Connecting ASIAirPro and Plus with EQ6R Pro

Quite a while ago SkyWatcher made a chipset change to the EQ6R-Pro mount line with regards to the USB connectivity on the mount. This caused a few issues with folks attempting to use the ASIAir Pro and Plus controllers and connecting via USB and EQMod.

There are some reports that a newer firmware update for the ASIAir Pro addressed the driver mismatch, though some folks are still having problems.

The video below still holds up today depending on the manufacture date of your mount.

The ASIAir Plus should work out of the box with these SkyWatcher mounts, however, if you have a Pro, you may still use the updated firmware provided by this link to update your device. It will prompt you to replace it with new firmware via the update mechanism in the mobile application, but the drivers will persist and it should work via the USB port.

To avoid these issues, it is still feasible to use an EQDir cable rather than USB. In fact, that’s probably the easiest method to ensure less headaches. Don’t worry about the baud rate, as this will not be a problem with the small sets of data being sent to the mount in multiple second intervals.

If you’re using a USB A-B cable, you want to set the baud rate at 115200, and if using an EQDir cable, 9600. Both use the EQModMount dropdown in the AAP menus.

For my 2 mounts, the AAP works with the upgraded firmware or EQDir cable, and the Plus’ work out of the box via USB. I still use the EQDir cables though most of the time.