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Can you guess what it is yet?

steppenwolf

By steppenwolf
in DIY Astronomer

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steppenwolf

steppenwolf

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36 minutes ago, brantuk said:

Universal mains transformer for any type of mount?

Unfortunately not......

31 minutes ago, parallaxerr said:

Remote 240V power switch via RS232?

Cool idea but no ......

15 minutes ago, MrsGnomus said:

Wild guess - unit to control power to two different stepper motors plus power for dew heater bands?

I smell a rat, too close for comfort! I reckon you've been 'researching'....:icon_biggrin::icon_biggrin:

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MrsGnomus

MrsGnomus

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3 minutes ago, steppenwolf said:

Unfortunately not......

Cool idea but no ......

I smell a rat, too close for comfort! I reckon you've been 'researching'....:icon_biggrin::icon_biggrin:

The Lakeside Astro focuser on our WO Star 71 has the same 9 pin connector...

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MrsGnomus

MrsGnomus

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8 minutes ago, steppenwolf said:

Closer but not there yet

Second guess would be power/control for two different stepper motors plus dc power supply for two cameras with built in filter-wheels....or am I going in the wrong direction now?

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steppenwolf

steppenwolf

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41 minutes ago, Ibbo! said:

its a thingamajig for doing a remote wotsits

Very much this - but, ahem, lacking a little in the 'detail' department .....

39 minutes ago, PhotoGav said:

Is it for your flip flat train set points thingymajigy?!

Partly .........

35 minutes ago, Owmuchonomy said:

Easy, a table to put your new Dob on. :evil:

Lateral thinking, I like it! However, I am not sophisticated enough to have posed a trick question .....

44 minutes ago, MrsGnomus said:

Second guess would be power/control for two different stepper motors plus dc power supply for two cameras with built in filter-wheels....or am I going in the wrong direction now?

Lis, you are sooo close now, it would be unfair to not post the second image that has the full panel annotations!

IMG_4705 copy.png

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spillage

spillage

Posted
Posted

is part of a remote switch to turn the whole of the world wide web on and off? Although saying this I do not see a fbi,cia or mi5, mi6 sticker anywhere. (or any other secret service stickers).

 

Edit: Hang on if nothing is plugged in how am I able to make this post???

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MrsGnomus

MrsGnomus

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Third guess from the Milne household (Steve is now joining in the fun) is that the additional DC outs are to power your "flat flaps". Bit thrown by the manual/remote switch though as we did wonder if one of the DC outs was to power the dome but there would be the risk of leaving the switch in the "wrong position" so that it couldn't be opened remotely so we rejected that as an option.

 

 

 

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vlaiv

vlaiv

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Hm, focus divider? :D

Send one set of focus motor commands to two units? (have no idea why one would need such a thing, except having two same tubes mounted side by side to compensate for temperature changes once initial focus sync have been achieved).

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steppenwolf

steppenwolf

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3 hours ago, spillage said:

is part of a remote switch to turn the whole of the world wide web on and off?

Oh how I'd love to be able to do that sometimes!!

2 hours ago, vlaiv said:

Hm, focus divider? :D

Send one set of focus motor commands to two units? (have no idea why one would need such a thing

Not quite and you're right, you really wouldn't want to do that!

35 minutes ago, Dave_D said:

it's Schrödingers controller... there's either something or nothing in the box :D

Well there is indeed something in the box - 2 x  8 relay boards with double throws and a serious number of wires!!

16 minutes ago, StevieDvd said:

Focuser and rotator control?

Focus, yes rotator no!

3 hours ago, MrsGnomus said:

Third guess from the Milne household (Steve is now joining in the fun) is that the additional DC outs are to power your "flat flaps". Bit thrown by the manual/remote switch

You pretty much have it, Gnomae (well what is the plural of Gnomus people?).

So, what does it really do?

I now have two astrographs in Chanctonbury 2 (my remote observatory) and both have autofocus motors, their own CCD cameras and their own flat-flaps. I need to be able to operate one telescope or the other with all the required services depending on the target.

1. The 9 pin male socket takes the output from the focus controller

2. The two 9 pin female sockets output to the two focus motors, 1 or 2, depending on whether the relays are 'on' or 'off'

3. Two of the 'DC power plugs' feed 12v to the two flat-flaps, 1 or 2, depending on whether the relays are 'on' or 'off'

4. The other two 'DC power plugs' feed the 'signal' command from the main dome controller to open or close the flat-flap selected in 3. above

5. The large white cable supplies AC mains Live connection to the two AC mains sockets, 1 or 2 depending on whether the relays are 'on' or 'off'

6. The 12v socket is simply 12v in to the unit

7. The other socket ('Remote') is the 'signal' command from the main dome controller to select which of the two telescopes I want to use

8. The 'Manual' switch allows me to switch all the circuits by the throw of a single switch to emulate the signal in from 7. above

So there you have it, I can now remotely switch all required services from one telescope to the other by a single software command.

Thanks for playing folks and well done Lis and Steve.

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PhotoGav

PhotoGav

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Posted

That's all very clever and so on, but I am shocked by your inability to decline first declension Latin nouns... Gnomus has the masculine singular ending of -us that declines to -i in the plural, hence Gnomi. Were it Gnoma, the female version of a small person, then the plural would indeed be Gnomae. 100 lines to be handed in before breakfast tomorrow - "Romani Ite Domum".

Edit - Apologies, that should be second declension nouns as Gnomus is second declension, whereas Gnoma would be first declension. Phew, I'm glad we've got that sorted out.

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steppenwolf

steppenwolf

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12 minutes ago, PhotoGav said:

That's all very clever and so on, but I am shocked by your inability to decline first declension Latin nouns... Gnomus has the masculine singular ending of -us that declines to -i in the plural, hence Gnomi. Were it Gnoma, the female version of a small person, then the plural would indeed be Gnomae.

  Via sacra est in foro.

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PhotoGav

PhotoGav

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56 minutes ago, steppenwolf said:

  Via sacra est in foro.

Quite!

More importantly, does your latest box of tricks do the job perfectly? Are the two scopes identical? If not, how does one focus unit calibrate for the two different scope focusers?

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