What's the best Dew solution for a CPC 1100?

[Flyingpig]

Hi guys,

I have that horrible dew problem - its the early killer of a great nights observing session. This scope suffers much more than the 5SE with dew so I'm just wondering what the best dew solution is for the Celestron CPC 1100?

I have been considering a dew shield but which is best and is there really any benefit of this over using a camping mat and duck tape? What about aluminium dew shields are they any better?

Is a 12v hair dryer a good investment if so are there any particularly good ones that you can recommend?

What about dew heaters are they better; if so what do I need? Should I use both shields and heaters I was thinking probably? What is the best option to buy first keeping the cost as low as possible?

[Freddie]

On my 925 I find a shield keeps dew off for a while but builds up after a while. You can get rid of it with a drier but I find this way you get a slow build up before you get the drier out. I find the best solution is a sheild and then a dew tape just behind it. Never get a problem no matter how much moisture there is in the air. The shield also helps keep stray light out when imaging.

[Flyingpig]

Thanks Freddie what type of dew shield are you using?

[Luke]

I use a dew heater and a dew shield on a C11. A few weeks ago I didn't have the heater properly plugged in and it dewed/frosted over, i.e. the shield alone wasn't enough!

I have a Celestron dewshield but a few letters have fallen off so now it's an ele tron dew shield.

I wouldn't have thought the brand matters that much and I would think a camping mat should be fine, maybe a dark one if possible if you have lamposts around, to help keep out stray light? I'm not sure if that would make much difference, but I'd aim for dark personally just in case!

[Flyingpig]

Has anyone tried the astrozap heated dew shield? I just looked them up on FLO It looks like a pretty good solution to me would this be better that the standard dew shield and a dew tape?

[Luke]

sorry, double post, please delete

[Luke]

I've not used the Astrozap heated dew shield. It sounds like a neat convenient idea to have both bits in one, though that said I do tend to use the same strip on different scopes with different apertures, so maybe for me a separate strip works better?

[Flyingpig]

Thanks Luke, that helps a lot I was wondering if the shield alone was going to be good enough and your post kind of answers it. I experienced the icing up last time session I was out - its not a problem that I'm used to since it rarely got cold enough for that when I lived in West Cornwall.

[Flyingpig]

Think I've found my solution then, are the eyepiece heater strips worth bothering about too?

[Luke]

I find I'm okay with eyepieces as I tend to change eyepieces quite quickly. I put the ones I'm not using in my pocket and that seems to keep them warm enough to prevent dew or frost. Or sometimes I will notice an eyepiece starting to dew up when I've used it for longer than normal so I then swap it over for a few minutes.

The one thing personally that I do use an extra strip for is sometimes with imaging. I find that the 6.3 reducer can dew up pretty badly on a long imaging session, so I usually put a strip on that (which is just a strip I normally use on a refractor when I'm not using the SCT).

Hope that helps. I know the price can feel steep to sort the dew out, it did to me, but in a way it almost feels cheap now because it has saved a lot of bother!

Think I've found my solution then, are the eyepiece heater strips worth bothering about too?

[Flyingpig]

I'm probably going to go with an astrozap heated dew shield and will likely eventually get one for the Nexstar 5SE too. There may be one or two more dew tapes needed for various things. Allowing for these requirements then for a dew controller which is best for price / performance etc? I assume they are all inter compatible.