RPi 3

[madjock72]

Hi all im pretty sure this has been asked to death but i shall endeavour to ask and hopefully get some helping support and advice from the DIY community.

Looking to build two projects over the summer for the dark nights coming back in later this year.

1.) Raspberry Pi3 ( 802.11 bgn Wireless LAN and Bluetooth 4.1 ) with new v.2 NoIR Camera v2 and with a 3.5 touch screen plus added usb storage. To make a well a CCD that stores all the pictures as you image without a laptop on site. And a fan to cool the Pi if necessary. And this to power the unit (power bank)

Using the wireless or bluetooth connection via my phone for a livefeed of the object. 

please tell me if ive forgot anything.

2.) A complete goto system with step motors to an old eq5 mount i have with a guide camera as well. Running of two RPi3 systems and with the above ccd as well, all controlled from my samsung 12.2 pro tablet. Anyone done this before on here.? Ive seen it done but the posts are mostly years old on the Pi systems ( the new Pi3 is 50% more powerful cpu wise and and roughly 25% better power consumption), not at all a linux user im a windows bloke but im willing to learn and adapt to complete  the job. 

any feedback and help would be greatly appreciated, thanks for reading.

 

[NickK]

Hmm the size of the screen would probably be too small to really get a good look at a sample exposure..

[riklaunim]

Note that PiNoir camera (CMOS) has small pixels and without that lens using a telescope will result in a very high image scale and small field of view due to small sensor size. The lens it has could be used to get sky widefield shot and do some plate solving to make a GoTo map and control. Imaging with it is highly limited. As a guide camera you would have to implement either a driver for OpenPHD or implement guiding and everything yourself.
 

So in short you have to be a software developer with lot of time just to make it work. Cheap x86 Intel tablet with Windows 8/10 will have access to ASCOM and all Windows apps and drivers and will be able to control existing USB astronomy cameras and what not.

[cjdawson]

Check out my all singing all dancing camera mount thread.

 

Whilst I'm not looking to drive the RPi CCD camera.  I am looking to drive stepper motors, camera shutter release, a light sensor and a couple of swtiches from an RPi 3.  I'm looking to employ a 12v Battery rather than a power bank - they do work, but for a long exposure session, I'm not sure if there will be enough juice available.  Also I'm looking to drive 12v stepper motors, so I need more voltage anyways.

As for the software, I'm working on a program written in C# running on Windows IoT.  This is mainly so that I can get fully control over everything that I want using a language that I'm very familiar with.  There's enough innovation going on with the hardware as it is, so I don't also want the added complexity of learning another programming language as well.

[fireshipjohn]

Hi,

Take a look at this thread, quite a lot of work on an autoguider has already been done, 

https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=45246

The software works nicely although I've never used it in anger

 

John

[gajjer]

Hi Madjock72

there is a thread on the Pi site where someone used it for guiding. I will have a look for the link when I get home.

Personally I thought it might be a good planetary camera given the small pixel size. I have made a camera set-up with the Pi but need to get off my backside and run it with the laptop.

Note to self: Get of your backside!!

I also wanted to run it headless but never quite got it working to my satisfaction.

cheers

gaj

[madjock72]

6 hours ago, riklaunim said:

Note that PiNoir camera (CMOS) has small pixels and without that lens using a telescope will result in a very high image scale and small field of view due to small sensor size. The lens it has could be used to get sky widefield shot and do some plate solving to make a GoTo map and control. Imaging with it is highly limited. As a guide camera you would have to implement either a driver for OpenPHD or implement guiding and everything yourself.
 

So in short you have to be a software developer with lot of time just to make it work. Cheap x86 Intel tablet with Windows 8/10 will have access to ASCOM and all Windows apps and drivers and will be able to control existing USB astronomy cameras and what not.

http://www.raspberrypi-spy.co.uk/2013/06/cheap-interchangeable-lenses-for-the-raspberry-pi-camera-module/

would these not work as your suggesting .? 

[madjock72]

6 hours ago, NickK said:

Hmm the size of the screen would probably be too small to really get a good look at a sample exposure..

that size screen would be to make sure the object is in the right area and to start up the camera and some menu functions, i would be doing a wireless too my tablet or phone which has a high res screen, my phone is samsung note 4 and tablet is pro 12.2 so i should get very high resolution.

[madjock72]

2 hours ago, fireshipjohn said:

Hi,

Take a look at this thread, quite a lot of work on an autoguider has already been done, 

https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=45246

The software works nicely although I've never used it in anger

 

John

Yeah the problem is most of the topics are years old and the hardware has moved on quite far since then. Some great youtube videos of a bloke with a 200p dobson tracking using stellarium and an asian gent using it as a guiding scope but its about 2-3 years old. There is a new video but it uses the old camera and pi board.

0

[riklaunim]

23 minutes ago, madjock72 said:

http://www.raspberrypi-spy.co.uk/2013/06/cheap-interchangeable-lenses-for-the-raspberry-pi-camera-module/

would these not work as your suggesting .? 

Field quality won't be good. PiNoir own mini lens should have a wide field of view on it's own. You have to do a lot of testing

[gajjer]

Here is a post I put up a while ago. I don't know if it helps at all.

 

[madjock72]

Yes the amount of testing is going to be fun and with different filters as well. Great thing about where i go is its a dark skies site and its got wifi ( when it works ). There is a meteor lens for the GPCam that would be great for the PiNOir lens. Not sure how much data i would need to run a camera and store it on a 32GB usb stick but i think i should be able to run 3 of these as storage and using a the power banks in serial it should run for a whole night easily. As these can charge a mobile like my samsung note4 about 5 times before it needs a charge.

Another project is to make a solar charger which will charge a lithium power bank and run my scope for solar observing without a need for lots of cables and heavy batteries and laptops. 

 

[madjock72]

Abathur is this the sensor that the Noir v2 uses as it uses the Exmor R

http://www.sony.net/Products/SC-HP/new_pro/april_2014/imx219_e.html

 

[madjock72]

Found this for the goto system ( motozero ) but not sure if the motors can handle the movement of the  SW EQ5 or might  a less heavy mount might be better. And really exciting news is that google are bringing android as an OS system for the raspberry Pi, hopefully this should make things for me easier as im not a programmer but shall make an effort to learn as i go along until they can sort out the OS. Still waiting on the camera must be a backlog atm. 

[madjock72]

My Rasp Pi camera arrived today and the Pi3 is due tomorrow. Found a new camera for the guiding scope but i think it wont work as the processor might get overloaded but will reach out to the kickstarter team and see if its possible. The camera is this one ( Pixy ).Pixy

 

[madjock72]

The Pi3 has come and now to test it out over the weekend and design a housing with cooling.

 

[Gina]

I too now have a Pi3 but not yet ready to try it.  I'll be very interested to read anything related though as I'm picking up knowledge before I start

[psamathe]

34 minutes ago, madjock72 said:

The Pi3 has come and now to test it out over the weekend and design a housing with cooling.

No personal experience (my RPi does not get particularly hot) but general consensus on internet forums suggests things like fans are only necessary if you are in "extreme climates".

But, if you are putting a heatsync on, it can affect Wi-Fi signal so use a ceramic one.  Also, quite a few heat syncs come with acrylic tape to fix them (not so good).

Ian

[cjdawson]

One thing worth noting is that there is a problem with the UART on the RPI3.  I tried to get it working with a GPS module at 9600 bps, howver it wouldn't play nicely.  Here's a link on the RPI forum to get you started if you need to know more.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=143371

 

Basically, it doesn't play nice with bluetooth.  The workaround if I understand right, is make the UART function by breaking the bluetooth circuit.  Or something like that.

[madjock72]

On 23/06/2016 at 12:22, psamathe said:

No personal experience (my RPi does not get particularly hot) but general consensus on internet forums suggests things like fans are only necessary if you are in "extreme climates".

But, if you are putting a heatsync on, it can affect Wi-Fi signal so use a ceramic one.  Also, quite a few heat syncs come with acrylic tape to fix them (not so good).

Ian

I dont think heat will be a problem but some sort of exhaust system under my camera would help as the Pi case is pretty well vented. Here is a small diagram in paint of what i hope to make, will need to get a piece of plastic which is slight bigger than the Pi cam but i think another piece with a circle to place the eye piece into will be needed also.

Any thoughts

[madjock72]

On 23/06/2016 at 13:12, cjdawson said:

One thing worth noting is that there is a problem with the UART on the RPI3.  I tried to get it working with a GPS module at 9600 bps, howver it wouldn't play nicely.  Here's a link on the RPI forum to get you started if you need to know more.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=143371

 

Basically, it doesn't play nice with bluetooth.  The workaround if I understand right, is make the UART function by breaking the bluetooth circuit.  Or something like that.

im using this to control the Pi camera .

https://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-81701/l/the-ultimate-smartphone-controlled-portable-raspberry-pi-3-camera

[wimvb]

In april I did a quick and dirty experiment with a noir raspi cam on my SW 150P. I removed the camera lens and attached a homemade nosepiece (endcap from a plastic drainage pipe from a local hardware shop seems to fit perfectly). Here is my post with results

Afterwards the sensor chip came loose from the camera pcb. The sensor has a metal back and can probably be fitted with a peltier cooling element. If you can find a suitable one and the short connecting cable between chip and pcb is long enough.

Just my 0.02 €

Wim