All Sky Camera from CCTV Housing

[RayD]

A couple of years ago I replaced our old CCTV cameras with POE units, so had a couple of housings left over that naturally I thought "one day they'll come in handy" as blokes do.  Well one of them has now come in handy as I've used it for an all sky camera with a ZWO camera I haven't been using (I will swap it for a second hand mono 120M at a later stage).

This is the housing which would normally of course be up the other way.

I used the existing bracket from the old camera (which got thrown out) and modelled it a bit to suit what I needed.

 

Once I had the camera position sorted I opened out the holes a bit and sprayed the inside of the unit matt black, and using a right angled USB3 cable, run it through the bottom plate.

 

 

Put it all together and it works an absolute treat.  It should be water resistant, but if it leaks the water will drain out well below the camera.  If I get issues with fogging I will add some heating controlled by a spare port on my Mount Hub Pro.

 

I have another one of these which if this works after some rain etc. I'm happy to give away to whoever wants it if they pay for the postage.  It's been good fun doing it and the results at the moment seem really good, and all for the cost of a USB cable.

 

[Earl]

very tidy !

 

[RayD]

Just now, Earl said:

very tidy !

 

Thanks Earl much appreciated.

[Wikiastro]

Looks great - make sure you share some pictures!

David

[RayD]

1 minute ago, Wikiastro said:

Looks great - make sure you share some pictures!

David

Thanks David.  Will do, it's actually on and running now with SharpCap, so I'll get some captures and post them 

[RayD]

Well I just did a quick snap and it seems fine.  It's not aligned as it is just sat on the obsy roof at the moment, to be fixed in its permanent place tomorrow.

Pretty happy 

[RayD]

Just noticed on a longer exposure I have a little bit of glare from the dome.  This probably isn't help by the 4637 solar lights currently on in the garden!  However, it's an easy task to raise the camera a tad closer to the dome, so I'll do that as well.

[Starlight 1]

I do like a skycam . look good Ray

[RayD]

1 minute ago, Starlight 1 said:

I do like a skycam . look good Ray

Thanks @Starlight 1.  I've been toying with the idea for a while, and I saw a post on here the other day which inspired me to get it done.  It is actually really handy sitting indoors now being logged on to the obsy viewing the sky and seeing the clouds rolling over.  Should have done it ages ago.

[Kenoguy]

I liked your creation, do you still have the spare housing?