Mobile Astrophotography project almost complete!

[Astroblagger]

Hello

Been working on my campervan/mobile astrophotograpy project the last month or two, plan is batterys all in the van all warm out the cold (me too) and cables trailing in the back of the van where i can keep an eye on everyhting as the images download. 

how i miss 240Volts!!!!

[Mr niall]

Ace pics

[wimvb]

Looks great. That's as close as one can get to a mobile observatory. (Unless you want to make it a ror obsy. )

[Astroblagger]

Thanks Wimvb, lots of soldering was required to lengthen power cables and several usb repeaters to lengthen the  usb's to reach inside the van from the mount and camera, only prob is refocusing between filters as i need to take the laptop back outside to see the screen when tweaking focus. i live in the middle of glasgow so very light polluted and 3 flights of stairs up so means i can load the van up take off somewhere really dark and sleep overnight if required! i have dreams of a dedicated mini observatory one day..............

[wimvb]

I think it's the ideal solution for someone having to travel to a dark site.

As for the need to take a computer outside, have you considered installing a local wifi network? Basically just a router that you configure as a local network. You won't have any internet access, but you'll be able to use wifi to connect everything. I did this with my setup (mount, scope, camera and focuser in the garden, me inside with a laptop), connecting through INDI. You will need to have some basic Linux knowledge, but there are many online resources that can help.

For me this solution means that the only time I have to be outside is to set up, polar align, and tear down again. I can control everything else from my sofa.

[Astroblagger]

wi-fi sounds interesting! my netbook is afew years old now but not steam powered, yet.... I primarily use a 200mm canon lens so requires manual refocusing, so need to see the netbook screen to tweak. which remote focuser do you use and how can this be controlled?

[wimvb]

Very basic. I use the SW DC motor focuser and control it from an Arduino. This combination uses the MoonLite focuser protocol, which means that to the control software, it looks and works like a MoonLite motorfocuser.

I use INDI on a Raspberry Pi and Ekos/Kstars on my windows laptop. Here's a demo of what this software is capable of.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uwyRp8lKt0

 

[Andywilliams]

that looks extremely comfy !!