Housing to protect mount against Australian conditions...

[MichaelBibby]

Hi, thought I'd reach out for some advice on building a housing to protect my Heq5 mount from the weather. My concern is with the wide temperature variations at my location, ranging from -1 degrees C right up to 45 degrees C, and the summers are very wet and humid.
My thinking is to completely house the mount in a plastic container to protect it from moisture and then to create another housing around that container (made of plywood) to shield it from the sun and allow air circulation (aided by a cpu fan powered by a solar panel) to keep the temperature inside the first plastic container down.

Here is the mount on the pier (the mount is orientated that way to fit inside the container):

 

A 'dry fit' of the inside plastic container (a bin):



And here are my plans:





Any suggestions or advice? Will this solution be adequate? One problem I can see is the base of the housing, which would extend around the pier, getting in the way of visual astronomy, but I'm primarily interested in EEVA. 

 

Edited October 16, 2022 by MichaelBibby

[M40]

I think the sun is going to be your biggest challenge. This is my latest version along similar lines of yours ....

The front and back are clear perspex as we like the look of the thing. The sides are removeable with quick release clamps on the legs making it nice and light and I just pick it up and move it out of the way. You can't see it clearly but there are some large ventilation ways at the top on both sides, the bottom is open to air. This summer we saw outside temperatures of about 31'c and I got about 35-36'c inside the box. Looks like you expect to get much higher temperatures so I would make any sort of box bigger with maybe a solar powered fan. Hope it gives you some sort of food for thought. 

Just to add, prior to this, I had the same bucket thrown over the mount and pier with a tgv cover over that. It worked very well. All the best.

 

Edited October 16, 2022 by M40
add stuff

[Swoop1]

I have an upturned bin over mine which is backed up by a Telegizmo 365 cover. 
Did the job  perfectly over our out of character summer. I just uncover for an hour to let things air out occasionally.

Edited October 16, 2022 by Swoop1

[MichaelBibby]

I think this is my ultimate goal, to build a mount cover in the shape of a TARDIS like Duncan (Time and Relative Dimension in Space-- "Its bigger on the inside!"):




http://duncankitchin.org/?p=67

[Rusted]

In my own experience plastic tubs don't last long when exposed to cold and sunshine.
I used an inverted water butt and it soon cracked across the bottom. Which was facing upwards.
The spiders and birds moved in too. I had a nest of Blue tits in the forked mounting base.
Cheap [woven] tarpaulins are garbage for outdoor use. Quality PVC tarpaulins last well. Heavy and stiff.
As does genuine, rubber, pond lining material. But it's very heavy and stiff!
A drop-over, marine plywood box would last and provide some insulation from the sun.
Thickness and insulation to taste and permitted weight. Not in contact with the ground though.

[Carbon Brush]

Just thought on plastic tubs, bins, etc.

Do you spend a few ££ every couple of years, or spend many £££ on a cover that will last many years.
Before answering, think. Will I have the same mount in 5 years? Or will I need a bigger tub?

HTH, David.

[MichaelBibby]

43 minutes ago, Rusted said:

In my own experience plastic tubs don't last long when exposed to cold and sunshine.
I used an inverted water butt and it soon cracked across the bottom. Which was facing upwards.
The spiders and birds moved in too. I had a nest of Blue tits in the forked mounting base.
Cheap [woven] tarpaulins are garbage for outdoor use. Quality PVC tarpaulins last well. Heavy and stiff.
As does genuine, rubber, pond lining material. But it's very heavy and stiff!
A drop-over, marine plywood box would last and provide some insulation from the sun.
Thickness and insulation to taste and permitted weight. Not in contact with the ground though.

If you look at the diagram I posted in the OP my plan is to only use the plastic tub (bin) as the inner container to house the mount, air and water tight, and surround that with a marine grade plywood cover (which I'll fashion in the shape of a TARDIS). The outer cover would be exposed to the sun and water, and would provide shade for the inner container and allow airflow (facilitated by a cpu fan powered by a solar panel). The main problem I anticipate is keeping the moisture levels low inside the inner plastic container (hopefully it shouldn't get too hot inside). My solution is to use moisture absorbers or a battery/solar powered de-humidifier.

I've basically finished making the base plate, and so just need to fashion the outermost cover out of plywood and install the cpu fan and solar panel. I'll post some photos when I'm done.

 

Edited October 20, 2022 by MichaelBibby

[Len1257]

That's a relatively skinny pier. Any sort of strong wind and that top structure is going to be trying to topple your gear. At the least it is going to act like a sail and get buffeted badly, at the worst your mortar courses could split. Better by far to have something tied to the ground. A roll-off perhaps?

[Ian McCallum]

For Oz, the answer is obvious!😂

Edited October 20, 2022 by Ian McCallum

[M40]

1 hour ago, MichaelBibby said:

facilitated by a cpu fan powered by a solar panel). 

I would be interested to know what you use and how you achieve it. A list of bits when you have it sorted would be much appreciated.

[MichaelBibby]

6 hours ago, Len1257 said:

That's a relatively skinny pier. Any sort of strong wind and that top structure is going to be trying to topple your gear. At the least it is going to act like a sail and get buffeted badly, at the worst your mortar courses could split. Better by far to have something tied to the ground. A roll-off perhaps?

 
Yes, I agree that it wouldn't be a good idea to put a great big hulking box on top of the pier, that would be asking for trouble. That plan will have to wait, and I'll probably copy what Duncan did with his TARDIS cover and make it a roll-off.
In the mean time I plan on using some 4mm plywood to create a cylinder shape that will simply fit over the bin with only about an inch or two gap between the plywood and the bin to allow airflow. The bin is actually pretty light, and the plywood container will also be light. But I understand your talking about tension not compression on the brickwork from lateral forces acting on the housing. The pier is already shielded somewhat from the worst of the wind, and as someone who has experienced a couple of cyclones, I'm not at all worried about wind being a problem, so long as I keep the profile of the housing low.

@M40 I think a 5 or 10 watt 12v solar panel would be adequate to power an old 12v desktop computer case cooling fan. No voltage regulator or anything else needed, just plug and play. And the good thing about a solar powered fan is that the hotter it is the better it will work, and when its night time it just stops working. I'll post some pictures when I'm done.

Edited October 20, 2022 by MichaelBibby

[MichaelBibby]

Update:

Just a quick update on what I ended up doing. I had to scrap my original plan of using a round bin because the scope would have hit the base plate, so I instead used a rectangular shaped bin so that it is large enough to cover the mount but doesn't protrude too much on the east and west side of the pier. This is pretty much water tight. I then made a shade cover out of coreflute with a pvc bend joint to allow some air circulation. So far its worked well: the mount stays nice and dry, and doesn't get hot. Don't know if I will really need to go to the extent of installing a solar powered fan to help circulate the air. The coreflute cover is a bit flimsy and so I'll probably end up rebuilding it properly out of plywood and fashion it in the shape of a TARDIS (I'm really wedded to that idea!). I'll add some 'tie down' of some sort to further secure the covers to the base plate for now, and upgrade it to a latch system later (and ideally make it lockable).










 

[VNA]

On 17/10/2022 at 17:53, MichaelBibby said:

I think this is my ultimate goal, to build a mount cover in the shape of a TARDIS like Duncan (Time and Relative Dimension in Space-- "Its bigger on the inside!"):
 

Hello, thank you for sharing your beautiful solution, and it is in keeping with the gorgeous surroundings.

[M40]

Great idea 👌 the base of the box also provides the perfect shelf for all those bits I tend to drop on the floor and then struggle to find 🤦‍♂️ A touch of spray paint later and its sorted. Mine gets quite hot inside the box so keep your eye on the temperatures inside. 

[MichaelBibby]

Just a quick update, I've replaced the makeshift coreflute shadecover with a plywood shadecover and installed the solar panel and fan, just in time for summer. When I had the coreflute cover the mount was getting pretty warm (it was semi-transparent and let a lot of light through to the inner plastic cover), whereas with the plywood cover the mount hardly gets warm even on very hot days (I really think it would get warmer if I left it in the house!). I make sure to wipe all the dew away after a viewing session before putting the covers back on and put a moisture absorber in the inner plastic cover to soak up any excess. All in all its working perfectly, I have absolutely no concerns about leaving the mount out all summer. The only thing remaining is the TARDIS makeover...

 

Edited December 17, 2022 by MichaelBibby

[Swoop1]

Nice bit of work there Michael!

Would giving it a coat or two of Outback grade white exterior paint help to protect the plywood from harsh sun?

[MichaelBibby]

9 hours ago, Swoop1 said:

Nice bit of work there Michael!

Would giving it a coat or two of Outback grade white exterior paint help to protect the plywood from harsh sun?

Yes, plywood is notorious for moisture damage, and its just generic plywood, not for external use. I gave it 3 coats of exterior varnish and intend on giving it a couple of coats of weather proof paint. Someone else suggested giving the ends a coat of epoxy to help better seal the wood, which is a good idea. I'll likely remake it in a year or two (in the shape of a TARDIS), so this is kind of temporary. But the basic idea works very well.