Fitting out an Observatory..

[Helen]

Hi guys,

I now have an observatory structure and I need to finalise the fitting out, especially the cabling.

I've put a pipe under the floor and this will link to the house. My current (sorry for the pun ) thinking is to just put mains power on a spur (with isolation) into the warm room, and then run a 12v supply up to the pier base and around the walls of the obs area. USB cables will run between scope and warm room. I think I'll go wireless rather than put an ethernet link back to the house.

So I think I'll need a 240v to 12v converter, a USB hub to go by the scope so that I don't have to run 5 USB cables through the pipe, and some software for remote access.

Have I missed anything? and can people with experience and knowledge let me have recommendations for good brands and minimum spec?

Many thanks

Helen

[daz]

Don't skimp on the 240-12 converter, err on the side of caution and get one that exceeds your current requirements by a good few amps - this type of thing http://tinyurl.com/2x29z8 (have one myself)

Get a powered USB hub, and if you need to extend the USB cables, make sure they are 'active'

VNC remote access software is free and dead easy to use

First few off the top of my head.........

[Robd]

Helen,

Consider what you need to run off the mains supply. Power for the DC convertor, laptop/pc etc. You will also need lighting of some sort, probably both red and white light. These can then be either table lamp type with 5amp fuse or standard light fittings. If the latter then they must not be wired into the spur ( 30 amp).

With both my observatory and workshop I have run a spur into a separate fuse box. This allows lighting and sockets to be on separate fuses, easy isolation etc.

Just something else to consider is the distance of the os from the wireless hub. Before ruling out cat5 cable ensure that the wireless will work.

Rob

[centroid]

Hi Helen

Ok, lets see what you might want to cater for.

Mains cable from the house yes, and an RCB at the supply end yes. You'll also need to consider just what the total current is that you might wish to draw, when specifying the cable.

Warm Room, then some form of heating, which will draw the heaviest current. I use a wall mounted heater with a 500W , 1kW, and 2kW outputs.

This is thermostatically controlled. I find that as my warm-room is quite small, the 2kW is never required.

I have several mains power points in the warm-room and obsy, two of which are on the Pier. The scope has its own separate mains to 12V DC (regulated) psu. There is also a mains to 13.8V DC 7 Amp psu, that power the Dew Straps etc. Both of these mains to DC psu's on mounted on the pier.

My SXVF-H9C has its own mains to 12V DC regulated supply, and this is also mounted on the pier.

Between the warm-room and the scope I have several cables. Two RS232's to the scope, three USB, and two cables from the JMI MotorFocus hand-boxes, to the JMI focusers on the two scopes.

I have a 30m Cat5e network cable, running from the Study in the house, out to the warm-room. This is mainly too provide internet access in the obsy, and for uploading large batches of image data from the obsy PC to the study PC, where I do all my processing.

I can control the obs equipment from the house, but having a warm room attached to the obsy, I tend not to bother.

Personal choice, but I prefer wired networking to wireless.

As for software, both RadMin and PC Anywhere will allow full remote operation. I'm not familiar with the one that Daz suggests, but if its free, and it works, that's good enough.

You might also want to consider security for the obsy!!!.

Dave

[Beyond_Vision]

Dont forget to make sure you use an armoured mains cable.

There is also a new hub made by Belkin that allows you to connect 5 usb devices to it then connect to to a pc via a ethernet link wired/or wireless.

http://www.belkin.com/uk/networkusbhub/

You could control upto 5 usb devices remotely with this so no need for a PC in obsy. The only downside is the speed of the link which is 10/100 Mbit whilst USB 2.0 is 480Mbit so you will get slower download from a CCD camera. Things like scope control, guiding, filter control etc will not be affected by the speed of the link. When they get round to making the hub gigabit ethernet it will be great.

Regards

Kevin

[blinky]

I think you will find you need to run Ethernet between the house and Obsy. My wireless router is downstairs in the living room, if I go out the back (say 5-6m from the wireless router) I cannot get a signal, due to the brickwork (bear in mind my house is modern not an old house made of solid stone!).

p.s. If you are looking for a PC for the warm room I have a very nice suitable one for sale

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Due to the brickwork problem my wireless router sits looking out of the window.

Kaptain Klevtsov

[mcut]

in respect of the wireless:-

http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=530

this review:-

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/labs/122211/dlink-rangebooster-n-650-dir655.html

i have the model below that does not have the gigabit hub for any wired connections in the house to any other PC's. people get worried about draft-n as a lot of computer manufacturers are playing catchup with it. however i am using the draft - n router on the older "G" system and i get a good signal all over the house and in the garden. transfer speeds are very good and the security is good.

[radioactive]

I think you will find you need to run Ethernet between the house and Obsy. My wireless router is downstairs in the living room, if I go out the back (say 5-6m from the wireless router) I cannot get a signal, due to the brickwork (bear in mind my house is modern not an old house made of solid stone!).

p.s. If you are looking for a PC for the warm room I have a very nice suitable one for sale

Good point on the cabling I find it much better to have both at time the wireless link is a bit carp

Oh and the PC yes really excellent more than suitable them ones are so portable too I have two of them in my warm room one totally dedicated for imaging the other runs stuff like Starry Nights I find them both to be a great asset to me and still leave my Laptops free for other things

I have 6 double sockets and three single sockets in my Obsy setup + three separate 12volt dc supplies so as one don't interfere with another in any way this may be OTT for your setup but works well for me in what I get upto in there

[Helen]

Thanks everyone for so much really useful information - this forum is just SO great (been having broadband troubles, so hence the delay in saying thank you!)

Helen

[MikeP]

Just make sure you have a kettle - wireless or otherwise.

Mike

[Helen]

The first accessories for the Obs (at Christmas) were indeed a kettle and a mug , just wondering whether I need a fridge for the milk

Helen

[CELESCOPE]

Yup wireless is unreliable Helen, found that out myself , varying strength of signal , best wired if i was you .

Something to do whilst the data is being collected , gets boring after a few hours watching a puter screen lol . tv for dvd OR normal viewing, another puter for practising processing, intercom facility, plenty of books to read Astro of course,a dart board with a picture of someone you dont like and can throw darts at it [removed word] nilly heheheheh ,and of course the drinking cabinet ,soft or the hard stuff ,

thats it job done , feet up , think of Steve L outside freezing.((sorry Steve ))

Rog

[MikeP]

think of Steve L outside freezing

Are there rules on really evil posts?

Mike

[Viking]

Helen,

Have you finished off your warm room with plenty of insulation, i.e. to retain the heat and save of the bills?

John

[algol]

seeing this great effort that helen has done really makes you want a little ob of your own don't it ?

how many people on this board have one already? and how many planning it?

if theres enough people i may try to run the old, but you've got to have one to be a member routine lol

[CELESCOPE]

yea sorry about that Mike , lets hope Steve sees the funny sidee of that heheheh , i,m not at Kelling so he cant hit me lol

Rog

[centroid]

how many people on this board have one already?

I think you'll find that there's quite a few of us, and with new 'builds' coming on-stream quite regularly.

Dave

[algol]

think i'm gonna wait till settled down in our own place for that though.

gonna have to be somewhere out of light polluted zones if at all possible and with a damn good southern horizon.

[George]

seeing this great effort that helen has done really makes you want a little ob of your own don't it ?

how many people on this board have one already? and how many planning it?

if theres enough people i may try to run the old, but you've got to have one to be a member routine lol

I really couldn't contemplate astronomy without my observatory, I'm on my 2nd. I started with a dob many many years ago just for visual and soon tired of lugging everything out even with the simplicity of a dob. With an observatory your up and running in minutes and there's no cooling down period either, lets face it, with the limited clear nights we get in the UK do you really want to spend valuable time setting the scope up when you could be observing from the off

[RayS]

Helen

If you run an underground cable to the observatory it should be armoured like this:-

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/84106/Electrical/Cable/SWA-Cable/6943X-2-5mm-3-Core-SWA-Cable-25m

and the cable should terminate in some kind of separate consumer unit like this ;-

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/25882/Electrical/Consumer-Units/Volex-Consumer-Units/Volex-8W-100A-DP-Isolator-Sw-Insulated-CSU

THe consumer unit may need to be separately earthed (?) and fitted with the appropriate circuit breakers (MCB's) for your observatory circuits - lights, mains power points etc.

Probably not a job for an amateur really!

Ray

[Helen]

Thanks guys for all the suggestions! And Ray, don't worry I agree that electrics are not for the amateur!! I've got an electrician uncle who will do the necessary once I've decided what I need.

Helen