All Sky setup Night and day

[Earl]

Im tinkering with the idea of a small setup that needs to be.

Solar Powered, Battery backup.

WiFi

Night and day camera

Some sort of computer to control it.

Day time might be point at my local lake rather than the sky.

Any thoughts?

[DaveL59]

what camera are you considering for this?

CCTV modules will tend to use 500mA to 1A draw which would become an issue for solar+battery unless its a decent sized panel and battery. Also limited slow shutter so night sky will only show the really bright objects. No idea what the astro cameras draw but would be surprised if they are much less but they will do a far better job of picking out the stars.

Pivoting the camera for different day/night views would need a PTZ or a DIY rig which will add to the current draw while slewing. You'll also need switchable IRcut perhaps unless you run with IRcut always present, else day view will render foliage as purples rather than greens and skew some other colours also. At least you won't need IR illumination for night sky use unless you also plan on panning around the lake at night. Focus may be an issue though if you need it to be different for the daytime use.

Regarding WiFi, what sort of range as that can be quite limiting unless using more directional and high gain aerials.

Edited July 14, 2020 by DaveL59

[Earl]

I was thinking two cameras both fixed.

Wifi Range will be about 20 feet but in theory more if it works well as id like it to be mobile.

I could prototype with webcams

[DaveL59]

perhaps a RasPi with the later camera might do what you want, tho I've no experience of them others here are testing them as skycam's with reasonable results. Solves the remote compute side too and they've WiFi I believe.

2 Cameras would help as you can fit IRcut or not as required as well as fix the focus to suit. You'd just need to sort a suitable housing and dome, possibly dew heater too tho the RasPi may generate enough to solve that issue.