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Yet Another AllSkyCamera Build


happy-kat

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The ASI 120MC-S isn't all that noisy if in a cool environment but is a lot worse with indoor temperatures.  I'm cooling mine with a Peltier TEC and passive cooler.  It will be kept dry by being in a sealed chamber with desiccant (silica gel beads).

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  • 3 months later...

The original OP's aim with this build was to use a NexImage 5 (NI5).

Was there success using AllSkEye?

I've discovered the software needs ascom drivers, and there aren't any for the NI5 (nor will there be according to Imaging Source). A 120MC is my next option, unless someone can persuade me there's an alternative software :D I intended to build something using a plastic food box and use it to monitor cloud buildup during the day when solar imaging; and then I thought - why not allsky 24/7 - I there an alternative for AllSkEye?

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  • 1 year later...

Long time so a little update

I did flash the Toucam to a npc900nc and it worked under Windows 10 and then one of the updates in spring took out connectivity, tad annoying.

I've cut out very thin rings of veg plastic and have the spacing sorted on the 1.8 lens to the neximage5. This camera is now behaving much better, though still can be noisy, but I'll run with it for now. All the capture softwares have had several updates since last using the camera.

Sort of looking at this project again.

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1 hour ago, happy-kat said:

Long time so a little update

I did flash the Toucam to a npc900nc and it worked under Windows 10 and then one of the updates in spring took out connectivity, tad annoying.

I've cut out very thin rings of veg plastic and have the spacing sorted on the 1.8 lens to the neximage5. This camera is now behaving much better, though still can be noisy, but I'll run with it for now. All the capture softwares have had several updates since last using the camera.

Sort of looking at this project again.

In the end I, too, used a 120MC on AllSkeye and it's been generally OK. I've not been able to clear all the fpn using bad pixel mapping and, as the summer wore on, it seems the fpn has increased. I'm continuing to live with it - there's been so few good clear nights recently - I've tended to be filling up my drive with lots and lots of cloud. I have purchased a 178MC, intending to use that, but am also tempted to use it on planets and the moon, so will see.

p.s. I need to check the last couple of nights to see if it captured any of the Draconids.

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  • 4 months later...

Got very lucky, have had a camera setup inside testing how it works and on test 4 caught a fireball! 28/02/2021 a horizontal crop of a 25 second image

-2021-02-28T00-36-53-428 UNKNOWN2.png

150° lens on a ASI462MC 25 second exposure facing East. Using a W10 7 inch tablet running AllsyEye. Although the colour balance is more natural on this image in going to revert back to the original settings as on checking images there is more detail captured in the default settings even though quite pink as the camera is very infrared sensitive.

logged as Event 1185-2021 on UKMON

 

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wow! Great capture there @happy-kat, here it was all cloud and mist so not been a chance of seeing anything much at all for ages.

Are you using an IRcut filter on the camera/lens at all? If needs be you can get a small glass one to fit on the camera side of the lens (assuming here that its an M12 one and there's enough clearance there) which will improve the colour when there's some natural light. Probably not possible to use a switchable one unless the camera would lend itself to swapping the lens mount and you'd then need to be able to send the switch pulse in order to flip the filter in/out.

For the CCTV module and USB webcam ones I'm using they have IRcut on the lens or lens mount respectively, so daytime views look "normal". Likely I do lose a little at night  as a result but not enough I think to drive me to arranging a means to switch, especially where I have IR illuminators that cause some big impact when the IRcut filters are not present.

Edited by DaveL59
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2 hours ago, Altocumulus said:

How do you fit an IR filter? The lens I use has a inner protuberance that almost touches the sensor. Indeed ZWO warn that their standard one has to be screwed in place carefully.

ahh hence my comment about being enough clearance.

I either buy lenses that pass or block IR according to use case, in the past from Treeye on Ali for example, or if I need to add IRcut later to a spare lens I want to try I've glued one of these on the back end of the M12 lens if a switchable IRcut lens mount isn't usable.

5x 9.5mm Optical UV-IR Cut Blocking Filter for Camera astronomy Lens | eBay

Of course for that the lens would need a recess in the body where the filter can be fitted so there's no extra protrusion if the lens to sensor gap is very tight. Like this one
image.png.f7108c7ef85989c445826675c6772c2d.png

For the CCTV modules I've used there's usually 2-4mm so no issues. You can buy lenses that are for "action cams" that have an IR filter already added of course but you'd need to be selective as some will be like this one

image.png.b6d8a25e0e6613d02da611014aa87952.png

So you'd then also need to check the specs to verify the rear focus distance to see if it'd suit your camera.

Edited by DaveL59
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Thanks Dave.

There's no room for a IR block, but I'll check if one of those dot sized blocker would fit. I've the default ZWO 150° and a fujion 180° degree lens, neither have any backfocus space available. I'm ok with the IR sensitivity.

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I find that with a colour camera, daytime colour is ok, and night time is great - but if you were to add an IR cut filter, you may lose the sensitivity to see high wispy clouds at night, which is the cost for slightly better colour during the day.

YMMV as they say however!

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The camera has full sensitivity on all three channels in the IR zone and I'm loathe to lose that even at the cost of not getting sharp focus with it. I'm not fussed about colour accuracy during the day or night, more interested in picking up what I can't see.

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  • 5 months later...

I'm having fun using the asi462 with AllSkEye and a 7 inch tablet on a gorilla tripod, but the street lights don't go off until 1am and the program although I delay the start has to start before 12am and the battery only lasts 4 hours. So I'll lose an hour of capture as the nights darken, other than that it's excellent software with great strengths.

So I've just done a pro license of sharpcap to see if I can bend the scripting capability to work for me in the new 4.... release. 

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49 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

I'm having fun using the asi462 with AllSkEye and a 7 inch tablet on a gorilla tripod, but the street lights don't go off until 1am and the program although I delay the start has to start before 12am and the battery only lasts 4 hours. So I'll lose an hour of capture as the nights darken, other than that it's excellent software with great strengths.

You could use 'Acquisition Pause' settings to start imaging at 01:00 (you need to show the advanced setting by ticking the box top right). Just set a fixed start time of 22:00 then set 'Acquisition Pause Start Minutes' to equivalent minutes for 22:00 (1320) and  'Acquisition Pause End Minutes' to equivalent minutes of 01:00 (60). This will now start your imaging at 01:00.

Mike

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