£7 camera cooler

[JayPea]

Hi,

I recently stumbled across a USB fridge (by Satzuma) for the grand price of £7.17 including P&P and it was too tempting not to try it out for DIY sensor cooling.

 

It turned out to be very quick and simple to get it attached to a ZWO camera. Two screws take the fridge case apart and you are left with a nice assembly of the peltier sandwiched between a thin metal plate and the heat sink fan assembly. It also keeps its flying USB lead and switch (cool/off/heat) and a coloured LED to indicate which operation is on.

 

Simply take the metal plate off (remove two screws) to expose the cool side of the peltier. This then leaves two convenient holes to use to clamp the camera to it. I had some old Perspex sheet I cut appropriate holes in and I luckily stumbled across some long screws. I also had a few offcuts of thick heat sink pad to cushion the clamping. I also cut short a screw to fit into the empty tread in the camera centre. For once I didn’t need to buy more bits.

 

I had an suitable old USB charger for power, but I have also used the laptop port OK. It draws a constant 1.0 Amps at 5.0V.

 

Testing today in the garage at 15degC ambient the uncooled sensor temp is around 20degC. With the cooler on it gets to around 5 degC in 30-40 mins and by then cooling appears to be flattening off. I’ve been seeing condensation on the camera body, so I have used some offcuts of a camping mat the insulate the body a bit.

 

There does seem to be a noticeable difference in the dark test images. Below are a couple of 2min exposures at 300 gain to compare. Taken on an old PC so not USB3. Viewing in FITS liberator really shows a difference – I think they are displayed at the same settings, I’m still getting to grips with that SW. Screen captures from Sharpcap also shown. Anyway, can’t complain for £7!

 

Maybe one day if the clouds clear I’ll be able to try it out. Fingers crossed for tonight.
John

[hobsey]

Wow, £7 well spent.

That is quite some difference.

[knobby]

Loving that !

[Craney]

That is a great innovation.  Top marks.      Looking forward to the first light, keep us all posted.

What is vibration like ??   It would be a shame to reduce the hot-pixels only to smear out the good ones.

 

Sean.

 

[JayPea]

The fan is very quiet and I feel nothing by touch but I guess only testing for real will tell.

[Stub Mandrel]

Very neat, I use an ex-fridge peltier on my Canon 450D.

If you insulate the camera with foam it will get even (much?) colder.

[cjdawson]

Love it.   I've got a project to build something similar.  Hoping that the results are worth it.  I've spent more than £7 already.  Wish I'd seen this.