Cooled camera temperature setting question

[Swoop1]

Is there a general rule of thumb relating to setting the temperature of a cooled camera or is it trial and error?

I have a ZWO ASI 533MC PRO and want to get the temp. setting right.

Thanks.

Swoop1

 

Edited July 8 by Swoop1
Speeling error

[Xilman]

There are two general rules in my experience.

1) Cold enough. Check your camera's manual to see at what temperature the thermal noise is insignificant with respect to other sources of noise, such as sky background. Taking images of typical night skies will give you a feeling for the size of that source of noise.

2) Not too cold.  If the cooler is running at >85% you will likely not have enough spare performance to maintain a steady temperature if conditions become warmer, and they very likely will at some time --- a warm front passing over is a classical example. Clearly, this temperature will depend on the ambient. If the outside air is already -20C there is little point in using the cooler to do anything but dissipate the heat generated by the camera itself. If, on the other hand, ambient is +35C, it is very doubtful that you will be able to reach -10C even when running flat out.

I used to run my camera at -20C until I RTFM and discovered that -10C is generally acceptable with typical skies and much easier to reach in La Palma's typically warm environment. That said, temperatures over 35C occur occasionally and I just have to accept increased thermal noise.

[Fegato]

Yes agreed. I use -10, certainly no need to be colder. And it works year round with UK weather...

[tomato]

On CMOS cameras I also use a set point of -10 deg C, this is usually achievable even on the warmest UK nights.

[AstroMuni]

I have the ASI533mc pro and I use a temperature setting of -10d. As you can see from this chart, the dark current is very low anyway so you should be ok using even higher temperatures closer to 0d.

Edited July 9 by AstroMuni