Rain blowing in through dome slot

[tooth_dr]

Hi

Today was the first rain since I erected my dome. As I was standing inside it I could feel a few spits of rain on my face. The rain was blowing in through the top of the slot (see photo where light is coming in). This is a used dome - is there something missing or does it need modified with a little flexible flap added?

[Laurin Dave]

Maybe the position of the shutter (by moving the stop brackets or whatever they’re called) needs to be adjusted so that it goes a bit further back ..  I’d compare the overlaps at the top and bottom ..

[Peter Drew]

As a stop gap (pun unintended) try turning the slot area round from the wind direction.

[pmlogg]

My Pulsar is one of the original models, just with a rope and pulley but I've certainly never had any rain get in at the top of the shutter. I will have a look before it gets dark.

With your shutter being powered I would have expected that the microswitches would make it stop in the same position (open or shut) every time. I presume that you did not re-position them and that they are as the previous owner had them. You could perhaps ask the previous owner if he had any such issue.  Another option would be to ask Pulsar.

[pmlogg]

Just looked at mine and it has a flat rubber strip effectively filling the gap that can be seen on yours.  The original Pulsar instructions show it, see the bottom left image on the second page of the attached.

2.7M OBSERVATORY INSTALLATION.pdf

[tooth_dr]

53 minutes ago, pmlogg said:

Just looked at mine and it has a flat rubber strip effectively filling the gap that can be seen on yours.  The original Pulsar instructions show it, see the bottom left image on the second page of the attached.

2.7M OBSERVATORY INSTALLATION.pdf 249.5 kB · 4 downloads

Thanks for checking! Rubber strip not there. I think I remember seeing one in a box, I’ll check tomorrow. 

[tooth_dr]

2 hours ago, Laurin Dave said:

Maybe the position of the shutter (by moving the stop brackets or whatever they’re called) needs to be adjusted so that it goes a bit further back ..  I’d compare the overlaps at the top and bottom ..

Seems pretty even. I think the missing rubber strip is the issue 

[tomato]

My 2.2 m dome has no sealing strip at the top of the slot and, like yourself, most of the rain prevails from the West, so I always park the dome so the closed shutter is always facing West. 
It had quite a soaking back in February, and there was no rain ingress at all.

[tooth_dr]

2 hours ago, Peter Drew said:

As a stop gap (pun unintended) try turning the slot area round from the wind direction.

Thanks Peter, I did turn it round earlier. Will get a look at the rubber strip tomorrow. 

[tooth_dr]

1 minute ago, tomato said:

My 2.2 m dome has no sealing strip at the top of the slot and, like yourself, most of the rain prevails from the West, so I always park the dome so the closed shutter is always facing West. 
It had quite a soaking back in February, and there was no rain ingress at all.

Thanks 👍🏼 I haven’t set it up yet so I’m just manually moving it.  I’ll bear that in mind re park position. 

[tomato]

Given I have no rain ingress problem, I like the gap to provide a modicum of natural ventilation.

[tooth_dr]

43 minutes ago, tomato said:

Given I have no rain ingress problem, I like the gap to provide a modicum of natural ventilation.

I was planning on parking it facing south to maximise the solar panel recharging of the shutter battery. 

[pmlogg]

I don't suffer from condensation so I think that the space at the dome/walls junction allows enough ventilation.  Not sure if it makes any difference but my floor is raised too, with gaps between the decking boards.

I have a solar panel for my rotation battery (again its the old style dome) and even fitted a bigger one than Pulsar provided but with us often not getting a lot of sunlight in the winter I connect up a mains charger when I close down.  As it's designed to also trickle charge I most often just leave it connected all the time.

[tooth_dr]

Just as an update for completeness. Despite the heavy rain and strong wind last night the dome is dry.
I then found the rubber strip in the garage and it looks like it was never fitted. I had to modify it to allow it to fit, but I think it will help.

 

 

 

[tomato]

11 hours ago, tooth_dr said:

I was planning on parking it facing south to maximise the solar panel recharging of the shutter battery. 

I also use a mains charger for the dome rotation battery, it’s not a big deal to connect this and switch on at the end of the session, and being an old dome, this battery has to power both the shutter and the dome motor. It’s a 7.5 Ahr battery, as I tend to only image one target per session the dome is not doing multiple revolutions, so no problems with capacity.
 

It’s a green dome and even with the open slot at the apex it gets awfully warm on a sunny day, I have seen high 30s to date, which is about as warm as I want it to get.

Fortunately, on most hot days I can go out and open the door and shutter.

[tooth_dr]

1 minute ago, tomato said:

I also use a mains charger for the dome rotation battery, it’s not a big deal to connect this and switch on at the end of the session, and being an old dome, this battery has to power both the shutter and the dome motor. It’s a 7.5 Ahr battery, as I tend to only image one target per session the dome is not doing multiple revolutions, so no problems with capacity.
 

It’s a green dome and even with the open slot at the apex it gets awfully warm on a sunny day, I have seen high 30s to date, which is about as warm as I want it to get.

Fortunately, on most hot days I can go out and open the door and shutter.

Yeah the dome drive here runs off the mains separately.  What does your mains charger look like?

[pmlogg]

My charger is a Yu-Power YPC2A12.  The old Pulsar Dome connection from Solar Panel to rotation motor unit is via a car-type connector but with an SAE type connection between the solar panel and the final connector.  I just disconnect that and connect the charger. I did find though that the polarity was reversed so I bought a cheap gender changer which sorted that out.

[tomato]

Here are the details of the charger and battery. I unplug the connectors and connect up the charger, no problem if it stays on for several days, which is often the case.