383L+ power supply voltage

[lensman57]

Hi,

Is it safe to run the camera with a regulated power supply @ 13.8V? The supply is a Maplin one,  black metal box. I also have a couple of the regulated power supplies that out put 12.5V .

Thanks for oyur help.

A.G

[Skipper Billy]

I know of several people running 383's from a 13.8v supply and many report that it performs better than at 12v. At least two people have had confirmation from Atik that its OK to run it at 13.8 volts.

A freshly charged leisure battery will be about 13.2 volts fresh off the charger so its not that different.

I would check the power output really is 13.8 volts first though - I have had some very bad experiences with Maplin electronics !!!

[lensman57]

I know of several people running 383's from a 13.8v supply and many report that it performs better than at 12v. At least two people have had confirmation from Atik that its OK to run it at 13.8 volts.

A freshly charged leisure battery will be about 13.2 volts fresh off the charger so its not that different.

I would check the power output really is 13.8 volts first though - I have had some very bad experiences with Maplin electronics !!!

Thank you for your reply,

I have been reading the posts on the Atik forum regarding this issue and indeed some owners claim that the camera shows less hot pixels @13.8V, on the other hand one owner had performed noise measurement tests on his camera and found exactly the opposite  that his 383 had actually less noise at 12V nominal than 13.5 or 13.8V. The Maplin supply actually measures 13.8V . I also have a Tracer 22A Lithium Polymer battery that measures 12.3V at full charge, I wonder if it can power the camera if need be for about 5 hours as it is supposed to have a flat discharge and a very clean out put.

Regards,

A.G

[orion69]

Yes, it's safe.  All my power supplies are 13.8V regulated.

[Gib007]

13.8V is safe if it's regulated and won't go above. I had an ATIK 383L+ so I've tried it. There was definitely an improvement to hot pixels overall, though hot pixels were only a problem when the voltage dropped below about 12.5V. I did however get a higher readout noise with higher voltage. Specifically, at 13.5V, I had 11 e of readout noise, but at 12.7V, I had 9 e of readout noise. 

I suspect you may be trying to cancel out a problem of low operating voltage by increasing the voltage with a regulator. Most people encounter these issues because they daisy-chain equipment on batteries, with two- and three-way 12V adapters. Have a read of this blog post I wrote talking about this: http://lightvortexastronomy.blogspot.com/2014/08/refuting-dc-dc-converters-as-solution.html

[lensman57]

13.8V is safe if it's regulated and won't go above. I had an ATIK 383L+ so I've tried it. There was definitely an improvement to hot pixels overall, though hot pixels were only a problem when the voltage dropped below about 12.5V. I did however get a higher readout noise with higher voltage. Specifically, at 13.5V, I had 11 e of readout noise, but at 12.7V, I had 9 e of readout noise. 

I suspect you may be trying to cancel out a problem of low operating voltage by increasing the voltage with a regulator. Most people encounter these issues because they daisy-chain equipment on batteries, with two- and three-way 12V adapters. Have a read of this blog post I wrote talking about this: http://lightvortexastronomy.blogspot.com/2014/08/refuting-dc-dc-converters-as-solution.html

Thank you for your reply,

I had a read of your post while I was researching the Voltage early this morning. My power supply is a maplin 7A 13.8 V metal box which I believe is regulated. I wonder If I could use a Step down regulated device to bring it to about 12.5V. I feel a lot safer at this voltage.

Regards,

A.G

[ollypenrice]

Surely if you do your calibration files at the same voltage it won't matter?

Olly

[lensman57]

Surely if you do your calibration files at the same voltage it won't matter?

Olly

Hi Olly,

That is what I have now decided, I am going to stcik to the switchmode power supply @ 12.3V and 5A, that is it. atleast I'd know that I'd be safe with this Voltage. During the testing tonight I also noticed that if the sensor is allowed to cool down quickly ice will form on the sensor so a cool down script and a warm up one are  required for the NEB3. Compared to my 428 this one feels a bit of a dinosaur or may just be that I am not used to it.

Regards,

A.G