to "autodew" it automatically controls the heat to the dew straps with changing conditions.  This unit is very easy can't remember the last time I worried about dew or frost on this rig.
My SCTs get powered from the Asi and it does well on those units.

Yes, I've made sure that I have "Dew Heater" chosen for dew heaters, "Camera" chosen for cameras and "EAF" chosen for the focuser.   I've tried setting up dew heaters inside with the ASIAIR without the camera plugged in and they get hot.  But with the camera, they don't.

The ASIAIR Plus is an ingenious device, to my mind it's a revolutionary product that definitely advances astrophotography.  But it has two weaknesses:  1) it doesn't power dew heaters properly, and 2) the USB transfer rate from the internal ASIAIR memory to a USB stick is abysmally slow.   Sometimes it's faster than other times, but usually I have to go do something else while the transfer is occurring.  This afternoon after taking my flats for last night's imaging session it took about 40 minutes to transfer 30 flats from the internal memory to the USB stick.  And that's in the USB 3.0 slot with the stick formatted in ex-FAT. 

Does anyone else have this issue?  I spoke with ZWO today and they said that though the ASIAIR transfer speed is not the fastest, it should be much faster than what I am seeing.  I was told to reset the device to the factory setting, which I'll do next time I'm getting ready to image.

Jeff Horn:
Yes I have transferred a bunch of images from emmc to the usb stick in short amount of time.  Its not blazing but certainly done in a few minutes.

What brand USB stick are you using Jeff and is it formatted ex-FAT as per the recommendation?

Jerry

I recently bought 2 dew heater with rca plugs and connected them to the asiair plus with the zwo rca splitter cable.

I experienced a similar issue.  The dew heater would not heat at all unless I set the output to 100% and even then they don't heat much.

I am saving money to get a dew controller. I think this is one area where the asiair plus fails to deliver.

I have mentioned this before in a similar thread.  ZWO recommends using a separate power supply for all of their newer heated/ cooled cameras 2600, 2400, 6200 series, any camera that has a fan and/ or a heated sensor. 

                                         Best operation of the asiAIR Plus/ Pro and the higher end cameras requires two 12 volt power supply's.

I have 5 ASIAir Pro/ Pluses and have NEVER had a problem powering multiple dew heaters (sometimes as many as 4) camera,  (big) mount and sometimes an iPad through the night.  Don't buy separate dew control just use a second power supply.


scott

Hi Scott,

Where did you see that?  In my AS2600MC manual it says:

ASI2600 camera is with low power consumption, max at 4.7W USB3.0 cable is recommended for
power supply.
Recommended power supply for cooling: 12V @ 3A DC adapter (5.5×2.1mm, center pole
positive). Also suitable: lithium battery with 11-15V.

And the ASIAIR Plus manual says this about its DC power outputs:

Although the 4 x 12V outputs are able to supply each up to 3A max per outlet, the unit as a hub is rated for max 6A total output. If you use your own power supply, capable of more than 6A supply, we invite you to insert before the ASIAIR PLUS an inline fuse of 6A to protect it. ASIAIR PLUS power outlets can provide power to connected equipment such as the main camera cooling, EAF (12V version), dew heaters and Flat box.=ne-p=ne-textPowering the mount is not recommended as some mounts may require more power than the 3A max available per port and become unstable or unreliable during usage even causing some USB intermittent disconnect affecting your imaging camera.=lake-content=ne-p=ne-textNote: All cooled cameras (PRO / GT line) need 12V@3A max power supply to operate cooling, which can be supplied by one of ASIAIR PRO 12V port.

According to the manual, the ASIAIR Plus is designed to power the ASI2600MC camera. I've been doing that for 10 months with no camera or camera cooling issues.   Getting a 2nd power supply would cost anywhere from $300 to $600 or more.  Getting a dew heater controller will cost about $100.  I know it can be done the way you describe, but it seems overkill.  My DC power supply weighs 16 lbs and runs all night without a problem.  The problem for me is dew heating. 

I don't think the ASIAIR can handle 2 dew heaters AND an ASI2600 on one power supply.   Is that your experience or have you always used 2 power supplies?

Jerry

I have mentioned this before in a similar thread.  ZWO recommends using a separate power supply for all of their newer heated/ cooled cameras 2600, 2400, 6200 series, any camera that has a fan and/ or a heated sensor. 

                                         Best operation of the asiAIR Plus/ Pro and the higher end cameras requires two 12 volt power supply's.

I have 5 ASIAir Pro/ Pluses and have NEVER had a problem powering multiple dew heaters (sometimes as many as 4) camera,  (big) mount and sometimes an iPad through the night.  Don't buy separate dew control just use a second power supply.


scott

Can you point to that reference? I often hear this but can’t find where ZWO said it. I see they say “All Pro cameras (with cooler) need to be connected to an external 11-14v power supply to image. ”, but I interpret that as it just needs power along with USB. 

I agree the ASI Air is suitable for dew heaters. I have put a DMM inline with the circuit and it puts out a constant 12V like any other heater controller when set to max. When lowering the %, the voltage regulated accordingly through its PWM circuit. For example, when set to 50% the DMM averaged out to 6V.

Hmm, then I wonder why my dew strips fail to get hot, or even very warm, when set to 100%.  The only time they do, when connected to the ASIAIR is indoors when I don't have the camera attached.   I have two ASIAIR Plus's and both behave the same way.

I was powering the ASIAIR through the AM5 mount, which is connected to the 12V 10amp power supply.  Thinking that might be the issue, I decided to start powering the ASIAIR directly from the 12V 10 amp power supply, so both the mount and ASIAIR are getting power directly.  But that too didn't change anything when it comes to the dew heaters...

I have mentioned this before in a similar thread.  ZWO recommends using a separate power supply for all of their newer heated/ cooled cameras 2600, 2400, 6200 series, any camera that has a fan and/ or a heated sensor. 

                                         Best operation of the asiAIR Plus/ Pro and the higher end cameras requires two 12 volt power supply's.

I have 5 ASIAir Pro/ Pluses and have NEVER had a problem powering multiple dew heaters (sometimes as many as 4) camera,  (big) mount and sometimes an iPad through the night.  Don't buy separate dew control just use a second power supply.


scott

Can you point to that reference? I often hear this but can’t find where ZWO said it. I see they say “All Pro cameras (with cooler) need to be connected to an external 11-14v power supply to image. ”, but I interpret that as it just needs power along with USB. 

I agree the ASI Air is suitable for dew heaters. I have put a DMM inline with the circuit and it puts out a constant 12V like any other heater controller when set to max. When lowering the %, the voltage regulated accordingly through its PWM circuit. For example, when set to 50% the DMM averaged out to 6V.

Hi Apeninne 104. 
I can not point to the exact ZWO reference now but I have practiced the application since the purchase of my first heated and cooled ASI camera 2 years ago with zero problems. 
I will admit that a lot of ZWO user instructions get lost in the translation and the actual power control interface in the app for the ASIAIR is very lacking. 
Your DMM experiment is certainly confirmation of my user experience.
I have not compared prices of Dew heater systems and 12 volt PS's lately but I suspect a suitable 2nd power supply is probably the better/ cheaper solution.

scott

I just built my Rig, Asiair Plus, AM5, Redcat 51, EAF, Asi2600MC Pro, 120mm Guide Cam and scope, 2 Dew heaters coming off of the Asiair Plus 12v ports.  Everything runs smooth.  I have my power going to the mount and the Asiair Plus powered from the side of the Mount the 12v Port.  My dew heaters I run at 30% power and there nice and warm no need to run 100%.   I have read other forums where others are running the same setup with no issues.  I just ordered a ZWO filter wheel for 7 filters.   I just got the Optolong L-Ultimate filter haven't used it yet.  Just wanted to let you all know Asiair plus can run all devices connected.

I was wrong about the USB transfer rate.  User error.  What I discovered is that the ASIAIR wants the USB flash drives to be fomatted in the ASIAIR.  I was formatting them with Ex-FAT in Windows, and that was the culprit.  It took me months to figure that out. As soon as I allowed the ASIAIR Plus to do the formatting, the transfer rate went from over 60 minutes to transfer 100 FIT files to around 6 minutes.  

I don't know about other formatting schemes like NTFS or Apple formatting, but Ex-FAT should not be used.