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My efforts to stay in the warm

Beyond_Vision

By Beyond_Vision
in Members Equipment Gallery

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Beyond_Vision

Beyond_Vision

Posted
Posted

With this Winter set to be harsh one I decided to remote control my

Sirius EQG ( HEQ5 clone) imaging set up.

Step 1.) Fitting of cabling from PC in Living Room to the Pier.

The following was purchased from B n Q

10m Armoured mains cable

Network Installation kit which included 50m of Cat5 cable/ This was an amazing bargain at £5 in there clearance section

Twin core cable for 12V supply.

2* 2m Plastic pipe.

Two large IP54 rated mains socket enclosures

1 switchable mains socket

I then had to lift up four patio slabs near house then two from my

observing stone circle and dig a trench between the two. I cut the

plastic pipe to length to give the cabling some protection and threaded

the cable through. With all the cabling fed through I then buried the

pipe.

Step 2.)

I then terminated the wiring at either end giving me a mains socket in

one IP box and a Network connection and an RS232 serial link and 12V

supply in the other IP box. The wiring was then terminated near my PC

in my living room. The network connection was wired for a cross over

connection to give me a peer to peer link ( or should that be peer to

pier :icon_jokercolor:).

Step 3.)

I decided to build a pedestal to house my laptop which will be used to

control the mount and CCD camera and DSLR. I used a 3 drawer pedestal

from Staples and a lockable laptop drawer from CPC.

This is shown below. The pedestal is then protected from the elements

by a small plastic cover intended to cover a mini greenhouse.

2595_normal.jpeg

(click to enlarge)

2596_normal.jpeg

(click to enlarge)

2612_normal.jpeg

(click to enlarge)

Step 4.)

I installed the following software on the laptop

Ascom drivers for remote control of mount.

Starry Night 5 Planetarium and scope control program.

Stark labs PHD autoguiding program (freeware)

Stark labs DSLR shutter control program (freeware)

Canon remote control software (came with camera)

VNC remote access host program (freeware) to enable remote desktop

control of laptop across network.

The PC in living room was installed with following

VNC viewer program (freeware) for viewing and controlling the laptop

remotely.

Step 5.)

I decided to make my own shutter release cable which connects to the

laptops parallel port. This was wired with small stereo jack plug at

one end which fits the Canon 400D's shutter release input the other end

was fitted with a 25 way Male D-type Plug to connect to the PC's

parallel port. Between these two connections a small VeroBoard was made

up which provided a volt free contact that is driven by a 0v to +5V

signal from the Parallel port Pin 2 w.r.t to pin 18 and the volt free

switch element was connected to the tip and the inner connections of

the Jack Plug. The PC ground was connected to the Jack Plug outer.

2597_normal.jpeg

(click to enlarge)

2613_normal.jpeg

(click to enlarge)

The set up works fine allowing me full control over imaging and the mount. Once the set up is focused I only need to pop out to check the mount when moving off to another target, just to make sure there are no cable tangles. Also the occasional look to make sure rain clouds arent approaching.

Regards,

Kevin

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MartinB

MartinB

Posted
Posted

Great info Kevin. Houston, we have lift off!

themos, I've been thinking of a wifi linkup between laptops. There is some free virtual server software I believe. Is anyone on SGL doing this. The problem, for me, with a wired solution is that my camera is USB 2 and the signal is degraded if the cable length exceeds 5m.

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markcol

markcol

Posted
Posted

Very impressive setup Kevin, thanks for posting with the pics.

Certainly food for thought for those of us who are currently unable to have a permanent obs setup but would like something a bit more 'civilised' for the winter!

BTW Martin are active USB cables (daisychained) no good for your camera eitther?

Regards

Mark

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Helen

Helen

Posted
Posted

Great info Kevin. Houston, we have lift off!

themos, I've been thinking of a wifi linkup between laptops. There is some free virtual server software I believe. Is anyone on SGL doing this. The problem, for me, with a wired solution is that my camera is USB 2 and the signal is degraded if the cable length exceeds 5m.

Martin,

this might help!

http://stargazerslounge.com/index.php/topic,9180.0.html

Helen

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Beyond_Vision

Beyond_Vision

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Looks the business! But why didn't you go for


  • [li]WiFi for IP[/li]
    [li]portable battery for 12VDC[/li]
    [li]extension reel for mains AC[/li]

? Was it reliability issues or ease of setup or both?

I wanted all the services permanently available at the pier so that I dont have to reel out a mains cable or use wifi where the connection can drop. The RS232 and 12v supply I have wired in are really belt and braces since once the cable is burried its more difficult to add stuff. Since all the connection are on the pier in water proof IP rated boxes I dont have to worry about it raining when I have set up I just cover the scope and sockets and the pedestal is protected by its cover.

These mods are also intended to make life easier when setting up and breaking down the kit. I just disconnect the cables from the mount then wheel the pedestal to the patio door and lift it in. Previously the laptop was precariously balanced on a stool which was always indanger of being knock off or dragged off by CCD USB cables when slewing to another target.

The pedestal also gives me a place to put eyepieces etc safely instead of left on a stool.

When wireless USB is released in this country I will ditch the USB wires and bolt the wireless USB transceivers to the scope. This will allow the scope to rotate more freely without fear of cable snags.

Regards,

Kevin

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Grant

Grant

Posted
Posted

Great info Kevin. Houston, we have lift off!

themos, I've been thinking of a wifi linkup between laptops. There is some free virtual server software I believe. Is anyone on SGL doing this. The problem, for me, with a wired solution is that my camera is USB 2 and the signal is degraded if the cable length exceeds 5m.

I've done this in the past - using tightvnc so remotely access the laptop outside from the desktop inside - worked a treat!

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  • 2 weeks later...
Beyond_Vision

Beyond_Vision

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Just a little update.

The circuit I had given before hand functioned fine on my tower PC but when tried on my laptop it wouldnt activate the shutter on the camera. The problem was down to the laptops parallel port which was only switching between 0 and 3.3V whereas the tower PC was switching from 0-5V this meant that the FET would not turn on. Please find below an alternative solution

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