When to switch on the Dew Heaters.

[SteveBz]

Hi Guys,

I have a wonderful Arduino that does everything for me.  It focuses, exposes, guides, does GOTO and a myriad of other things.  It also give me the weather, well really only temperature and humidity.  But from that it works out the dew point.

Is there any point in waiting until the external temp drops below the dew point before turning on the dew heaters, or should I just leave them on all the time?

This is what the output looks like now:

"UTC: 2017/07/12 20:22:14 |  17 Deg C |  70 % humidity | Dew point = 11.5 Deg C "

It keeps monitoring the conditions every few minutes and it can turn the heater on for me if I like, but should I bother?  Maybe it's better on all the time.

What do you think?

Regards

Steve

[triton1]

Personally trying to keep things as simple and reliable as possible I would switch on once setup and switch off when finished.It certainly couldn't hurt.

[SteveBz]

56 minutes ago, triton1 said:

Personally trying to keep things as simple and reliable as possible I would switch on once setup and switch off when finished.It certainly couldn't hurt.

I sort of agree, but then I like a bit of technology too! 

I see you have a 2" Barlow, can I ask how much you use it and what you use it for.  Do you use it for photography at all, or is that "The Dark Side"?

Steve.

[triton1]

I use the barlow for the higher mag range but I have not been seduced by the "dark side"

The barlow gives me 2.5,4 and 7.5mm depending on the seeing conditions.

[laser_jock99]

On all the time (or off) I'd say- you don't want a step-change in the temperature of anything during imaging.