Dew Heaters

[nickarp2000]

So there I was on my way sheepishly creeping out of the Popastro show in Kettering last week with my little bag of goodies (spent too much) and my eye spotted a rather simple exhibitor showcase of dew heaters and controllers from W & W Astro.

I have never heard of them but the heaters and the controllers appeared incredibly good value (I dont like using the word "cheap").

Had a quick browse on their website and they also offer very reasonably priced Celestron Dew shields with heaters attached, interesting for my C9.25.

Has anybody had any experience with these products?

The sensible person in my household has gently warned me about splashing too much out again so I need to be careful 😟

Thanks

Nick

[Elp]

The name is familiar but I've used general purpose ones from the usual sites which work fine.

For your SCT the best one is the Celestron one which mounts directly onto the corrector plate.

[IDM]

I had a look at their website and the dew heater for a 4 inch scope produces 8W of power so only 0.66A. They go on to say that the low power draw negates the need for PWM controller. Which sounds great. However I don’t know if 8W generates enough heat to keep a scope clear. Does anyone know if it would be enough?

cheers

Ian

Edited March 16, 2023 by IDM
Typo

[Richard_]

These are the dew heaters from Dewcontrol.com right? I use these dew heaters with a few telescopes:

• 120mm refractor
• 51mm refractor
• 50mm guide scope
• 32mm guide scope

I had these made with a custom cable length, for a small additional charge, so I didn't have to have them dangling down my rig. Compared to my previous dew heaters (from RVO) they are not as hot, as they likely have a lower current draw, but warm enough to fight off dew. I've been using them for around a year and I've not had an issue with dew so far. 

The only current draw values I have (at full whack on my pegasus power box advance) was 0.5A for the 51mm refractor and 0.2A for my 32mm guide scope. 

During the purchase of my last heater from them, I found the RCA connection was a little loose in my pegasus power port. I went back to Tim at Dew Control who was more than happy to replace the unit with a new RCA plug, which did the job at no extra cost to me. Excellent customer support, I can highly recommend these dew heaters! 

 

 

[Lumos]

22 hours ago, Elp said:

The name is familiar but I've used general purpose ones from the usual sites which work fine.

For your SCT the best one is the Celestron one which mounts directly onto the corrector plate.

I just fitted the Celestron one to my RASA 8 and at full power it gives out a huge amount of heat, you definitely want a controller with it. 

[jacko61]

I've just bought one for my 6inch Altair refractor.  spec'd a shorter (1m) cable and 2.1mm power connection instead of the RCA plugs as I have RVO's 12v offerings. used it for 5 hours last week and it kept the objective clear of frost. Can't ask more than that. 

Graeme