Why does my ASIAir go nuts after polar alignment?

V1.5.3

ASIAir has a great polar alignment (PA) routine which can get you close enough to alignment with the north or south pole, as close as you could get with a polar scope, maybe better.  However while PA is necessary for great tracking and minimal guiding, you don't need to use the built in PA if you have another way of doing it such as with a polar scope.  For those that use it, you may occasionally notice that after using the PA tool and then do a goto the scope goes nuts and sometimes points down or approaches or hits the tripod or pier. 

While this is a dangerous situation you can either kill power to the mount or release the clutches until the show stops.  Obviously this is a bug that crops up from time to time.  So whats happening?  For some reason at times after PA, the ASIAir and/or mount driver loses track of where it is and a direct goto will send it to some strange location.  This issue has been reported and I encourage you to submit feedback via the app when the issue occurs so ZWO can review the logs. 

However, don't fret.  There is a workaround.  It was discovered if you don't use PA then the issue never surfaces.  You can still boot up and use PA to get your mount squared away.  However, when you have succeeded with PA, return the scope to the home position by hand, shutdown the asiair through the app, then power off the asiair and the mount.  Power everything back up and once connected via the app, go straight to a goto and plate solve a preview image.  The mount should operate as expected from here out. 

Once you obtain PA you don't need to go back in and do it again when restarting asiair.  Once its done, its done until you move or bump the mount enough to knock it off.

With some users we found that they did not have a clear view or Polaris or the automated rotation didn’t  move enough or it would go too far.  ASIAir does not need to see Polaris to work properly. The scope can be up to 30 degrees away from Polaris and PA will work just fine.  If the automated rotation doesn't work fo you, you can also do the rotation manually.  You have to turn off the mount driver in the app first then return to PA.  When the rotation step starts you will get a warning about turning on the mount.  Just cancel the warning and move the scope as instructed in RA then move to the next step.  This can also be done for non goto mounts like the Star Adventurer which only uses the On Camera ST4 driver.  However you also have to turn off the On Camera ST4 driver to complete a manual PA.

Once PA is completed manually return the scope to home position.  At this point i would recommend shutting down ASIAir and powering off both asiair and the mount then power them both back up.  If the mount does not automatically enable in the app you may need to manually turn on the driver.

You dont need to to go into PA again.  Just goto an object and do a plate solve to get things in sync.

We try as we may to squash bugs but this has been elusive.  Fortunately there is a workaround.   I hope this was helpful and look forward to seeing everyones images on the FB ASIAir group.