Pulsar lands in Dorset garden

[Oddsocks]

Today marks the start of a new era for me, out goes the leaky old Skyshed POD and in comes a new PULSAR 2.2m fully automated observatory.

Hopefully the new observatory will be ready for fully automated and unattended operation by the autumn. I have a weather station to install plus separate fail safe Hydreon rain sensor that works independently of the observatory computer and closes the shutter in the event of rain  http://rainsensors.com

CCD Commander will be in charge of a Paramount MX and the Sky X Pro with dome and camera add on's and also monitor a Lunatico Astronomia AAG Solo/AAG Cloudwatcher weather station, it will be an interesting few months getting all the bits talking to each other....I shall blame Steppenwolf for encouraging me if it all goes pear shaped!

I posted a video of the PULSAR installation on Youtube this evening, begins with a few stills of the old SkyShed POD and pad preparation and then a time lapse of the PULSAR dome installation this morning, three hours work compressed into nine minutes, makes it all look so easy...

Big smile on my face this evening...

William.

 

[steppenwolf]

Fabulous stuff and well worth waiting for. I'm off to view your video now!

[Debo]

Briliiant stuff, you'll really going to enjoy that.

[steppenwolf]

Video viewed - takes me back to last April!

[Owmuchonomy]

That's very neat. I hope you can get loads of use from it.

[des anderson]

Great video.Enjoy.Des

[PhotoGav]

Brilliant. You lucky boy! I hope you have many many clear dark nights to enjoy your new toy!

[Gina]

I want one!!!   Enjoy

[laudropb]

Looks great. Good luck.

[carastro]

Great video.  I must say though I was very impressed with your gutter solution to the pivot leak on the POD, I use a bucket for mine but do worry when i go on holiday in case there is a lot of rain and the bucket overflows.  I must bear that idea in mind.

Carole 

 

[Oddsocks]

Thanks to all who have posted comments to my post, I will have to work extra hard at imaging now to justify the cost but so pleased to be moving on from the Skyshed POD, it was so demoralising having to deal with constant water leaks, you couldn't turn your back for more than a week before a new problem would appear.

 

On 14/04/2016 at 23:53, carastro said:

Great video.  I must say though I was very impressed with your gutter solution to the pivot leak on the POD, I use a bucket for mine but do worry when i go on holiday in case there is a lot of rain and the bucket overflows.  I must bear that idea in mind.

Carole 

 

Thanks Carole,

I ordered a Skyshed POD with added insulation in the the roof and walls but the extra weight was just to much for the HDPE plastic construction, the pivot joints used to mate quite closely for the first eighteen months or so and did not leak but gradually the extra weight in the roof distorted the clamshell profile permanently, the dome rim sagged in towards the dome centre so this made a nice rainwater collection system and the distorted pivot joints just let this water pour inside the observatory.

The internal guttering works really well but I started having water leaks from the centre dome seal directly above the mount and the grey silicone rubber profile seal that provides the external protection for the two dome halves used to freeze the two halves together and would tear when you tried to open (or close) the dome, I had to begin my observing session by running a hairdryer around the great dome seal to "un-freeze" it before opening the dome, I'm sure my neighbours think I am quite mad.

The internal guttering is made from a small centre guttering "T" down pipe directly coupled to a water butt intercept joint, which comes with the flexible pipe to connect to the butt, and the normal drain pipe through connection is capped to block it off so all the water passes out via the flexible butt pipe through the dome walls, the horizontal guttering connections of the "T" joint, where you would normally connect the guttering to, are just fitted with guttering end caps and the whole lot is joined with PVC glue and sealed with silicone. It sounds complicated but only takes an hour or two to install.

I fitted one under both pivot joints and it made the dome look just like a motor boat with the bilge pumps running to see the water shooting out the side wall pipes when it was a raining really hard!!!

Here are a couple of pictures that show the internal guttering a little better than in my video:

William.

 

 

 

 

 

[baggywrinkle]

Very nice indeed...

[bish]

Looks good. I would like one but will have to make do with a shed

[carastro]

Thanks for the explanation William, it sounds like your leak problems are much worse then mine.  I never ordered extra insulation and have had no problems from the upper dome at all, that would be "the pits" and to have to put a scope cover on the scope INSIDE the POD is ridiculous.  No wonder you got fed up with it.   The only time my dome gets stuck is when it is VERY frosty and the dome seal gets stuck to the secondary dome.  

My leak is purely from the pivots and one side is worse than the other.  On one side I have a small plastic bowl and it rarely gets more than 1" of water in it.  On the worst side I have a bucket and need to empty that after a heavy downpour.  Usually about half a bucket full.  

More recently I think I might have discovered the cause - I always thought it was a torn gasket at the pivot (when I changed the pivot bolts once when removing my POD visor the dome slipped and tore the gasket), but seems the torn gasket is on the side that leaks less and the seals are intact on the leaking side, but the seal has a bit of "lift" in it and doesn't sit flat onto the bottom rim of the dome where water collects when it has run down off the dome, so I guess water is passing underneath.  I am going to fill that little gap with some sealant (I have no Lexel left) and see if that does the trick.  

I might have to order some more Lexel just for this little job, it's annoying it doesn't "keep" once opened.  

Carole 

[sheeprug]

Very nice.  :-)

Just to clarify a couple of finer design points, presumably the pipework is ducting for cables, and central block is designed to be a solid mount base with the Celotex sheet to reduce vibrations?

SR 

[Oddsocks]

On 15 April 2016 at 10:45, sheeprug said:

Very nice.  :-)

Just to clarify a couple of finer design points, presumably the pipework is ducting for cables, and central block is designed to be a solid mount base with the Celotex sheet to reduce vibrations?

SR 

That's correct SR...

The central 1m x 1m x 1m pier block is isolated from the surrounding concrete pad using the Celotex 50mm sheeting so that you can walk around the outside of the dome without transferring vibration to the pier.

The ducting is for cabling and is 40mm drainage pipe which passes all the way through the pier block, outside the pier block and under the pad the 40mm pipe is inside and covered by 50mm pipe "pipe-within-pipe", separated using bubble wrap, which was also used to wrap the corner joints before the concrete was poured, this also is to prevent vibration transfer, the 40mm pipe work is essentially "floating" free of the surrounding pad. It may not really be necessary but it takes little extra effort to provide it before the concrete was poured, once the pad and pier block is down it is too late to discover that walking around the observatory while imaging causes the mount to wobble!

William.

[steppenwolf]

I used a similar anti-vibration system and also used some polystyrene beads at one point, William and it was well worth the effort - however, all my conduits (power, data, security, water) are outside the centre pier pouring. Someone suggested pouring petrol on the polystyrene foam to dissolve it after the concrete had set but I decided against this to ensure that there was no chance of plant growth is the area! I feel very confident walking around the dome whilst imaging although I rarely do this now. Preparation before the 'event' is everything in this game!

[Guest]

Excellent video and a great advertisement for Pulsar domes - I'm sure there's loads of viewers on here now deciding between a scope upgrade and one of these :-)

I'm surprised how poorly designed the Skyshed is with all this leaking? I would think they'd design a solution and distribute it to all users - makes having one a bit pointless?

Look forward to your imaging results :-)

David

[ollypenrice]

That's brilliant and you'll have a wonderful setup when it's all in harmony. I was wondering about the apparent presence of two doors in the early stages and wondering when Brian Ricks was going to appear! However, the add-on desk compartment resolved the mystery. This will make all the difference inside, I guess. The quality of fit seems excellent, too.

Olly

[gooseholla]

If I had a dome I'd have to make a moat and drawbridge to keep people out. Then I'd basically turn it into a fort to avoid theft. Basically, it'd become a castle and no observing would ever get done. That is why I stick to a dob under open skies... 

[Grotemobile]

Love the video. Reminds me of the old Laurel & Hardy Films. Good idea with the shape of the base. Very nice bit of kit.

 

[tonylumley]

5 hours ago, gooseholla said:

If I had a dome I'd have to make a moat and drawbridge to keep people out. Then I'd basically turn it into a fort to avoid theft. Basically, it'd become a castle and no observing would ever get done. That is why I stick to a dob under open skies... 

but John. the lengths you will go to just to keep your mum at bay!!!!!

[Gina]

I already have a moat round mine when we get very heavy rai like we have had this winter!   I don't bother to lift the drawbridge though

[DAVE AMENDALL]

Hello and congratulations on an excellent set up. I see there has been some design changes on the 2.2 metre in recent times and also you are automating right from the start.Way to go. On the video, is that a road outside or a country lane unlit hopefully. I suppose the delivery time on the observatory is still 12 weeks approx., but waiting patiently pays off. Hope you get many years of enjoyment from it and the leaky pod is becoming a dim memory...................Dave