Replies: 10 comments 11 replies
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@MueJosh, Welcome to Allsky! I assume when you said "MP" in the sentence below your picture you meant "HQ" ?
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Thanks for your kind answer!
Nope, I meant Megapixels. Considering the small pixel size of the hq camera in relation to the sensor size. (What I meant is that I Prefer a high gain/iso sensor instead of high MP)
I have read that (asi120) ... Okay- I stay at the HQ camera though as I already stated a higher gain with less noise is preferred. But the zwo cameras don't seem that great for this purpose (allsky and only allsky- if I would have a guider Id probably say something different)
Okay, I'll do it with a double fan then- one for the pi and one to circulate the air inside the whole case.
Okay, then I'll build it as an all in one solution and maybe split it up when the software is ready for it.
Mhmm okay, then I'll buy some lenses and test them... Considering the dome, it probably doesn't make a huge difference. BUT if there is a "perfect" lens (for the hq cam), it's possible to test it further with different domes, angle and distance to get a better view and quality. For some basic testing it's not needed to have everything on the same camera/Raspi and for the sky- I prefer test charts for testing. |
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Allsky supports cooled cameras but I don't think many people have them. They are a lot more expensive and need more power.
Circulating air in the case likely won't work well. You really want to bring in cooler outside air, and ideally, pump it over the Pi, into the dome, and then outside.
Someone on Facebook tested their lens at various heights within the done. Higher up, but not too high, was best. Since Facebook search isn't helpful I can't find the article anymore. Any testing you do would be great. Is a "test chart" the thing with lots of lines getting closer together, to test the resolution? It would be really interesting to test that with and without a dome. |
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Okay, something like a tube that's split in half with a border in between?
If you find it or someone else- can you please link it here? There are different methods and ways to get accurate results. And different tests for sensors, lenses, distortions (coma, cromatic abberation, ...) Some great stuff for fisheye lenses One example thats often used for some basic testing and combines different test methods |
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I'm almost done with a design of this concept. I based it off the 2013 Mac Pro design. |
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@loykastj, have you considered having air circulate through the dome to help melt ice on the outside and remove dew on the inside? |
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When I started on my all-sky cam project, my first prototype was completely sealed. It was concerning to me how hot the CPU temp was reported during the day, and this was in winter. I feared during the summer it would be boiling in there. I built a variation with some static venting in the bottom, but it only helped a bit, so I went all in on active ventilation. I found a design somewhere online (I forget where so I can’t give credit) which took the approach of a dedicated tunnel a fan blew through up around the camera into the dome. I decided to take that approach for my current design. I oriented the Pi vertically into an internal “tunnel”, where a 40mm fan (powered from the Pi) blows over it, around the camera, into the dome. The air can then circulate down along the sides of the enclosure and out a vent in the bottom. I originally used a ZWO cam I had for planetary work which included a wide angle lens, but it wasn't wide enough for my purposes, so instead of trying to adapt another lens for it, I went with the Pi's HQ camera. I tried several different M12 lenses and found this one's coverage worked the best for me. I used the M12 adapter from an other Arducam lens I bought. I find this setup keeps the reported CPU temp around 10 degrees above ambient. I didn't want to have to mess with wiring up some resistors to heat the dome to keep it dew free. Concentrating the external air from the fan directly over the Pi and piping the Pi's heat directly into the dome has the added advantage of heating the dome, and I’ve had zero problems with dew. I can't say if it would be enough to keep frost from forming on the dome in a winter environment as it rarely dips below freezing where I am in California. I used this project as an excuse to buy a 3D printer, and I learned Fusion 360 to design it. I’ve seen it said that those cheap plastic domes don’t last forever, so one of my design goals was to have the cam assembled by screwing together the components as I didn’t want to have to glue stuff permanently into place. The whole unit can be assembled/disassembled quite quickly. I sourced an o-ring that perfectly fits between the dome and the dome screwed on lid, and haven’t had any water intrusion after a rainy season here. The Pi has a PoE hat and is powered via a single ethernet cable connected to a PoE switch in my backyard observatory. I also designed an add on “sensor pod” which is wired into the cam which has a rain, cloud, and external temp/pressure/humidity sensor, but that’s a whole other project. Here's the completed cam with it's external pod. |
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@ranous, Alex, this looks a lot more professional than mine. I will be curious to see if you have any water leaks. It doesn't look like you will. |
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Thanks Eric. I used this project to learn the 3d design software, so I spent a fair amount of time on it. It's survived our rainy season w/out any leaks. Even if water got past the o-ring, it would have to work it's way under the dome flange and back up and over the inner lip. Even then, there's no electronics outside of the central tunnel, and there's a vent in the bottom, so it should still be ok. Can't say the same for the external sensor pod. I had some leaking from where the Hydreon rain detector attached. I wanted to use it to make an ASCOM safety monitor, but I found it wasn't terribly sensitive. I'm now thinking using a machine learning model to recognized rain drops in the all-sky images may be the way to go instead. It's on my todo list to investigate. |
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Hey,
I'm new to allsky and raspberry camera stuff (I'm familiar with raspberry tho and own one Pi4 4gb and three 02W)
I am a hobby photographer and know some stuff about lenses and cameras, though nothing with purpose build stuff like zwo.
I want to "use" the allsky cam to monitor movement in the sky e.g. faint Aurora Borealis, Meteors and some satellites. (And of course the stars...)
My questions have already been answered but after searching for literally hours I still can't find "my" setup to build/ and buy.
Some infos that may be relevant:
Not bought but I want to use the Pi 5 8gb because I also wan to run some other stuff on it. (BirdNET-Pi and in the future some SDR stuff)
I live in the southern part of Germany where temperatures of 38°C in the summertime are quite common- in winter it's still pretty warm (-7°C was the lowest in the last few years)
I'm living in the middle of a valley with some trees around, 180° for for the lens is overkill but I wouldn't mind to see some trees and the hills in the pictures.
The whole module (pi, camera, other sensors) will be mounted on the roof, it's not that accessible after it's set up...
I don't really care if I get a round (square) or rectangular picture with cut corners.
I want to go for the RP HQ cam because it's cheap (compared to what I'm used to- e.g. Fullframe...) and easy to come by, though I don't need the MP and heard it overheats quite easily.
Is there something in between the HQ cam and the expensive purpose-build cams like the ZWO ASI 178MC? I don't want to pay more then 200€, 150€ is already painful;) or is the jump from 150 to 400€ THAT noticeable?
Is active cooling needed for the Pi HQ cam? (Considering the high temperatures in summer)
is there an "easy" way to run allsky on another system and have just the camera (inside a case obviously) connected to a cheaper RPi 02W just for data transmission?
And now for the Most asked question (I think...) - The Lens
Cheap:
Arducam 120° 3,2mm new ~35€
Cinese stuff 1,56 mm f/2.0 new ~6 - 20€
Arecont f2.0 1.55mm new -NA
Moderate:
Pretty much all the AICO lenses
Thought I only found them on Alibaba/express..
Expensive for the purpose:
Fujinon DF1.4HB-L1 used ~200-400€
Fujinon FE185C086HA-1 used ~180-250€
Fujinon CF2.7HA-L1 used ~100-250€
The last one seems good for the price of 90€ from eBay.
Im getting crazy with all the possibilities though I love to research stuff... Help please 🤪
Thanks!
Let me know if some information is missing or needed
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