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It's... anti-dew gear trial night!

iPeace

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iPeace

iPeace

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This is the first time I've used any type of active dew prevention device; the first time I've ever used a mobile power source. Everything has been fully manual and sufficiently foggy and frosty for me up to this point.

To put this in perspective, I've been holding off trying a powered option to keep the dew away, have been trying shielding and insulation with mixed results. This exercise was meant to hopefully once and for all determine whether dew would go away if I threw technology at it... and I'm now a dew band convert. :happy11:

So probably not shocking news to any of you, and pictures of a mess of heater cables are not particularly inspiring, but it's another breakthrough for me! The setup was out until well past Orion's rising and there was not a trace of dew on anything meant to be looked through.

Just need to get the cables organized and I'll be in good shape for the coming colder seasons. The only limiting factor will now be me. :happy9:

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Stu

Stu

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You've certainly got all angles covered there Mike!! It does make sense to get this sorted because there is nothing more frustrating than being under a lovely dark winter sky, with kit which is dripping wet!

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Pingster

Pingster

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Thats amazing. I was out on Ashdown forest last week. Amazing sky and the best "1hr" dark skies from me so far with almost perfect 360deg View. The views in my Dob were awesome.... Looked in my APO, awesome, looked into the dob...? Whys the dob looking worse? OMG the secondary AND the Primary where dewd up! And this was only about 40min into "Darkness". Lucky i had the APO as they remained fine all evening. However annoyingly the eye pieces started dewing up.

So last night i decided to spend £150 on dew straps. Annoying it will be not to be able to stargaze "naked"... im gonna have to go in with strings attached. :p

Great setup and its reassuring to know it works so far!

What i dont understand is... you have x7 straps... and only 4 heater ports? 

If i have x4 straps. How many amp hrs battery will i need? I see them in 7ah, 12hr, 16hr, 24ah?

 

 

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Stu

Stu

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3 minutes ago, iPeace said:

If you look closely, you will see I am using two controllers which each provide four channels.

:happy11:

I imagine you will be able to have a sauna if you push them up to max on a dewy night ;) 

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RichLD

RichLD

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Blimey, that's definitely belt and braces! Nice one, I wouldn't be without my dew heaters.

I'll be checking the weather over the Netherlands for unusually arid conditions - then I'll know when you've fired up your rig :icon_biggrin: 

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spaceboy

spaceboy

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I found an app that tells you when there is a possibility of dew but I can't say I was all that impressed with it. I don't very often suffer from dew cutting my night short but I have had it happen and it's a pain in the butt as not only do you give up your nights observing prematurely all your kit is wringing wet.

Looks like you have all the bases covered iPeace and I bet with everything running at full tilt your not going to suffer your kit or even the surrounding area getting wet :D 

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iPeace

iPeace

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4 minutes ago, Stu said:

By the way Mike, I noticed a new, but unmentioned piece of kit in your picture, namely the 'iPeace Blockomatic Wooden Right Angle Rigel Holder Thingy'. Very nice :), I can see it catching on :) 

Actually featured much earlier in the DIY section...  :happy11:

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iPeace

iPeace

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11 minutes ago, Stu said:

By the way Mike, I noticed a new, but unmentioned piece of kit in your picture, namely the 'iPeace Blockomatic Wooden Right Angle Rigel Holder Thingy'. Very nice :), I can see it catching on :) 

I was looking for a suitable name, thanks.

:happy11:

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  • 8 months later...
NosyTrader

NosyTrader

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On 08/09/2016 at 17:23, Pingster said:

Thats amazing. I was out on Ashdown forest last week. Amazing sky and the best "1hr" dark skies from me so far with almost perfect 360deg View. The views in my Dob were awesome.... Looked in my APO, awesome, looked into the dob...? Whys the dob looking worse? OMG the secondary AND the Primary where dewd up! And this was only about 40min into "Darkness". Lucky i had the APO as they remained fine all evening. However annoyingly the eye pieces started dewing up.

So last night i decided to spend £150 on dew straps. Annoying it will be not to be able to stargaze "naked"... im gonna have to go in with strings attached. :p

Great setup and its reassuring to know it works so far!

What i dont understand is... you have x7 straps... and only 4 heater ports? 

If i have x4 straps. How many amp hrs battery will i need? I see them in 7ah, 12hr, 16hr, 24ah?

 

 

Hi Pingster, I just came across this old post of yours. Which carpark in Ashdown do you use? Everytime I've been out these with the scope I seem to have disturbed people hanging about in their cars in the middle of the night! :)

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