Camera/Light poser

[Freff]

Perhaps one of you electronic gurus can help me out with this problem.

I want to use one of my spare spc900cn webcams to keep an eye on my mount in the obsy when unattended.

I have the webcam in the corner of the obsy and Sharpcap running and all's well during the day but tat's not when I need it.

What I want is some sort of light (not a red light) that the webcam will pick up (I was thinking infra red) and illuminate the mount.

Red light is no good, the neighbours can see it when the roof is back and I really don't want it on for hours at a time.

I know I can buy a security type light with combined camera, but I would like to utilise what I have if I can.

At present I have Team Viewer keeping an eye on all the software running, watching the mount would be a great help.

Many thanks.

[Gina]

IR LEDs are readily available. They only emit a small amount of deep red light in the visible range. Any webcam without an IR blocking filter should suffice including the SPC900NC.

[Freff]

Thanks Gina, I'm in Maplin's tomorrow so will have a look at what's available.

[Freff]

Well I bought this small kit from Maplins and put it together.

Very disappointed with the output. Looking at it with the web cam and almost no light. It would not light up anything further than a few inches away.

All the LED's showed light initially, but now 6 are out.

I think I wired everything Ok, and my soldering passable.

So unless I'm approaching this wrong or missing something, I'm stumped.

[Gina]

Oh dear I've got one of those but not tried it yet. Like you I bought the kit and made it up. I can't see anything wrong with your soldering - looks a proper job

[Freff]

Thanks for casting an eye over it for me Gina.

I'm not sure if I can even take it back it being a kit.

The results are the same on several different video cameras.

[keithatrochdale]

So after spending all your money at Maplins, why not just buy one of the security cams with IR built in?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-3-CMOS-24-IR-600TVL-Color-DOME-Night-CCTV-Surveillance-Security-Camera-/261063960098?pt=UK_CCTV&hash=item3cc89fe622

[Gina]

Those cheap CCTV cameras are alright up to a few feet but don't give much illumination. I know I've bought a few.

[Freff]

So after spending all your money at Maplins, why not just buy one of the security cams with IR built in?

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item3cc89fe622

I can't use this type direct and controlled from my obsy computer. I just need a simple IR light to illuminate the observatory at night. (see 1st post).

[AstroTux]

Just a quick thought, when I performed the LX mod on two of my SPC900s I left the standard lens on one for testing purposes. I then set it with the enhanced colour macro and it worked really well. Using wxAstroCapture it would allow me to view my back garden at night with exposure times as low as 30 secs.

Does your webcam have to be instant, or would a 30 sec capture rate be adequate? If so you could try this.

[pwalsh61]

I seem to recall that the lens of an SPC900NC has its IR filter built in, so won't that be cutting out your IR light? I found that my Logitech E1000 QuickCam has its filter separate. What's more, the thread seems to be the same so you could, conceivably, use the lens from a logitech on the SPC. Those look like 220ohm resistors on the board. Are they sufficient for all those LEDs (though I guess it depends on the supply voltage and the forward voltage & current of the diodes)? Maybe that's why some have failed?

[AstroTux]

I seem to recall that the lens of an SPC900NC has its IR filter built in, so won't that be cutting out your IR light?

Sorry, I meant that the SPC900 could be used instead of the IR light setup as the LX mod gives it dark adapted vision already. Need to try and word things better....................................

[pwalsh61]

Ahh! It's a pity motion (in Linux) doesn't know about LX-modded cams ;-)

[AstroTux]

Ahh! It's a pity motion (in Linux) doesn't know about LX-modded cams ;-)

But Qastrocam-g2 ( in Linux ) does. I've used it to create timelapse videos using an SPC900 in either LX mode or normal mode ( when I could think of nothing better to do with my time :grin: ).

[Freff]

Thanks for the replies.

I'll try with the lens removed and see if the light is stronger. Although if I do and it does, I won't be able to focus on the mount.

At least it will rule out if the kit is capable or not.

I can still keep an eye on the running software in real time through Team Viewer to check if all's well.

It would have been handy to see if the mount as well.

[Gina]

But Qastrocam-g2 ( in Linux ) does. I've used it to create timelapse videos using an SPC900 in either LX mode or normal mode ( when I could think of nothing better to do with my time :grin: ).

That's interesting May give that a try sometime.

[pwalsh61]

Is the intention to monitor the obsy during a session, or provide some form of video surveillance in case of intrusion? If something like motion could be "married" to an LX-aware program like qastrocam-g2 you'd have a low-light motion detection system capable of automatic recording if/when motion is detected.

If, on the other hand, the intention it to keep an eye on the obsy from indoors, then qastrocam-g2 or wxastrocapture may be the way forward.

Veering slightly OT here (and showing my ignorance) but does EQASCOM automatically stop scope movement when a limit has been reached, or does it just warn? I wondered whether suitably positioned micro-switches or reed switches operated by magnet might be attached to a mount so that should a potentially damaging limit be reached, the switch would either operate as a "kill" switch, removing power from the mount or as an input to an Arduino/similar/a-n-other-device to trigger an automatic scope park and alert/email/flashing red light/siren.

[Freff]

A few nights ago we had good skies and family visiting. No problem really, I set up Team Viewer and was able to watch the observatory computer screen in real time on my laptop in the house. (covertly)

This way I am able to watch the PHD tracking graph, and the images from APT as the come in. This way I don't need to keep going to the obsy.

It would have been ideal if in addition I had the use of my spc900 to keep an eye on the mount.

Of course if the mount was to hit the pier or flip then the PHD tracking would show this and I'd know something was wrong. The cam would give me extra warning as it nears the pier etc. especially during long subs.

I don't use ASCOM at present, that's another problem I'm about to post a thread about.