Obsy Build Has Started!

[Budgie1]

One little addition to the Obsy in the last month; Although I live in Lochaber, it does occasionally get warm, and so does the inside of the obsy as I found out while building it last year. So, to assist with removing the heat and creating an airflow all year round, I fitted a pair of solar powered fans to the roof section of the shed.

I actually got them back in October but only got around to fitting them in the last month.

The fan kit I got from Amazon and I also fitted a bug screen and rain cover on the outside of the shed, just to give it a bit of protection. I fitted it to the East side of the roof, so it'll be shaded from the Sun and the solar panel even powers the fans when it's cloudy,  as well as in full Sun!

I need to tidy the wires but it's working well.

[Budgie1]

A little update on a few additions to the obsy over the last couple of months.

Firstly, after adding the solar powered fans, I thought I would give them a hand and fitted some insulation to the roof panels. This does seem to be working as it's no where near as warm in there now and it's also much lighter during the day!

You'll also note the new solar powered LED light in the roof, which is extremely bright and has three brightness settings. It does a great job of lighting the inside of the obsy for setting up and I got this from The Solar Centre. 

I also decided to fit power into the obsy, I did this in the form of an extension from an external socket on the house. The extension is made up of about 12m of armoured twin & earth, which is buried under the lawn, and terminates with a standard 13amp 3-pin plug at the house and the twin socket in the image below. This way, I can isolate the obsy from the house, if needs be, and I don't have the trip hazard of running the extension lead from the door of the obsy into the house, across the lawn, as I did over the winter.

All that will be running on this is the laptop and the PSU on the pier, which powers the Pegasus Power Box Advance with 12v 10A max load.

I've also tidied the wires around the desk and it all looks much smarter now. In case you're wondering, the blue thing on the desk is my laptop dew shelter which I made a couple of years ago.

[Budgie1]

So, I had the drone up this week and thought I'd share some aerial shots of the completed observatory nearly a year after I started the build. 

The orientation is North/South, so that's why it doesn't line up with any of the fences etc, but it actually works in the garden and we have strawberrys & black currents on the decking as they're in direct Sun for most of the day.

[Graeme]

Brilliant aerial shots!

It's nice to see the finished thing.

Graeme

[Alan White]

Looks great and as always with these projects, final tweaks as you go and learn.
 

[Budgie1]

So, all has been running nicely in the Obsy over this season and, although clear nights have been lacking, the Obsy means I can be up & imaging within 10-15 minutes of seeing a clear sky. So it's really paying for itself on that side.

There have been no real upgrades to speak of but I've had a niggling issue since I built the Obsy, in that it was just on the boundary of the WiFi signal from the house. This meant running updates to the laptop was time consuming, to say the least. The other night I had issues with APT, in that it would crash when I tried to Plate Solve, and I thought an update may solve the issue. So I tried downloading the latest version, 4.43, at that time, while in the Obsy. That ended up taking over 20 minutes before I finally took the laptop into the house to complete the download.

It was at this point I decided to do something about the lack of reliable WiFi in the garden and ended up buying a TP-Link AC1200 outdoor access point. This is run using one CAT6 cable from inside the house, connected to a POE switch and mounted on the back wall of the house. I installed it this evening and, after initial setup, I connected the Obsy laptop to it and downloaded APT V4.44, which took seconds this time.

I ran Speedtest from the laptop and was getting 48 Mbps download & 8.85 Mbps upload, so about the same as I get on my desktop in the house.  

This means, if I get a Windows 10/11 Pro laptop or PC in the Obsy, then remote access will be possible, without having to run a cable across the garden.

I should add that the crashes to APT were caused by a Windows Update and have now been fixed in V4.44.

[Petrol]

Really nice setup and you live in a beautiful part of the world Martin. I found with my wooden obsy / roll off, that ventilation itself wasn't enough to keep damp out despite being insulated. I ended up with a small heater and dehumidifier to keep things in check. That said I live in NW UK where it's mega damp. Just a heads up and thanks for sharing your setup, much appreciated.

Pete
 

[Budgie1]

8 minutes ago, Petrol said:

Really nice setup and you live in a beautiful part of the world Martin. I found with my wooden obsy / roll off, that ventilation itself wasn't enough to keep damp out despite being insulated. I ended up with a small heater and dehumidifier to keep things in check. That said I live in NW UK where it's mega damp. Just a heads up and thanks for sharing your setup, much appreciated.

Pete
 

Thanks Pete,

Yes, I wasn't sure about the damp and living in one of the wettest places in the UK (surrounded by Temperate Rain Forest) was a concern. As it turns out, there's a nice gap between the top of the walls and the roof section which allows a nice breeze to flow through the shed. Any moisture is soon gone and it's been dry in there since it was built.

I did think about a heater, but it wouldn't do anything as the ventilation is so good.

Once area I do get issues is with the insulation I put on the inside of the roof. On cold nights, when the roof is rolled back, I get frost forming on the underside of the roof insulation. This then melts the next day and drips over everything. So that's my Summer project; to cover the foil insulation with something lightweight which won't attract moisture.