skybadger

I'd seriously consider: 4G alternative access to dome router so when network dies you can still access essential components. Solar isn't a panacea so wireless switched mains charger Reliable rain sensor You didn't mention flip flat scope covers or dew heaters Voltage sensors I don't get the need for an inverter if you have battery and I don't understand the spec for lipo bbattereis where deep cycle lead acid are better. Voyager is the only software I know of that can handle multiple mounts and cameras properly, prism can but is more limited. Jth

Look at hygreon rain sensors. Very simple and reliable.

The missing link here is that the vixen adapter you link is meant to be used with dslrs and dismantled t-adapters. Sadly I have yet to find a «thing» to t2 male thread adapter, they are all t2 female to camera native bayonet. So in the past I have made my own. To attach a camera to the vixen draw tube I have used a 60mm to t2 adapter or more preferably, a 60mm to M48 male to M48F to t2 M because it's more flexible for you to put a M48 filter wheel or OAG in between.

OK then the answer is to use a t threaded t2 mount of any manufacturer and screw the t2 side into the camera while fastening the lens side of the t2 mount ring to the vixen adapter.

Checkout the ascom developer forum on groups io . IIRC you need to register the driver in 32 and 64 bit modes and may need to compile into any CPU mode rather than dedicated architecture but many drivers do work without change. What does the diagnostics tool show when selecting as 32 or 64 bit ?

Windows takes care of that if registered properly, it doesn't matter whether it's 32 to 64 or any other combination.

But the replacement hub does the same job with a different name!

IIRC, you take your canon t adapter apart by unscrewing the clamping screws at the side and mount the canon bayonet part on the smooth angled flange of the vixen adapter by tightening the screws up again.

I'm just finishing building my own on a pulsar-like dome . The key benefits are that it is so much quieter, holds in place part open and does not slam into the end stops. It's taken a while to prove - it uses continuous steel wire around a winch bobbin and I still need to add a tensioner but mostly there. Largest cost is the motor at £140 and then some Arduino and motor control modules for wireless control. The wire is pennies and the guide wheels I made myself but can be obtained from Amazon equally nowadays.

Like it !

I'll take a look there. Ta.

Full well is 26 K e and the anti blooming gate should catch most of that unless really bright. What is the guide axis ? Ide be looking at PEC or tracking first.

Squeezed mine in when I did it last.

I've been running mine for the last 6 months solid and it's been reliable. I use a led lens to concentrate the sky FOV onto the sensor. I compare with a portable unihedron and astap Sqm calibrator and it remains consistent.

The problem with timers is the interval continually needs to change due to the changing alt, AZ movement rates. If you build yourself enough of a motor driver to drive the dome with switches, then you have enough to add the lesve dome control to for full dome auto control, or the velleman USB interface for the same. Both of these are open source on github or similar. Mines there too if you can do Arduino and some fairly simple soldering.

Glad to see you got it working. I use the same library for my esp8266 encoder dome tracker. All gpio s on that chip bar one can be used as interrupts. It's quite hard to use the i2c expander to do this but there are dedicated chips to do this which you can interrogate via i2c and I believe the teensy has two internal encoder interfaces built in for free. But I use the same interrupts to directly measure pulse frequencies up to 200khz .

You only need a few watts each, so much less than 2A.

Thanks Mike. It's not unsimilar to many other domes. A friction wheel driving on the underneath of the dome rotation may do your job. Alternatively if your rotating internal or external profiles are round-ish, a motor could drive on that surface. My dome drives on the internal edge but still uses power and control electronics for the shutter motors which are powed from solar & battery and uses Wi-Fi to communicate with a central controller PC . Hence allowing continuous rotation and independent power. Either way, take a look at cytron power controllers from the likes of the robot parts websites, they are cheap and provide large currents for simple motor controls.

Or maybe someone here can provide you an ascom compliant dome driver ? There are numerous large motor drivers out there, some for less than a tenner, that will work directly from a bidirectional switch. My dome shutter manual override works like that.

Hi Mike. As an engineer I will now say those important words , what are your requirements ? If you can rotate in a circle , a number of motors (between 1 and many) are probably easier to implement. They could be friction, belt and pinion or some other method of engagement but there are numerous open source and off the shelf solutions for that which would means your skills requirement can be kept to the appropriate level. Any details on the dome and physical layout ?

I'll have a stab.. Calculate the local hour angle for the meridian at Istanbul at 12-3=9am . Which star ? Ecliptic coords are ra and Dec ? Lower transition ,is that the same as upper and lower culmination for a polar star ? IE need more details please.

Agrees the stellar photometric way is the gold standard.it's just the way I read the post. I'm struggling to understand why the measurement is dependent on altitude, your signals are relative between star and background at any altitude. Perhaps you are saying the sky is brighter further from zenith ?

Just to check- are you using the unihedron to calibrate ASTAP or the way I would expect, plate solving to calibrate the unihedron ?

Also, why are you using a x3 Barlow when the quark has its own x4 built in ?

On mine I can see prominences without it being turned on. Solar disk detail becomes available with a low setting and solar self heating takes it past the tuned point so an erf is becoming essential . This is used with a SV80 Refractor so it's within the aperture range. Turn your heater settings right down and work through the range.