ASIAir Plus - Review & Tutorial

The ASIAir Plus allows you to control your entire astrophotography workflow from your smartphone / tablet. That means you can sit comfortably in your house and control your camera, monitor your guiding, control your Go-To, and much more.

I've used the ASIAir Pro extensively over the past two years, and really enjoyed it. However, it did suffer from a very bad wi-fi range. I could be within a few feet of the ASIAir Pro and still lose reception. Thankfully, the new ASIAir Plus solves this problem! I can still get reception, even with two brick walls between me and the ASIAir Plus.

You can buy the ASIAir Plus directly from your preferred astro retailer, it should officially launch in November.

To learn more about my ASIAir workflow, and how it can make your night a lot easier, check out the courses on my website:

00:00 - Intro
00:40 - ASIAir Plus Features
4:30 - Powering the ASIAir Plus
5:38 - Initial Setup (Activation + Firmware Update)
10:07 - ASIAir Plus Settings
15:36 - My Astro Workflow
16:37 - Polar Alignment
18:47 - Plate Solve and Go-To
20:44 - Cool that Camera!
22:02 - Start Guiding
23:42 - Set AutoRun Shooting Schedule
25:47 - Finish Guiding Calibration
27:07 - ASIAir Plus Review
29:27 - Learn More

[indyalex]

Best video ever. I am so new to all of this and everything is so confusing. Every move seems to require a masters degree of information. This is the first video that I have found that really starts with the basics and guides you step-by-step, even telling you where you are clicking which is one of my big pet peeves. People all the time say “go here and go there”, but they do it so fast you don’t see where they’re going. Thanks heaps. I still would like a more remedial course in this, but this is by far the best out there. Big thanks.

[davidparadis]

Excellent tutorial...the best I've seen so far on how to use this...people need to understand the 2 main benefits of this system, 1.) By making the hobby easier, it will open it up to more people, which will create more consumers, lower prices and create more innovations, like this product, and 2.) This will allow you to plan and execute more subs for various targets, over the course of those rare clear nights, allowing you to maximize your photography time...you can process at any time...clear nights are valuable.

[jcims]

Dude this took me from 0 to 100 on getting the ASIAIR Plus set up and running out of the box. Can't thank you enough!!! (ESPECIALLY for covering the stuff that didn't go perfect at setup, hugely important)

[geoffnash]

I agree this is a very helpful and well made video. I have heard about the asiair but I have never really looked into it. Now I'm ready to buy it. I'm tired of freezing my but off and then in the summer dealing with mosquitoes. Now I can sit in the house and control everything I love it. This will be a great purchase. Thank you Peter and thank you for a very good video.

[RetiredFE]

Peter, thanks so much for the tutorial. I'm brand new to astrophotography, and I just got a new scope and the asiair along with a zwo camera. This made it quite easy to set everything up. Now just waiting for a clear night. Haven't seen one of those in Columbus, Ohio for about 3 weeks now and no clear sky forecast in sight. Again, thanks for the great video. I've been looking through many of your videos and they are extremely helpful.

[FrankSD]

Thanks! Really helped me get started. . .and by the way, I second your comments about ZWO. I’ve been a fan of their cameras for years but with this ASI Air Plus and the new AM5N, wow. What a pleasure to use it all.

[Chasingthemilk]

Me watching this still using a star tracker and dslr lol. Great video as always. I’ll be ready to hit the ground running when I upgrade. Cheers

[VisionCommunications]

Received my ASI Air Plus today. As you said, this device "revolutionizes astrophotography." So true! Even having a GTI mount with a WiFi app, the process was tedious beyond description! Thank you for this tutorial!

[kayasper]

Thanks Peter for your excellent and very well made video!

[petertrahan]

It's a golden age for amateur astrophotography!

Superb review with excellent organization, presented in Setup and operational Tutorial sections. Everything one needs to get started, even without previous ASIAir experience. Just waiting for a clear sky so I can test mine! Thanks for your efforts on this, Peter!

[KopLamp]

A tip: Don’t tap the screen in the guiding screen but click the looping button and then the target button as soon as you have stars in focus. You will then get multi-star guiding.

Tapping the screen and selecting a star bypasses that and use 1-star guiding

[brianschumacher]

Hi Peter, I saw some comments in regard to power availability and consumption of ASIPRO and plus. I would advise ASI users to review the specs of the ASIPRO or PLUS to ensure that you are within the unit's capability to deliver the power that's required to run your rig. These are the bench test that I had done when I bought the EQ6R P last year. As you can see I have to run the mount with independent power supply and I run my camera cooler at -10. I would like to add that my ASIAIR has worked flawless from day one. It just a great piece of equipment.

Measured Amp draw
EQ6R-Pro
Park 0.37
Slew 2.42
Guide 0.55

ASIAIR Pro 0.45

ASI294MC-PRO
cooling -0C @ 37% 0.7
cooling -20C @ 100% 3.13

Combined @ -0 @ 39%
Parked 1.2
Slew 3.5
Guide 1.4

Combined @ -20 @ 100%
Parked 3.45
Slew 5.7
Guide 3.78

Dew Heater (camera) 0.95
Dew Heater (guide Scope) 0.78

[robcalfee]

Thanks for the part about the activation. I couldn’t figure that out at first. Your video solved it. Cheers!

[devetterusso]

Many thanks Peter. You’ve saved me countless hours crawling around in the app just to get started. Now if I can only figure out why I can connect the app to my iPad, but not my iPad Pro!

[VEBF]

Nice video. If you check the auto box in the PA screen the screen will refresh after every exposure so this make the adjustment process easier. You made me chuckle when you said that you set the temperature to Fahrenheit because you are in North America. FYI only the US uses Fahrenheit in North America the rest of the continent uses Celsius. 😀

[Orozco_PNW]

Just broke-in my new AM5 and ASiair Plus and guidescope last night, this video was tremendously helpful! Thanks!

[darkskyimages]

Thank you for this video, Peter. 🙏🏼 This is very helpful.
Stay safe and clear skies,
Ken

[stillontheedge]

Just upgraded to Asi plus. As always, a great Video and well explained. Thank you.

[steve]

This is exactly what someone like m, who is just about to dive into this hobby, needed. Thanks