Cloud cam

[Brian28]

Does anyone have any experience with sky cameras , to watch the sky condition , cloud etc ..  I want to mount one on my workshop. 

is the starlight version the only one available ? Has anyone any DIY options , thoughts etc  ?. 

Thanks Brian 

[Geoff Barnes]

Hi Brian, I think you need to speak with the lovely Gina on this forum, she has a sky camera at her house (though not working at the moment I believe).

[Brian28]

Ok thanks Geoff 👍

[DaveL59]

A lot depends on what you want it to capable of as that'll dictate costs to some extent too. If you want it to show good star views then the more expensive caperas which can do longer exposure would work better. For me I've used a couple of cctv modules with Sony StarVis sensors in modified regular dome housings, and they work fairly ok. Thread on that here:

Not really had much chance to try capture video and try stacking to see if they give any decent starfield images now I'm back into work and with a couple other distractions like sorting some old scopes I picked up, but another member posted in that thread using a similar module with nice images, tho I expect he has much better skies than here.

Gina's setup is much better but then I expect it cost a fair bit more 🙂

 

[Brian28]

Hi David , i just want it as a weather cam  

[DaveL59]

For daytime the OV27xx sensors would also do ok in that case, but as the sky darkens the Starvis ones to perform much better. You'd get away fine too with a CS or 12mm mount fisheye at F2 ish, its only as light level falls that the lens speed reduces what if any stars will show. You can get faster lenses but none of the fisheye's go much below F1.8 and get pricey at that point.

Ideally aim for a module with a switchable IRCut filter so day colours show right, for night use if there's any IR sources for other CCTV then leave it set to day/colour only else the IR sources play havoc once you switch to night/B&W mode. There's a few you can buy via Ali that are bare board modules with IRcut and fisheye, just needs a housing and power/LAN cabling to be up and running, depends how much you want to DIY.

Here's an image from mine at the moment, darkness is creeping in but the perimeter CCTV is only just switching to night mode and was showing a bright colour image just before the switchover. The front cameras are still showing colour as the street light is keeping the light level up just enough. All the same starvis camera modules as the skycam.

 

 

[pete_l]

I have had considerable success with an IMX291 based IP camera from Aliexpress link here, with 1.7mm lens
It does need a network aware application to stream the video to. But it is sensitive enough, cheap and easy to work with.

The only drawback is that the chip is not a good match for people wanting an all-sky view. However it does cover most of the sky

Edited September 1, 2019 by pete_l