Arduino and ASI 120MC-S and All Sky Webcams

[kirkster501]

Hi all,

I have a spare ASI camera and a few Arduinos kicking around - I could get a RPi as well.  Any idiots guides about please?  I am a dab hand with soldering iron if needs be. 

Thanks

[kirkster501]

https://www.instructables.com/Wireless-All-Sky-Camera/

 

[pete_l]

Arduinos won't hack it. The cameras are all USB and the Arduino has neither the power nor the memory to interface with that.

One of the various Pi's: Raspberry, Orange, etc. would do the job. The Raspberry flavour is the safer bet (but not the Pico) as Orange Pis lack the support and body of software. Which is a shame as they are cheaper and usually better specc'd.

[kirkster501]

Thanks.

I'm also thinking of running this off of PoE as well.  I'm not sure if the PoE hats supply enough power to run the Pi and the ASI camera though.  Ethernet woudl be more reliable and can run a cable up to the roof much more easily.  I need to look into it.

 

[pete_l]

The Pi4's break out the PoE segment of the ethernet cable to 4 0.1" pitch pins. All you would need then is a regulator to drop the 48 Volt PoE standard voltage down to 12V for the camera and 5 V for the Pi.

Look Ma! No hat.