I have a pocket power box which I have not been able to use and based on what you said I gave the customer support team an email. I do not know where Pegasus are based but I had an email virtually a few minutes laterasking for me to do a few checks and then they organised a team viewer connection. Within an hour of my contacting them I now have a fully useable product. Fantastic service. They even did the upgrade for me.
Boom! Thanks for passing along your experience, Robert. We in this hobby need to make sure others know which companies truly stand behind and support their products. Pegasus Astro certainly does this.
Great PSA. I have several of their products and they are great and occasionally I run a long USB cable and am the type that usually clicks on updates without giving it a second thought. Now I’ll think twice!
Just have the same problem from the same set of events- trying to upgrade firmware via a long USB cable. Agree 100% that this issue needs to have large, very visible warnings everywhere- especially when it tells you to upgrade. Have been conversing with Angelos who also asked if I have a Linux system or Raspberry Pi. I did happen to have a RPi, but it was something I purchased a while ago and never got around to setting up. I said I'd give setting up the RPi a try and Angelos provided links to directions as to how to do this. Luckily I had everything to do the setup and was able to get the RPi working. Waiting now for Evans to contact me to walk me through the process to flash the UPBv2. A bit irritated that Angelos never mentioned Evans had a way to correct the issue without going through the hassle of setting up the RPi.
Geez. Evans mentioned he was going to put a warning in the firmware upgrade notification window. Hang in there. I'm sure Pegasus Astro will get you fixed ASAP. But it sounds like you're having to do some extra work that should not be necessary.
@@Aero19612 Those warnings may now be on the notification window. The firmware fail actually happened on May 30th when I was doing some traveling with the scope. Just took until now, after a lot of other troubleshooting ruling everything else out, to find that this was an issue- first from a Cloudy Nights Forum post- and then searching RUclips, finding your video. Still waiting for Evans. Not sure where the team is located so don't know the time zone. Have some rare clear skies coming up according to the forecast, so hope it's soon.
Silly question. Have you tried restarting it? I had not turned it off as I was exchanging emails with Evans (he’s in Greece, I believe) in real time. When he said he’d get back in touch with me to fix it, I unplugged the long USB cable and plugged in the short one. It started right up. No actual damage. Maybe because I hadn’t turned it off in the mean time? I know what you mean about not wanting to waste a clear sky. Good luck.
@@Aero19612 just got a response from Angelos answering my email as to when I could expect to get a response from Evans (yes- he confirmed they are in Athens, Greece). Guess Evans out because he said it will be tomorrow. Yeah, I went through every troubleshooting iteration I could think of- rebooting both the UPB and computer many times, different cables, different USB ports, even different computers, reloading software and drivers .... Really trying to rule out anything stupid I may have done or overlooked. But after all that, it all pointed to the UPB. That's when I started looking for help online. At the time of the fail, I was connected via a 15' active, but unpowered, USB cable. At home I connect with a 30' powered USB so I can control everything from inside, which is on the ragged edge of reliable. Been looking for a way to "cut the cord" between the UPB at the rig and controlling computer, but so far no luck. Heard of using mini PC's but have yet to follow up on anything. Guessing the theory is to plug the mini-PC into the UPB and then via wifi and/or internet, control the rig from a remote computer. I saw in one of your responses, you are also looking at the same. Maybe the Raspberry PI could lead to this solution?? If you come across any info, please pass it on. Just subscribed to your channel- lots of videos dealing with the same issues I am dealing with- or plan to be. The few I watched so far are high in production value and very professionally made. Keep up the great work.
Thanks Joe. Hope PA will get you sorted out quickly. Yes, I am trying to cut the cord. I bought an ACEPC AK1 the other day (about twice the cost of my 45' powered USB). Waiting for a an internal SSD card before I set it up. Maybe this weekend. I haven't even turned it on yet. I will try tests indoors first. A little concerned about the heat here in Texas. And wifi strength. Will post a vid when I have something to report. Welcome aboard!
Hi James, thanks for that. My experience with service at Pegasus Astro has always been great. I've had some issues recently with the USB3 ports on my Ultimate Powerbox 2 where my software won't recognize devices plugged in to the ports with UBS3 cables. Oddly, they work with UBS2 cables in the USB3 ports, and I've tried every possible combination of cables and cable lengths. Evans recommended sending it back under warranty, which I have done. He's always extremely helpful, and I love Pegasus products.
Interesting. I wonder what causes that? I'm a big fan of Pegasus Astro products. I first came across them when I bought the FocusCube2. I was so impressed, that I bought the UPBv2 in spite of its high price. It's a great add.
Would the recognition include misidentifying the cameras. I have the zwo mini guide cam and the zwo2600 colour. Occasionally I have the 2600 identified as a 2600 mono. Drivers, UPBv2or the cables who knows ???
Absolutely. And after all that, I plugged the short USB3 cable directly into the laptop and the UPBv2 booted up as normal and asked me if I wanted to upgrade the firmware. I clicked OK and it did its thing in 10 sec and everything is good to go! Short Recommendation: Buy Pegasus Astro Products when you have a choice.
My experience too - their customer service is off the charts good. Got a couple of Pegasus products and eagerly awaiting shipment of the Pocket Powerbox Advance.
Thanks for the PSA! I have one of these and haven't gone out in months so I probably would have just breezed through the update. As bad as it is that this happened, I'm glad to hear their customer service is great! Let us know how it all ends up.
Hey, Cody. Well, I'm back up. After Evans said he would log on to my unit and revive it, I decided to unplug the USB cable from the long extension and plug it into my laptop. I fired up the UPBv2 and it came alive as before (we didn't think it would boot up) and asked to perform the firmware upgrade. I said OK and it went through just fine. Our Long National Nightmare is Over....almost before it began
I have had issues with my 45' USB3 cable too. It has a power input but I was trying to use it without one. It will run, but it's on the ragged edge and crashes after a while. So I ordered the 5v 2A power supply. Hopefully that clears up the problem.
RS232 (old school) 30m, USB considerably less: USB2 about 5m and USB3 2m. USB 3.1 and 3.2 standards too. So don’t believe claims of longer USB3 “magic” long cables! Firmware/OS upgrades can go wrong (My iMac needed a new PSU and motherboard after a “regular” Apple upgrade - also covered by warranty). Many upgrades are involuntary - you have to accept them. Not all H/W has a bootstrap separate from the BIOS (or equivalent) for controlling the upgrade or a fallback (or 2nd copy of) BIOS to allow automatic recovery. Simon
Yeah, I rarely "accept" offers to upgrade firmware, when it's actually offered. I paused for a few seconds before pressing the OK button. I should have thought about my long cable. Seems like developers could run a mock data transfer test first to verify the soundness of the data transfer connection. Fortunately, PA was quick with an offer to help.
Hi James. I always enjoy your channel due to your technical abilities and detailed explanations. I have a question related to the Pegasus equipment and the software which runs it. I use the basic PPB and found it to be quite adequate to run my ioptron mount, DSLR, USB hub, dew bands etc. I recently had some issues and Evans told me that I must now use the Infinity Platform. Easiily installed and it detected my PPB. A fairly different interface to what I had grown accustomed to using. As a matter of fact I was trying to understand how it functions, what the various icons represented and basically how can I get the most out of it. I reached out to Evans, and as always he quickly replied to some questions I had about powering up my gear (I have now switched from the DSLR to a ZWO ASI533MC Pro). During that email conversation I asked if there was an instruction tutorial for the Infinity Platform. Unfortunately there is not. My question is to ask if you use the Infinity Platform and if so, could you do a short video to show how to set up for powering on the various ports etc.? Evans says it can be set to power on the 12v ports on BOOT start, but I do not see that. There only seems to be the option to select a time on or time off, not a selection for 'Power on Boot' which is what I want. The PPB also powers my Startech 7 port USB 3.0 hub and that is the first thing that I want to have energized when the PPB is turned on. I realize that all of the 12v ports will act as one, but having power on to the imaging camera immediately should not be an issue and of course the mount has its own ON/OFF switch. Thanks
Hmmm. I've never heard of the "Infinity Platform." I googled it, but got top links that couldn't possibly be what you're talking about. Needless to say, I can't really make a video about its use. I use the UPBv2 with PA's interface software on a Window 10 PC. Only problem I've had is trying to upgrade the firmware. I don't try that anymore since the video you're commenting on here.
ahhh. It's "Unity Platform". I re-searched with "Pegasus Astro" and Unity Platform came up. I'll look into what it is. Not sure I'm eager to install something if what I have is working. Haha.
@@Aero19612 yes, of course. Don't know why I wrote 'Infinity' after staring at the Unity Platform logo ha ha. It is designed to run all the Pegasus devices, so it has great potential. My issue was that the PPB insisted on requiring an update in order to operate. When I allowed the update to happen, it would create an error. Evans then told me I had to use Unity Platform. Part of the Pegasus evolution I guess. As with so many other things 'Astro', it is severely lacking in the instructional department. I am greatly indebted to the many wonderful astrophotography RUclipsrs, such as yourself, who have helped me get this far!
Indeed. I'm wondering if the recent "No Response 17" (loss of contact with the mount is actually not a "power" issue, but a USB issue. And then there's the "Failure to Download Image" issue. I've been web searching for (a) utilities to test USB3 transfer accuracy and (b) mini PCs so I can eliminate the long cable altogether. Thanks for watching!
Does it give you a warning regards max USB cable length in the user guide? Or firmware upgrade readme? No & No. Failure lays entirely in the hands of Pegasus astro. Nice after sales support though... eventually ;)
James Lamb Nice one, i can forgive manufacturing faux pas if there backed up with good after sales support. After all, nobody is perfect 😬 I emailed Pegasus a year a go for focuser support and they were very helpful 👍
Interestingly I did the exact same thing the other day over a 15m active cable but it all worked as intended but will observe the warning in the future. James have you noticed the limits of focus travel are not reported to APT or NINA ? All I get is 999999
No. I can and have set this limit in the ASCOM driver (I think) for the Pegasus Astro FocusCube2, but can't with the Celestron focuser. I would like to set limits. There's no need to run the focuser all the way in or out if reasonable focus adjustment is a few millimeters each way.
HaHa. You're scarred from dealing with iOptron. I unplugged the USB cable from the extension and plugged it into the laptop and restarted the UPBv2 (expecting the worst) and it booted up and asked to update the firmware like nothing happened. I clicked OK and everything went fine. No harm, no foul.
I have a pocket power box which I have not been able to use and based on what you said I gave the customer support team an email. I do not know where Pegasus are based but I had an email virtually a few minutes laterasking for me to do a few checks and then they organised a team viewer connection. Within an hour of my contacting them I now have a fully useable product. Fantastic service. They even did the upgrade for me.
Boom! Thanks for passing along your experience, Robert. We in this hobby need to make sure others know which companies truly stand behind and support their products. Pegasus Astro certainly does this.
Great PSA. I have several of their products and they are great and occasionally I run a long USB cable and am the type that usually clicks on updates without giving it a second thought. Now I’ll think twice!
I will too. Short USB cables!
Just have the same problem from the same set of events- trying to upgrade firmware via a long USB cable. Agree 100% that this issue needs to have large, very visible warnings everywhere- especially when it tells you to upgrade. Have been conversing with Angelos who also asked if I have a Linux system or Raspberry Pi. I did happen to have a RPi, but it was something I purchased a while ago and never got around to setting up. I said I'd give setting up the RPi a try and Angelos provided links to directions as to how to do this. Luckily I had everything to do the setup and was able to get the RPi working. Waiting now for Evans to contact me to walk me through the process to flash the UPBv2. A bit irritated that Angelos never mentioned Evans had a way to correct the issue without going through the hassle of setting up the RPi.
Geez. Evans mentioned he was going to put a warning in the firmware upgrade notification window. Hang in there. I'm sure Pegasus Astro will get you fixed ASAP. But it sounds like you're having to do some extra work that should not be necessary.
@@Aero19612 Those warnings may now be on the notification window. The firmware fail actually happened on May 30th when I was doing some traveling with the scope. Just took until now, after a lot of other troubleshooting ruling everything else out, to find that this was an issue- first from a Cloudy Nights Forum post- and then searching RUclips, finding your video. Still waiting for Evans. Not sure where the team is located so don't know the time zone. Have some rare clear skies coming up according to the forecast, so hope it's soon.
Silly question. Have you tried restarting it? I had not turned it off as I was exchanging emails with Evans (he’s in Greece, I believe) in real time. When he said he’d get back in touch with me to fix it, I unplugged the long USB cable and plugged in the short one. It started right up. No actual damage. Maybe because I hadn’t turned it off in the mean time? I know what you mean about not wanting to waste a clear sky. Good luck.
@@Aero19612 just got a response from Angelos answering my email as to when I could expect to get a response from Evans (yes- he confirmed they are in Athens, Greece). Guess Evans out because he said it will be tomorrow. Yeah, I went through every troubleshooting iteration I could think of- rebooting both the UPB and computer many times, different cables, different USB ports, even different computers, reloading software and drivers .... Really trying to rule out anything stupid I may have done or overlooked. But after all that, it all pointed to the UPB. That's when I started looking for help online. At the time of the fail, I was connected via a 15' active, but unpowered, USB cable. At home I connect with a 30' powered USB so I can control everything from inside, which is on the ragged edge of reliable. Been looking for a way to "cut the cord" between the UPB at the rig and controlling computer, but so far no luck. Heard of using mini PC's but have yet to follow up on anything. Guessing the theory is to plug the mini-PC into the UPB and then via wifi and/or internet, control the rig from a remote computer. I saw in one of your responses, you are also looking at the same. Maybe the Raspberry PI could lead to this solution?? If you come across any info, please pass it on. Just subscribed to your channel- lots of videos dealing with the same issues I am dealing with- or plan to be. The few I watched so far are high in production value and very professionally made. Keep up the great work.
Thanks Joe. Hope PA will get you sorted out quickly. Yes, I am trying to cut the cord. I bought an ACEPC AK1 the other day (about twice the cost of my 45' powered USB). Waiting for a an internal SSD card before I set it up. Maybe this weekend. I haven't even turned it on yet. I will try tests indoors first. A little concerned about the heat here in Texas. And wifi strength. Will post a vid when I have something to report. Welcome aboard!
Hi James, thanks for that. My experience with service at Pegasus Astro has always been great. I've had some issues recently with the USB3 ports on my Ultimate Powerbox 2 where my software won't recognize devices plugged in to the ports with UBS3 cables. Oddly, they work with UBS2 cables in the USB3 ports, and I've tried every possible combination of cables and cable lengths. Evans recommended sending it back under warranty, which I have done. He's always extremely helpful, and I love Pegasus products.
Interesting. I wonder what causes that? I'm a big fan of Pegasus Astro products. I first came across them when I bought the FocusCube2. I was so impressed, that I bought the UPBv2 in spite of its high price. It's a great add.
Would the recognition include misidentifying the cameras. I have the zwo mini guide cam and the zwo2600 colour. Occasionally I have the 2600 identified as a 2600 mono. Drivers, UPBv2or the cables who knows ???
Evans is a really good guy. I've gotten responses withing 10 minutes on the weekend.
Absolutely. And after all that, I plugged the short USB3 cable directly into the laptop and the UPBv2 booted up as normal and asked me if I wanted to upgrade the firmware. I clicked OK and it did its thing in 10 sec and everything is good to go!
Short Recommendation: Buy Pegasus Astro Products when you have a choice.
My experience too - their customer service is off the charts good. Got a couple of Pegasus products and eagerly awaiting shipment of the Pocket Powerbox Advance.
Impressive customer service though. But hey, it takes your mind off dew, so that's a win!
Indeed. When you think you've lost your (expensive) UPBv2, dew doesn't seem that bad. All good now. Everything works. Now, back to dealing with dew...
Thanks for the PSA! I have one of these and haven't gone out in months so I probably would have just breezed through the update. As bad as it is that this happened, I'm glad to hear their customer service is great! Let us know how it all ends up.
Hey, Cody. Well, I'm back up. After Evans said he would log on to my unit and revive it, I decided to unplug the USB cable from the long extension and plug it into my laptop. I fired up the UPBv2 and it came alive as before (we didn't think it would boot up) and asked to perform the firmware upgrade. I said OK and it went through just fine. Our Long National Nightmare is Over....almost before it began
@@Aero19612 that's great! Thanks for the update.
I have had issues with my 45' USB3 cable too. It has a power input but I was trying to use it without one. It will run, but it's on the ragged edge and crashes after a while. So I ordered the 5v 2A power supply. Hopefully that clears up the problem.
Thanks for watching, Scott! That's what I was using, but it was powered at the time. Oh well. Lesson learned.
RS232 (old school) 30m, USB considerably less: USB2 about 5m and USB3 2m. USB 3.1 and 3.2 standards too. So don’t believe claims of longer USB3 “magic” long cables! Firmware/OS upgrades can go wrong (My iMac needed a new PSU and motherboard after a “regular” Apple upgrade - also covered by warranty). Many upgrades are involuntary - you have to accept them. Not all H/W has a bootstrap separate from the BIOS (or equivalent) for controlling the upgrade or a fallback (or 2nd copy of) BIOS to allow automatic recovery. Simon
Yeah, I rarely "accept" offers to upgrade firmware, when it's actually offered. I paused for a few seconds before pressing the OK button. I should have thought about my long cable. Seems like developers could run a mock data transfer test first to verify the soundness of the data transfer connection. Fortunately, PA was quick with an offer to help.
I use a 30ft powered usb cable and have done the update twice on my regular Pocket PowerBox. I won't try it again though given this!
HaHa. Better safe than sorry!
Hi James. I always enjoy your channel due to your technical abilities and detailed explanations. I have a question related to the Pegasus equipment and the software which runs it. I use the basic PPB and found it to be quite adequate to run my ioptron mount, DSLR, USB hub, dew bands etc. I recently had some issues and Evans told me that I must now use the Infinity Platform. Easiily installed and it detected my PPB. A fairly different interface to what I had grown accustomed to using. As a matter of fact I was trying to understand how it functions, what the various icons represented and basically how can I get the most out of it. I reached out to Evans, and as always he quickly replied to some questions I had about powering up my gear (I have now switched from the DSLR to a ZWO ASI533MC Pro). During that email conversation I asked if there was an instruction tutorial for the Infinity Platform. Unfortunately there is not. My question is to ask if you use the Infinity Platform and if so, could you do a short video to show how to set up for powering on the various ports etc.? Evans says it can be set to power on the 12v ports on BOOT start, but I do not see that. There only seems to be the option to select a time on or time off, not a selection for 'Power on Boot' which is what I want. The PPB also powers my Startech 7 port USB 3.0 hub and that is the first thing that I want to have energized when the PPB is turned on. I realize that all of the 12v ports will act as one, but having power on to the imaging camera immediately should not be an issue and of course the mount has its own ON/OFF switch. Thanks
Hmmm. I've never heard of the "Infinity Platform." I googled it, but got top links that couldn't possibly be what you're talking about. Needless to say, I can't really make a video about its use. I use the UPBv2 with PA's interface software on a Window 10 PC. Only problem I've had is trying to upgrade the firmware. I don't try that anymore since the video you're commenting on here.
ahhh. It's "Unity Platform". I re-searched with "Pegasus Astro" and Unity Platform came up. I'll look into what it is. Not sure I'm eager to install something if what I have is working. Haha.
@@Aero19612 yes, of course. Don't know why I wrote 'Infinity' after staring at the Unity Platform logo ha ha. It is designed to run all the Pegasus devices, so it has great potential. My issue was that the PPB insisted on requiring an update in order to operate. When I allowed the update to happen, it would create an error. Evans then told me I had to use Unity Platform. Part of the Pegasus evolution I guess. As with so many other things 'Astro', it is severely lacking in the instructional department. I am greatly indebted to the many wonderful astrophotography RUclipsrs, such as yourself, who have helped me get this far!
Thanks, good to know. I wonder if dropped packets are behind other problems you have been having. Camera hanging etc..
Indeed. I'm wondering if the recent "No Response 17" (loss of contact with the mount is actually not a "power" issue, but a USB issue. And then there's the "Failure to Download Image" issue. I've been web searching for (a) utilities to test USB3 transfer accuracy and (b) mini PCs so I can eliminate the long cable altogether. Thanks for watching!
Does it give you a warning regards max USB cable length in the user guide? Or firmware upgrade readme? No & No. Failure lays entirely in the hands of Pegasus astro. Nice after sales support though... eventually ;)
Yeah. Evans said he will add a warning about cable length in the pop up firm upgrade window. That should help a lot.
James Lamb Nice one, i can forgive manufacturing faux pas if there backed up with good after sales support. After all, nobody is perfect 😬 I emailed Pegasus a year a go for focuser support and they were very helpful 👍
Interestingly I did the exact same thing the other day over a 15m active cable but it all worked as intended but will observe the warning in the future. James have you noticed the limits of focus travel are not reported to APT or NINA ? All I get is 999999
No. I can and have set this limit in the ASCOM driver (I think) for the Pegasus Astro FocusCube2, but can't with the Celestron focuser. I would like to set limits. There's no need to run the focuser all the way in or out if reasonable focus adjustment is a few millimeters each way.
@@Aero19612 OK will look into it further. Not really a pressing issue as I'm at mid travel when focused
Yeah, me too. I just don't want an "automated" focus routine running away with the focuser because of some other non-focus issue. Belt and suspender.
@@Aero19612 final weak link for me is the Crayford focuser. I'd be way more concerned with a rack & pinion
Credit customer service when it is completely fixed
HaHa. You're scarred from dealing with iOptron. I unplugged the USB cable from the extension and plugged it into the laptop and restarted the UPBv2 (expecting the worst) and it booted up and asked to update the firmware like nothing happened. I clicked OK and everything went fine. No harm, no foul.
James Lamb So it was user error?
Users never admit to that. Always use short USB cables when doing a firmware update. Lesson learned.
What email did you use to contact them? I have sent them a few emails but no response.
support@pegasusastro.com
I have always found them to be very responsive...give it a shot.