Mount control from remote warm room question

[Skipper Billy]

Thanks Derek - I went for the outdoor rubber sheathed variety and it will be in a conduit (more digging!) - the scope end will never move and the warm room end will terminate in a socket. The lead from the socket to the PC is easily accessed/changed.

Fingers crossed !

[Physopto]

Blue water pipe makes  a really good conduit, as it can be accomplished in one unbroken run, The larger size  so as to allow usb ends through. You just need to keep the ends well above the ground and seal them with Soudal Fixall or Sikaflex 512 (not affected by UV) or some other none silicon sealant. A couple of pipe runs in as spares is a good idea as well as insurance against having to dig it up again in the future if you need extra wiring. Just leave a nylon cord twice the pipe length  through to pull wire through in the future.

Derek

[AndyKeogh]

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions and for sharing your experiences.

I have opted for the USB to Cat6 adapter then Cat6 to the warm room then Cat6 back to USB - guaranteed to 60m so the 19m I need should be fine

Will post the results once installed for the benefit of others.

Just got a big hole to dig first !

I seem to be having issues with my active USB cables and am now considering the usb-catx converters. have you bought your yet and if so have you run any tests?

Andy

[Skipper Billy]

Yes - all bought and tested. I havent yet buried the conduit but apart from not being buried under the ground the entire setup is exactly as it will be when complete. I used a 30m cable to really push it - my final installation will only be 18m.

I used cat6 cable and I had the system working far harder than it ever will in reality.

Absolutely no issues - works perfectly.

Worth every penny.

[AndyKeogh]

Well that is good to hear. I have returned my Startech 4 port industrial hub

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001H7AFO6?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00

as I had problems with my cameras after 1 to 3 hours of taking darks.

While reading about 15GB data from 3 SSDs and sumchecking each file, disc errors would appear in the event log. No such errors ocurred with my netgear hub nor my Inateck USB 3 hub.

At other times I would have NTFS error messages and Bitlocker error messages so clearly something was amiss.

What tests have you run to satisfy yourself that all will be OK once you have your observatory in operation?

Andy

[Skipper Billy]

Its setup exactly as it will be in the obs with 2 exceptions - the mount is on a tripod instead of the pier and the cable isnt buried - its just on top of the ground.

It has run for 5 hours imaging, guiding, regular use of Focusmax and Astrotortilla, electronic filter wheel, Atik 314l+, etc - literally a full imaging session all controlled whilst sat on the sofa 30 metres away in front of the fire with a wee dram !

Setup and operation was so easy and uneventful it was rather dull !

Cant fault it.

ps - the 5v supply required at the scope end was achieved with a dc-dc buck set to 5.1v running from one of the leisure batteries that power the entire rig.

[AndyKeogh]

That's very similar to what I was doing initially but I had camera and filter wheel issues after 1 hour and 3 hours.

Do you have a link for the dc-dc buck please.

Andy

[Skipper Billy]

Andy - just Pm me your address - I bought a pack of 10 - i will use some for other projects but will never us all 10 !