Connecting the EXplore Scientific EXO2 with PMC8 needs some cable specifics for success. This is also relevant to the PMC8 outfitted to Losmandy G11 mounts too. This handy guide will help you out and on the road to instant success!
I'm lost for words in searching how to thank someone for offering on a silver platter like this the magic solution to such a difficult problem, yet so simply (i.e. as simply as can be done for such an arcane problem). THANK YOU Astroworkz!! Just subscribed. I am seriously looking at both Explore Scientific's EXOS2 and iEXOS-100, you're videos have helped me not loose heart that these may still be viable. I'll go with the one with less old arcaic digital hookup issues (would prefer the one with more weight capacity but eight pin connectors?) It seems the consensus is these are some very good hardware, with *unbelievably* poor digital hookup issues, which is such a shame! Like watching what needs done in this case, are they crazy?! Why in the world don't they sell a cable with this already configured and in the box? It's like purposefully trying to ruin a really good product, I guess enigmas exist the universe 🌌 🤷♂ Cheers!
thanks - this is the kinda of video we feel needs made and the info that people struggle to find ... this was something Tyler knew and I sure didn't as I don't have that mount but yes agreed its a bit puzzling about the requirement for this odd programmable cable - there are some little quirks of these mounts but they are really great entry level mounts for newcomers
@@shubhamcweb I did get the mount, but … ended up getting a much more expensive mount: ZWO’s AM5. Which I don’t regret at all. I still have the iEXOS-100 though and need to sell it, literally never used it. It’s all about the money though and in the end while I was able at the moment to afford that big upgrade, that is often simply not going to be the case!
Thank you so much for the video. Got me up and running. I can polar align and slew to targets with ease. The only problem i am having is that i can't get it to calibrate on a star and track. If you have any insite into this, i would be much appreciative. Thank you.
The EXOS2-GT has an older version (EXOS2GTPMCT3-00) discontinued in 2022. Will the ASI Air Pro work on this mount following the procedure that you discussed in this video?
Hi, I'm from Chile and I want to use my Exos2 PMC-eight with Asiair but I've read that it doesn't work in the southern hemisphere. Do you know if with this modification I can work well here from Chile? Another question, is this cable programming only necessary to connect with Asiair? If I want to control my mount with Ascom, do I need a normal rs232 cable or do I also need this cable and the reprogramming? Greetings and thank you very much for this wonderful video.
Right now, I know the Indi driver has been worked on for the Southern Hemisphere but I don't know if INDI has made any updates on there side. It has worked flawless in the past but again were waiting for that driver update from INDI. The cable programming is only necessary for the ASIAIR, if you're wanting to use it for standard ASCOM then you would need a normal RS232 cable. I recommend getting 2 cables so you can have dedicated one for each.
@@TeamAstroworkz Thank you very much for answering. I don't quite understand that about the INDI driver, I already bought my ASIAIR and programmed the cable and I can connect without problems, but ASIAIR tells me that I have to disable the DST daylight saving time in the EXOS2 and I don't know how. When I try to synchronize the ASIAIR time with Exos2, it gives me a synchronization error. It is unfortunate that there is no program to program this mount clearly. it's really a problem.
Hi there, greetings here from Belgium. I was so happy to see this instruction. Hoping not to be forced to buy another mount when using Asiair Plus.. So I bought the cable from Amazon with the FTDI chip in it and was able to program it with the "FT_Prog" tooling. All that was very easy cause to your video. so thx again ! I have the Explore Scientific PMC8 -EXOS 2 mount. I've connected them all togheter, but still the Asiair tooling can not connect to the mounting. I've tried several options afterwards, all the baudrates, USB2 and USB3, converted and not converted cable, again with all the different baudrates.. I hope you can help me with something I can still check? I can not imagine that it strictly has to be the cable from Explore, bit at every usb to serial cable with the FTDI technology should do the trick?
Its doesnt have to be a specific cable from Explore, you can get them from Amazon. You need to make sure its a FTDI Chipset and you can check that in the device manager and see if a com port comes up when plugged in. Also make sure the driver is updated as well. Once you switch the signal to DTR and save it thats all you have to do. Let us know if you have any other questions.
@@TeamAstroworkz Thank you for the answer. It shows up as "USB Serial Port (COM10) in the device manager. What do you mean about "Make sure the driver is updated"? As it will nog be plugged into my computer but into the ASIair.
thanks for your video, just be aware that this setup won’t work at the southern hemisphere due to an a ld version of the indi driver they are packaging. Even the driver was fixed last year, I can’t find anyone at zwo customer support to take care of this. bottom line their support is close to none.
Hello I am Luis from Chile I have the exos2 mount and I followed all the steps but it never worked asiair recognized the cable but I don't know how it communicated with the cpu of the mount why asiar I was in the northern hemisphere, apparently in South America this method does not work or asiair is not updated to use the exos 2 with asiair in my continent.
that depends on how you set up the mount Luis - the EXOS 2 does not have sync to mount capability which means you need to use the explore stars app first to connect and set up the mount location and time etc before you connect the ASIAIR - so the ASIAIR cannot send this data to the mount as its not supported the IEXOS 100 is the same - not all mounts support it
thank you very much for the great information all functions in the asiair plus work only the tracking is not running exos2 I am desperate because I have no solution I need urgent help
If you would like, you can send an email to support@astroworkz.com for further assistance. That way we don’t have a back-and-forth on TH-cam and we can help you with the situation quickly and efficiently.
@@kukuruku1234 I have the Bresser EXOS-2 GT mount and it doesn't work with NINA. I am able to use Stellarium to control the mount using Serial to USB cable but getting star trails and have no idea how to fix it. Here is what I have tried so far: 1. Pointed roughly to Polaris, 2. Used ASIAIr with ZWO 294MC to polar align. Once polar aligned used 3. One star alignment (vega) using the handbox. Handbox display shows 8X Trac. 4. It doesn't center the object, so I adjusted to center vega. 5. Took a 10 second shot, and there is star trail. I have tried custom setting to track but nothing worked so far.
Connecting the EXplore Scientific EXO2 with PMC8 needs some cable specifics for success. This is also relevant to the PMC8 outfitted to Losmandy G11 mounts too. This handy guide will help you out and on the road to instant success!
Thank You Soo Much! Very glad you posted this as it made it very easy to figure out how to get the EXOS 2 working with ASIAIR!!
I'm lost for words in searching how to thank someone for offering on a silver platter like this the magic solution to such a difficult problem, yet so simply (i.e. as simply as can be done for such an arcane problem). THANK YOU Astroworkz!! Just subscribed.
I am seriously looking at both Explore Scientific's EXOS2 and iEXOS-100, you're videos have helped me not loose heart that these may still be viable. I'll go with the one with less old arcaic digital hookup issues (would prefer the one with more weight capacity but eight pin connectors?) It seems the consensus is these are some very good hardware, with *unbelievably* poor digital hookup issues, which is such a shame! Like watching what needs done in this case, are they crazy?! Why in the world don't they sell a cable with this already configured and in the box? It's like purposefully trying to ruin a really good product, I guess enigmas exist the universe 🌌 🤷♂ Cheers!
thanks - this is the kinda of video we feel needs made and the info that people struggle to find ... this was something Tyler knew and I sure didn't as I don't have that mount but yes agreed its a bit puzzling about the requirement for this odd programmable cable - there are some little quirks of these mounts but they are really great entry level mounts for newcomers
Hey, did you end up getting this mount?
@@shubhamcweb I did get the mount, but … ended up getting a much more expensive mount: ZWO’s AM5. Which I don’t regret at all. I still have the iEXOS-100 though and need to sell it, literally never used it. It’s all about the money though and in the end while I was able at the moment to afford that big upgrade, that is often simply not going to be the case!
Thank you! I just found a used EXOS2-GT PMC-Eightl Mount and this will be a huge help.
Glad it helped!
Great video Tyler!
It really works!!!!! Thank you!!!!!!
You're welcome!
Great information! 🎉
Thanks for watching! Its a regular support question too :) so a good one to cover off thanks for the feedback
Thank you so much for the video. Got me up and running. I can polar align and slew to targets with ease. The only problem i am having is that i can't get it to calibrate on a star and track. If you have any insite into this, i would be much appreciative. Thank you.
hi Greg - you can reach out on the support line or DM on Facebook - setting up guiding takes alittle effort and could be a number of things going on
The EXOS2-GT has an older version (EXOS2GTPMCT3-00) discontinued in 2022. Will the ASI Air Pro work on this mount following the procedure that you discussed in this video?
Hi, I'm from Chile and I want to use my Exos2 PMC-eight with Asiair but I've read that it doesn't work in the southern hemisphere. Do you know if with this modification I can work well here from Chile?
Another question, is this cable programming only necessary to connect with Asiair? If I want to control my mount with Ascom, do I need a normal rs232 cable or do I also need this cable and the reprogramming?
Greetings and thank you very much for this wonderful video.
Right now, I know the Indi driver has been worked on for the Southern Hemisphere but I don't know if INDI has made any updates on there side. It has worked flawless in the past but again were waiting for that driver update from INDI.
The cable programming is only necessary for the ASIAIR, if you're wanting to use it for standard ASCOM then you would need a normal RS232 cable. I recommend getting 2 cables so you can have dedicated one for each.
@@TeamAstroworkz Thank you very much for answering.
I don't quite understand that about the INDI driver, I already bought my ASIAIR and programmed the cable and I can connect without problems, but ASIAIR tells me that I have to disable the DST daylight saving time in the EXOS2 and I don't know how.
When I try to synchronize the ASIAIR time with Exos2, it gives me a synchronization error.
It is unfortunate that there is no program to program this mount clearly. it's really a problem.
hi, I wrote the fix to the driver last may, but zwo is not doing the proper update. just tested today
Hi. Excellent video. Any plans for Bluetooth on iexos-100-2 ? Any eta ?
Not that I know of
Hi there, greetings here from Belgium. I was so happy to see this instruction. Hoping not to be forced to buy another mount when using Asiair Plus.. So I bought the cable from Amazon with the FTDI chip in it and was able to program it with the "FT_Prog" tooling. All that was very easy cause to your video. so thx again !
I have the Explore Scientific PMC8 -EXOS 2 mount.
I've connected them all togheter, but still the Asiair tooling can not connect to the mounting.
I've tried several options afterwards, all the baudrates, USB2 and USB3, converted and not converted cable, again with all the different baudrates..
I hope you can help me with something I can still check?
I can not imagine that it strictly has to be the cable from Explore, bit at every usb to serial cable with the FTDI technology should do the trick?
Its doesnt have to be a specific cable from Explore, you can get them from Amazon. You need to make sure its a FTDI Chipset and you can check that in the device manager and see if a com port comes up when plugged in. Also make sure the driver is updated as well. Once you switch the signal to DTR and save it thats all you have to do. Let us know if you have any other questions.
@@TeamAstroworkz Thank you for the answer. It shows up as "USB Serial Port (COM10) in the device manager. What do you mean about "Make sure the driver is updated"? As it will nog be plugged into my computer but into the ASIair.
thanks for your video, just be aware that this setup won’t work at the southern hemisphere due to an a ld version of the indi driver they are packaging. Even the driver was fixed last year, I can’t find anyone at zwo customer support to take care of this. bottom line their support is close to none.
Hello I am Luis from Chile I have the exos2 mount and I followed all the steps but it never worked asiair recognized the cable but I don't know how it communicated with the cpu of the mount why asiar I was in the northern hemisphere, apparently in South America this method does not work or asiair is not updated to use the exos 2 with asiair in my continent.
that depends on how you set up the mount Luis - the EXOS 2 does not have sync to mount capability which means you need to use the explore stars app first to connect and set up the mount location and time etc before you connect the ASIAIR - so the ASIAIR cannot send this data to the mount as its not supported the IEXOS 100 is the same - not all mounts support it
BTW is your mount black or white??
thank you very much for the great information
all functions in the asiair plus work
only the tracking is not running exos2
I am desperate because I have no solution
I need urgent help
If you would like, you can send an email to support@astroworkz.com for further assistance. That way we don’t have a back-and-forth on TH-cam and we can help you with the situation quickly and efficiently.
My ES EXOS2 does not come with the PMC8. Can the ASI Air Pro connect? I've tried everything but can't make it work. HELP!!!
No sorry not supported only pmc 8
@@TeamAstroworkz Can I add PMC8 to my EXOS2? If not, can I connect it to my laptop to run with NINA?
@@kukuruku1234 I have the Bresser EXOS-2 GT mount and it doesn't work with NINA. I am able to use Stellarium to control the mount using Serial to USB cable but getting star trails and have no idea how to fix it. Here is what I have tried so far:
1. Pointed roughly to Polaris,
2. Used ASIAIr with ZWO 294MC to polar align. Once polar aligned used
3. One star alignment (vega) using the handbox. Handbox display shows 8X Trac.
4. It doesn't center the object, so I adjusted to center vega.
5. Took a 10 second shot, and there is star trail. I have tried custom setting to track but nothing worked so far.