Automated Imaging (Finished)

[Euan]

I've finished my Automation project and I'm just waiting for first light as soon as the weather sorts itself out!

Instead of doubling it up on here, here is the link to it on my site:

Automated Imaging Scottish Astro

Attached is the final schematic and workflow

[anthony]

Just a bit beyond impressive. I hope that it all goes well with first light.

[ncjunk]

Looks very good, i need to have a look at homeseer. Two questions why did you chose ccdcomander over Acp (out of interest as i picked acp for the internet control)

Is there info on how you are driving the roof? What motor etc?

I am doing a cloud sensor at the mo and plan to add in light sensor and roof control when i can.

[MarkF]

Ooooh, I like it, I like it a lot that's pretty impressive Euan.

[Euan]

why did you chose ccdcomander over Acp (out of interest as i picked acp for the internet control)

Quite simply, price. Basic ACP without network control is £450. CCD Commander is £65. I already had a copy of Homeseer 1.7 I used to use for a home automation project, which you can no longer get, but v2 is around £145.

My obs was built from scratch so it's a relatively cheap build for a semi-automated system compared to ACP with all the extras.

Is there info on how you are driving the roof? What motor etc?

This was actually the hardest bit of the whole obs build when I did it last summer. I haven't posted anything about it, I will take some pics tonight and put some details up

I am doing a cloud sensor at the mo and plan to add in light sensor and roof control when i can.?

How are you doing cloud and light sensing? That would be a great addition for a system like this, as it really only enters a fault state when guiding fails, rather than reading cloud cover

[ncjunk]

Using an IR sensor to read sky temperature. I have the sensor working and being read by an arduino but it has been too sunny here to do anything (lazing in the garden!)

The ir sensor is 14 pounds and has inbuilt serial coms (not sure of the protocol as the arduino has a built in library for comms)

I bought acp when the exchange rate was at its best so it only cost 300 and the web control has been usefull.

[Euan]

Using an IR sensor to read sky temperature. I have the sensor working and being read by an arduino but it has been too sunny here to do anything (lazing in the garden!)

The ir sensor is 14 pounds and has inbuilt serial coms (not sure of the protocol as the arduino has a built in library for comms)

I bought acp when the exchange rate was at its best so it only cost 300 and the web control has been usefull.

Good idea. How do you calibrate the values for the different sky conditions? Is it just a case of recording the levels and working it out?

[ncjunk]

Thats what i am planning on doing but it can be dependent on ambient temp and other factors. I believe the reading will fluctuate through out the year a bit but for me i just care about clear and cloud. So -30 odd is clear (i think...) and above 4 deg would indicate cloudy.

To calibrate for varying degrees of cloud or even amounts of dust in the atmosph then there is an equation to calculate cloud cover but i dont think i will need it.

I will record data for a few weeks and see what i get.

It would be easy for you to do (i am a pharma automation engineer).

[Euan]

Thats what i am planning on doing but it can be dependent on ambient temp and other factors. I believe the reading will fluctuate through out the year a bit but for me i just care about clear and cloud. So -30 odd is clear (i think...) and above 4 deg would indicate cloudy.

To calibrate for varying degrees of cloud or even amounts of dust in the atmosph then there is an equation to calculate cloud cover but i dont think i will need it.

I will record data for a few weeks and see what i get.

It would be easy for you to do (i am a pharma automation engineer).

I would quite like to try this, as I'm usually poking my head outside to see if it's clear but with this I could even get the obs to alert me of a clear spell

....the ultimate in laziness I know

Where did you get your sensor?

[Euan]

I had my first real run of this system last night, it was a bizarre experience

Open the obs roof, take the covers off the scopes and hit "Play" in CCD Commander

A few minutes later without touching anything else it was imaging away

The autoguiding was tight, plate solves work flawlessly, it was all going so well and then my QHY5 starting locking up after being on for more than 10 mins, I couldn't even get one 15 min sub

I think it wasn't happy I was running a webcam off USB at the same time, need to remove it and try again

All in, it's a promising start

[Catanonia]

Way too impressive, love it and got me thinking