Keeping your telescope in a fridge?

[matt_man21]

Hey all,

I've been having a bit of a crazy idea for a while now, Seeing as the weather is determined to be as flippant and inclement as possible, I rarely have time to let my SCT cool down properly before imaging and am often plagued by hideous tube currents. it can take up to 3 hours for the scope to cool down. Hours that could be spent capturing ancient well travelled photons. More than once it's clouded over and started some form of precipitation well before my scope has had the chance to cool down.

ENTER THE BRAINWAVE!

Would it be possible or even advisable to build a chilled cabinet in the house that follows the outside air temperature to always keep the scope at the same temperature as the outside air? I realise condensation might be an issue but there are ways around that... I was either going to cool the thing using an old air conditioner i have in the shed or using a large Peltier (Thermoelectric module). All enclosed in a well insulated and moisture tight case. the idea being that i'd just be able to grab the scope and set up in less than 30 mins,

I dont have a permanent obsy as i have a communal garden in the middle of a (stadium lit) council estate, as i'm sure you can imagine when i let the scope cool down i have to be out there with it at all times and watch it like a hawk!!! i just feel like i could be doing better things with my time sitting outside for 3 hours as i get dam cold, visual observing is nice but i still have trouble killing the 3 hours this things takes to cool off. Ideally this project could save me a lot of time and make things a lot more enjoyable...

I'd love to hear your ideas, thoughts, warnings and various rambling... has any one else attempted this?

Matt

[steve_bham]

Think the damp conditions in a fridge type construction might be an issue, could you travel to a dark site? But scope in boot as your driving its cooling down.

[matt_man21]

A slight issue is that i don't actually drive and i'm reliant on some very understanding mates who 2-3 times a year will drop me off in a dark field and pick me up in the mornings. So I'm tied to my home and garden... hence the problem of having to watch the scope as it cools down to avoid it being nicked from my communal garden.

I'm not terribly worried about condensation or moisture as i can condense/freeze most of the moisture out of the air with the cold plate/heat-sink and "mop up" anything else with an aggressive desiccant... The cabinet would be air tight so once the air in side is dry it'll stay that way untill the door is opened...

I'm still very much toying with ideas...

[Moonshane]

I would have thought that if you put a large air brick in the wall and then made an insulated box (to keep warm air from the house out and coolr air from outside in, then you'd be successful. I don't think condensation would be an issue (until you brought it out of the cupboard into the house (combat this by leaving all covers on until outside) but if it were then you could install fans inside the cupboard to circulate (outside) air.

sounds like a lot of effort though when you could just store it in a shed or garage? or what about your loft? is it insulated? maybe it's cool enough up there to give you a chance of it being near ambient?

[matt_man21]

The air brick sounds like a great idea but unfortunately I live in a rented council flat and i believe they might frown on me degrading the structural integrity of the building any more LOL! I do have a shed but i'm worried about security issues because of the communal nature of the garden and the many cretins that live round here! I agree it's a lot of effort but it's the only viable and secure way that i can think of tackkling the problem...

This is where i image... (LP filters are a must... Along with a security team!!!)

I suppose i could build a cabinet by the window and with use of tumble drier ducting and Computer fans puch outside air through the cabinet from an open window.

Being an SCT it's pretty compact so would sit inside a small cabnet nicely...

[Moonshane]

I'll never complain about neighbour lights again mate - I feel for you.

[steve_bham]

Crazy amount of light there, where abouts in the country is that?

[matt_man21]

I live in Peacehaven a small town just outside of brighton. Luckily my years of campaigning has had the council putting some of the lights on timers turning off between 1am and 6am. Needless to say my subframes fog after just 120 seconds even with a LP filter...

[skywatcher58gb]

Hi Matt Following on from the theme of the air brick, instead you could consider an inlet pipe say 15mm and an outlet pipe, fix a computer fan to the wall at the outlet and you would provide a forced draft. The cost would be minimal and hardly any impact on the brickwork. Just a thought. Good luck.

Dave

[Naemeth]

Matt, do any of the lights shine into your bedroom? It might be worth contacting the council about them and try to get them shielded. I thought it was bad over here with a car park opposite, but the garden is actually fairly dark luckily in terms of glare.

[matt_man21]

Yes two of them shine directly in to my room, I've started moaning at the council but i'm guessing it's going to be a good year until they actually "extract the digit" and do something about it.

Back on topic...

I'm going to need to build the cabnet for the telescope regardless of what option i choose, I may however experiment with different options and see what's the best one in terms of performance and hassle. Keep the ideas comming guys...

This is one thing i love about forums... so many different takes on a problem and seeing all different and interesting solutions. it's GREATLY appreciated

Matt

[PeterW]

Get the council to put baffles on the ones that shine directly into your house/flat.... I did and it makes a difference. If you are planning to use a fridge you either have a)too big a fridge or b)too small a scope!

Good luck

Peterw