Recommendations for Serial Interfaces

• Use physical (or wired) interfaces to your Astro gear rather than wireless (i.e. avoid WiFi or Bluetooth). This will avoid issues of wireless devices going to sleep, needing separate connection and weak signals or radio interference interrupting communications.
• Understand exactly what USB ports you have on your computer, what are the capabilities of any hubs you have including any hubs built into to Astro cameras. (i.e. use USBTreeView)
• Understand and document your end to end connectivity from your computer to all Astro related devices. Include physical wiring and COM port details.
• Always ensure any powered hubs are powered and with enough power available and thick enough cables to reduce voltage drop, to fully supply the hubs needs.
• Don’t drop down to USB2 and back up to USB3
  For example:
  • Don’t use a USB2 cable to join a USB3 upstream port to a USB3 device modern imaging camera.
    For example, the hub on the back of the ZWO ASI1600mm Pro has a USB3 Type B connector for a USB3 cable that connects to a USB3 port on a computer or USB3 hub.
    The two USB ports on the back of this camera are USB2 ports. As such, while it’s fine to connect say a ZWO filter wheel to this port, don’t connect a USB3 guide camera, such as the ZWO ASI120MM-S as it’s a USB3 camera and while you can use USB2 cables and upstream USB2 connectivity, USB3 is recommended for speed and fewer issues.
  • Don’t use a USB2 hub for USB3 devices.
• Settle on a USB cabling setup and label ports and cables. This is particularly useful if you use Microsoft Windows and your device has a COM port associated with it. Changing cabling between physical USB ports can change COM port assignments causing wasted imaging time debugging connectivity issues.

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