HOW2: Upgrade Your ZWO AM Series mount the right way | Follow our top tips for stress free updates!
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- čas přidán 1. 10. 2023
- Astroworks presenter Simon Lewis walks us through how to upgrade your AM3 and AM5 series mount using the inbuilt update tools, or via the ASI Mount App now known as "Sky Atlas" and ASCOM.
The little AM5 and AM3 harmonic drive mounts have become a very popular series of mounts in the short time they have been on the market and that's not surprising. They are small, lightweight and extremely powerful mounts for their size and combined with the TC40 carbon fibre tripod, they make for a great portable setup.
The AM5’s new smaller brother, the AM3, will be with us by the time you watch this video too, extending the range and we will be covering a review of that very soon right here on Astroworkz and you can also watch our recent live broadcast for some details on that as well.
ZWO have recently released new firmware updates adding new features to the AM series mounts and that created a flurry of questions of how do I upgrade my mount firmware, so in today’s video I’ll cover off how you can easily update your AM series mount and hand controller firmware. And there are a few ways you can do this so let us walk you through the options and help you decide the best method for you!
We will take a look at the mount management pages, a walkthrough of the ever handy Sky Atlas app and if you are an ASCOM user how you can upgrade your mount firmware using the ASCOM control panel.
ZWO Product Update - Live!
czcams.com/users/liveq82_WXx9EnI?...
Download page for ZWO software:
astronomy-imaging-camera.com/...
AM5 Product Page
astronomy-imaging-camera.com/...
AM3 Product Page
astronomy-imaging-camera.com/... - Věda a technologie
Thank you for the informative video. However I was a bit disappointed: The titel was about ugrading and I hoped you would talk about upgrade paths for people who own only am AM3/5 and would like to expand on that with vrious addons. But instead you talked at length about UPDATING the AM3/5. Would you mind making a video about actually upgrading? I would love to learn more about that.
Same here. The title is a little misleading. Using “update” could have been a better choice imo.
Thanks. I love it the way it is😂😂😂 I hated updates best guideing whit zwo asi 2600 due zwo 130 doesn't go over O. 5. So I hope I don't have to. Great video
thank you :D
You're welcome!
Hey thanks for this video. I have two AM5 mounts and an AM3. I've been having guiding/tracking issues with one of the Am5 mounts. I swapped out the Askar mini 128 guide scope and the ZWO 174mini for my ZWO2600mc DUO and still got tracking issues. So, I wanted to update the mount firmware before trying anything else and being in upstate NY I have to wait for CS anyway as we have had not nearly enough of those nights this winter.
I just did the updates on all three mounts as the mount management page automatically displayed the available updates. It did show an update available for the HC first while showing that the mount was up-to-date even though the displayed mount version was not the latest. But after successfully updating the HC it showed that the mount needed updating and displayed the latest mount version 1.3.7, same as in your video. I selected to update that, and it did a successful update. Now all three mounts are up-to-date and current.
I also renamed each mount and password to better describe each individual mount. After changing the name line and the password I hit save and it stalled out (happened on all three mounts) and showed a 'HC not connected error'. So, I just shut it off and restarted the mounts and my PC showed the new name in the Wi-Fi list and was able to log into by selecting the new mount name and using the new password, no problems.
All in all, rather simple process and got exactly the results I was looking for. Soon as we get cs here I'll be able to see if this helps with the tracking issues.
Thank you much for the help. Definitely made this easier. CS....
Thanks. An informative video as usual.
One video I would like to see from the channel is on heavy telescopes on the AM5.
Unlike videos on mounts like the EQ6 Pro, a search on CZcams seems to turn up zero information on the performance of a ZWO mount and tripod with heavy weights even though the weight limit of the AM5 and EQ6 Pro are supposed to be the same.
I'm looking to upgrade my Askar 80PHQ to a 130PHQ or the ZWO version of that same scope but the paucity of videos on the subject make me think that people are holding back for some reason. The 130PHQ and associated peripherals would take the load from the current 7kg to about 17kg and the picture, in the AM5 manual, of a 11" Celestron with what looks like an Asiair Mini and a tiny planetary camera doesn't fill me with any confidence.
The video I would like to see is the AM5 tested with the sort of scope, guide scope and camera, Asiair, cooled imaging camera, counter-weight bar and weight, filter wheel and focuser that would take it to close to its weight limit
I don't think I'm the only person worried that after spending over $6000 on a new scope I may be up for a new mount.
Also, could I suggest that in the Polar Align function of the ASIair, ZWO should add an option to do the alignment with a spare spot on the filter wheel or Luminence or Hydrogen filter.
Because of daylight saving I like to get out as early as possible to get everything setup and find that the PA will always fail because it can't see enough stars in twilight. When I change the active filter to Lum or Ha the PA goes from seeing half a dozen stars to hundreds. I'm guessing this would be a problem for latitudes that don't get absolute darkness.
Very informative video on a common task that is more often then not demonstrated or explain. This type of video is very good. I do have a question on blue tooth. I am not sure when or where there is an advantage to use bluetooth over wifi. What version of bluetooth is being used? What is the range of the blue tooth? Is it true to use a blue tooth connection that you first have to establish a wifi connection to the hand controller. I am just not sure where I might want to use a bluetooth connection.
Oh yes. Went through all that described nonsense updating firmware on my Celestron cgem mount. Which then stopped working and had to send it in for “repair”. Bought an AM5.
Excellent content, Simon, and thank you for the support. Is there any rumor/hope that a larger capacity harmonic drive mount is on the drawing board at ZWO?
we keep asking for one :) I'll take 2 ;)
and thanks for the feedback really appreciated
Nice run through on the firmware upgrade process which can be a pain on other systems. One question, as I am now keen to my hands on one of these AM5 (or AM3 mounts), is there likely anywhere we will be able to purchase these in NZ or will it remain import (argghhh the taxes etc) only. Cheers. Clear skies
To be honest for us kiwis the best way is direct from zwo there's no nz stockist and only testar in Australia so best go direct
My firware shows current ver 1.1.2 Under Latest ver it says Get Data Failed. Im connected to my home network and to the mount under home page... any ideas thanks
For some reason my red light starts flashing and it wont respond to commands.....any idea what this is or why it does this..??
My AM5 does not provide a hot spot nor connects to my phone anymore. What should I do?
likely the hand controller wifi has failed ... can you connect via cable ok ? if so then likely HC failure - you can contact ZWO support for help and arrangement to get a new on
spring is here? 👀
Southern Hemisphere.
sure is in New Zealand LOL
Thanks for this but you move too quickly through some stuff that is confusing. You show the configuration page but don't explain what we are seeing. for example "WLAN Info" what is this? is this your home network or is this the mount's network? Either way, you say the mount has to be connected to the internet, so how do I connect the mount to my home network? You just skipped right over that. I greatly fear starting any firmware update process without being certain that I can complete it, so please don't say "Just follow the steps and you will understand as you go."
Sorry to say that this is nowhere as clear to me as the vid title suggested.
what bit are you struggling with ... ?