Power supply for ZWO camera

[salas]

Hi all, I did carry out a search on this before posting but surprisingly nothing came up. I'm probably not setting the search functions properly! Anyways thought I would post on this for anyone starting out buying a shiny new ZWO camera.

They don't come with a power supply to start with, which seems bizarre to me considering the potential issues - which my post is about. I knew in advance my 533MC Pro wasn't coming with a supply so I decided to be a cheapo (after spending £1000's on other kit 🙄) and order a 240v to 12v dc power supply off of Amazon rather than what looks like a steep cost for the genuine ZWO one.

Per standard operating procedure, weeks of clouds so I thought I will do dark's Bias etc but noticed if I touched the body of the camera there was a buzzing sensation. I thought maybe that's the fan, switched the fan off and it was still there. Ok maybe I've got a dodgy supply so ordered the same thing, the issue still there.  I'm no electronical expert but took a multi meter to the body and earthed and was getting a reading of +40v AC current! It seems the cheapo 12v supply was spilling AC current to the camera.

I bit the bullet bought a ZWO supply problem gone no electrical buzzing issues. Moral of the story? After spending huge sums of money on lots of sensitive kit, including mini PC's  just get a quality power supply!

Hope this helps anyone experiencing the same issue in the future.

 

 

[Elp]

Doesn't your mini pc have 12v outs to feed the camera cooling? Maybe not, I use asiairs and this is one of the reasons as it can output 12v out to devices, even the mount so you can have just one mains into the air.

Edited January 5 by Elp

[salas]

No this was direct to the camera. I tried many variations.

[Elp]

Another option is to use a small 12v power pack if people don't want to use another mains plug. Or run a Pegasus power box or equivalent.

Edited January 5 by Elp

[salas]

Yes absolutely, I was thinking to run it off a power pack, but a good power supply sorted it. If I plugged the cheapo supply in to the asiair then powered the camera from there I was still getting the same buzzing result.