modded video camera

[Carl Reade]

Tested for over an hour did not reduce temp any better than 3c....where now I ask...back to drawing board ...Peltier time methinks. ...Davy

Very useful info Davy.

Well after fitting the miniture fan to the CCD board no useful change so that one is ruled out. My conclusion to fan cooling is that if the fan is on from the start it will regulate the temperature and hold the amp glow and hot pixels from increasing over time. With fans this in my opinion is as far as you can expect.

Yes I would agree to get a decent drop in temperature, Peltier would be the only option.

If the cloud nebula would disappear! The dumbell nebula is next

[shirva]

Pretty dissapointed by result of fan mod..but three degree may still make a diff....

No stopping yet...thinking of a larger cfm fan from the states got to go radical suptle no working. ..Peltier is on agenda again. ..so lets get ideas going guys...I'm thinking peltier on top,,with a copper strip colfinger from top and going through a larger slit on bottom casing to allow any moisture that collects on colfinger will drip from protruding coldfinger o

......Davy

[shirva]

Partner got a ten foot pool for out the back can hardly get shed door open to get my gear out roll on Autumn ..lol..I've searched internet for a viable solution to peltier. ..and think and jump in with views folks...that with the camera temp testing yesterday the camera was running three degrees above ambient temp..so if a Peltier was sandwiched between two heatsinks and two fans blowing air away from heatsink the internal fan would be blowing freezing air pretty fast around camera internally. ..would this be enough to keep moisture build up at bay if camera was left to cool before firing up..more holes would have to be drilled in casings to vent freezing moistured air....Davy

[shirva]

Peltier ordered from maplins. .

[johnno]

what I was thinking , attach copper cold finger strip to back of sensor with thermal paste, run it outside of casing to a ali or copper block with the peltier stuck to it with thermal paste. I know you will loose a lot of the peltier efficiency but it should reduce the amout of moisture inside the case and it will also cool the casing down.. i'm afraid thats the best i can come up with, bit of a numpty when it comes to electronic's

[shirva]

Nearly exactly the way I had in mind for first idea but from the top and protruding through lower casing. ..Davy

[shirva]

I'm personally going to go with Peltier two heatsink and two fan mod...reasons being the cold finger may be too cold and give board thermal shock the camera ran three degree's above ambient. I've watched videos on u tube of these freezing water...start again development and testing when I get peltier ..power will be from a 12v to 6v step down adapter and fitting copper deflector plate over main board...Davy

[Carl Reade]

Hi all, carried out another experiment just to see what effect cooling the front metal plate has. I have noticed that even after a short time the front heats up. I purchased some sandwich ice packs and just set one on top and the other below.

After being on for over half an hour the front was very cold to the touch and never heated up. When the packs were removed it heated up to its old temp within five to 10 minutes.

The first dark was with ice on the second with ice removed after about 15 minutes. The hot pixels started appearing pretty rapidly when ice was removed. The fan was not operating during this.

Cheers Carl

[shirva]

Nice one Carl. ..started drawing out new mod..few designs .. going twin pos three fans....getting a bit extreme. ...twin fan mod ...Peltier to outside top casing to stop hot Peltier side coming in contact with camera casing on top a heatsink and fan, underside of casing a cold finger made of copper then a heatsink and fan to blow cold air around camera internally ..cold finger to cool front board...three fan mod.... as above but having third fan in front of cold finger to draw cold air to front board. .the Peltier fans run constantly. .the third fan would be a boost fan controlled by flick switch. ....views please. ..apart from your nuts lol......Davy

[shirva]

Thanks for your results Carl.....think were on track again..your input to our project is a great help...Davy

[shirva]

Rough idea of my new mod build

[shirva]

Going with three fan mod with an add on small plastic box with cut outs fitted to side of camera to hold silica packets for condensation lid to outside for easy replacement of silica....Davy...

[NickK]

Surely it would be better to run a peltier directly against the back of the sensor, then run a small water cooling block on the hot side of the peltier?

[shirva]

Space....the hot side of Peltier can cook eggs on a pan...you would have heat build up in camera more than what your trying to get rid of...Davy

[shirva]

Watch video of Peltier cookers on you tube...and on freezing water. ..Davy

[johnno]

Davy & Carl, when you did the temp checks, was the cam connected to the scope, I've read that when the cam is attached to the scope heat is dispersed through the nose piece to scope.

peltier controller.

[shirva]

No just had cap on.

[shirva]

Any more ideas for the mod ..can't think of any other things to add to mod without rehousing camera intinternals in a project box...Davy

[Carl Reade]

Davy & Carl, when you did the temp checks, was the cam connected to the scope, I've read that when the cam is attached to the scope heat is dispersed through the nose piece to scope.

peltier controller.

Hi Johnno

The fan I fitted is sucking hot air from the camera so should combat that issue. I use it with a reflector so it may make a difference with a different scope. The time I did get out with the fan on for the first time, temp was around 2-3Deg and the camera was cold both front and back.

Cheers Carl

[Carl Reade]

Any more ideas for the mod ..can't think of any other things to add to mod without rehousing camera intinternals in a project box...Davy

Any more ideas for the mod ..can't think of any other things to add to mod without rehousing camera intinternals in a project box...Davy

Only thing I can think of is to attach the cold finger internally across the back of the CCD board and thermally paste it to both sides of the front metal casing (inside). That way there should be cold metal all around the board.

Cheers Carl

[shirva]

That's the third fans job lol...

Davy..

[Carl Reade]

That's the third fans job lol...

Davy..

That's the third fans job lol...

Davy..

This forum has gained a lot of fans...........................

[shirva]

Think the bible was completed quicker than this mod....but no far away now I would say...got stemmer imaging catalogue in on Saturday good general reading and info from it....send email and they send one out...Davy

[Steve_Max127]

I came across this mod for cooling the Watec, interesting results.

http://www.mondatlas.de/en/optik/watec/tech/watec_coolingmod1.html

i'm thinking the same as you that a small peltier and cold finger is the way to go, just waiting on a couple of fans to arrive.

Had a clear night last night and got a chance to test out my new to me Atik 16ic, used it with deep sky stacker live to give almost live views, worked very well was most impressed with results. Nice little cooled CCD with good images and DSS live stacks the on the fly within a few seconds, managed to see more last night than I've ever seen in one night and in great detail.

[shirva]

The watec mod is cracking. ..skeleton chassis near enough.hadn't thought of that ..got some Ali bar like in work. ..any spare Samsungs lol...this is fun .....turning out a good post now...yeeeha...Davy