Dew Controller

[mick pinner]

has anyone had anything to do with the Thousand Oaks Dew Removal system? any comments appreciated.

[gbeal]

That time of year again Mick?
I have just finished a bit of imaging, and noticed I need to think about dew again, at least for the finder and guidescope.
Thousand Oaks are good units, and there are others. There is even a company in NZ making them. The strips I got from ScopeStuff, they were cheaper than the Kendrick ones.
Oh, by the way. Robby built mine, the electronics are beyond me.
Gary

[ausastronomer]

Mick,

Whilst I have not used that system myself I have had good feedback on it. I know Peter Read from SDM telescopes offers the Thousand Oaks systems and the Kendrick systems. I have the Kendrick Digifire 7 system on the 18" Obsession, which is very good. I am using it for visual work only. If you are imaging with extra bits and pieces you would probably need to get the Digifire 10 system. The advantage of both the Kendrick and Thousand Oaks systems is that they are not as power hungry as some others.

CS-John B

[netwolf]

There is this option.
http://www.dewbuster.com/
For the price you get temperature based control on two outputs. This is not available on the DigiFire7 but is available on the Digifire 10 and the higher end Kendrick unit.

Combined with these Heaters Dew-Not.
http://yhst-1469288697390.stores.yahoo.net/dewheaters.html

I believe Peter from SDM can get both of the above for you.

Alternatively AndrewJ posted some good plans for a temperature controlled options in one of the threads here.


Regards
Fahim

[Dennis]

Just some observations from a dew heater user.

The Kendrick and Dew-Not heater straps that I use, both have a continuous Velcro surface on the outside of the strip, so that you can wrap the heater strip around OTA’s of several sizes and still fasten the hooks to the loops.

Some heater straps only have a small length of hook & loop strip at the very end of the strip, making it impossible to fit e.g. a 5 inch strip on a 4 inch OTA, as the overlap is too big and the hook overshoots the loop.

My newish Dew-Not strips have a smaller diameter cable than my (old) Kendrick strips, although both are excellent in that they drape very well. Some cables on other products are too stiff and so stick out, having the potential to foul things.

Cheers

Dennis

[Geoff45]

There is a good dew heater design by Alan Sheehan in the "Projects and Articles" link on this web site. For about $40 and an afternoon's soldering I made a heater with variable temp control and 3 outlets. Works great. Put the money you save towards something else.
Geoff