Dew on EP's

[Mike73]

Just got back from my dark site early as dew stopped play. I guessed it was going to be bad when I first started but I wasn't expecting anything like that! Everything is soaking wet, looks like I was caught in a heavy shower rather than clear skies.

With the warm weather and clear skies forecast for most of the week its not going to get any better so I need to get hold of something quick sharp to stop this happening tomorrow night.

Both my primary and secondary were absolutely fine as I use a camping matt dew shield, the problem was with my EP's.

I'm sure I've read before that people use travel hairdryers? Can you get battery powered hairdryers? Reason I ask is because my car hasn't got a cigarette lighter socket so a power supply is a problem as I use a dob so no power tank.

Any suggestions guys?

[John]

Keep the eyepieces at a little warmer than ambient temperature. A foam lined case, closed when you are not accessing the eyepieces, seems to do the trick. Or pockets, if your eyepiece collection is modest.

Eyepieces don't need to be kept as cool as the scope is. In really cold weather, the heat from your eyeball will cause a cold eyepiece to fog up. So keep them just a little warm.

[leelee970]

As John said above, try keeping some EPs in your pocket.

I also use those disposable hand warmers caches if things get too bad, simply activate the packet and rest the EP on it for a little time (Not too much as it can get very warm).

[Mike73]

Brilliant!

Thankyou John / leelee970, I like the hand warmer idea.

That was my first real heavy dew experience and it took me by surprise, it was a real shame having to cut the evenings viewing short like that but hopefully I'II be better prepared for tonight.

[Carbon Brush]

This is one solution i sometimes use.....

http://stargazerslou...er#entry1230934

[JamesF]

I had exactly the same problem with dew last night, Mike. My scope was absolutely running with it by the time I came in.

I go with the pocket or eyepiece case solution as well. I prefer the eyepiece case as there's less chance of a cap falling off and stray fluff getting into optics, but I may well be overly paranoid there as I've when I've not had anywhere handy to put the case I've used pockets and never actually had a problem. If I'm DSO hunting then I tend to use only a couple of eyepieces anyhow, but with planets I'll often swap back and forth so the case makes most sense.

James

[swamp thing]

I go with the 12V hair dryer myself clears em in seconds and it can back up your dew shield on the secondary if needed.

I try and avoid it by keeping eyepieces in a shut case between usage and if I leave the scope for a tick put an eyepiece cap on the exposed eyepiece.

Dew is the old enemy of us all, and I always find it best to have several lines of defence against it, as after driving to a dark site, to have a session cut short because of it is extremely frustrating.

[S.A.M]

I also had the same problem on Saturday night, dew on my eye piece. I normally keep a spare EP in my pockets ready to switch over as and when required. I was just nice to get out for a while, my scopes had not been out for nearly two months!

Nice to be able to go out without a heavy coat on to keep me warm.

Peter