Astroimaging Trolley

[DavidTrap]

In my continuing quest to minimise setup and pull down time, I spent some time and a modest amount of money to put together a trolley that would help me setup my imaging rig in the backyard in the shortest possible time.

I used an old desktop PC that was sitting idle at home. It's an old work computer that needed some new ram ($10 for 1Gb off ebay) and a wireless network card ($16). The computer has been setup to login in automatically and takes a static IP on my home network. This means I can connect to it via Remote Desktop Client from my Macbook, so no screen, keyboard or mouse is required for the desktop. I sit inside where it's warm and can watch TV or catch some zzzz's on the couch. The network link isn't super fast (usually reports ~30-75Mbps), but I have no problems controlling the computer from my lounge room.

I then bought some 3 metre USB cables to connect to the camera and auto guider, plus cables for the Robofocus and mount. These cables are bundled together as wiring looms.

I also made a vinyl cover to go over the trolley to keep the dew off out.

Now, I can wheel the trolley out to beside the scope and plug everything in within about 2 minutes. At the end of the night, I wheel the trolley away and put a silver tarp over the scope for pack-up in the morning.

Comments welcome.

DT

[RickS]

Very neat, David!

[naskies]

Looks good, David. Out of curiosity, where does your quick set up box go (i.e. the one that you normally set up next to your pier in Leyburn)? Or does this replace that?

[DavidTrap]

Thanks Gents,

This supercedes that box, for home at least. I know is a double up of cables, but I only did this because the total cost for computer bits and cables was <$50. The major advantage is a wireless link back inside the house.

DT

[leon]

Very impressive indeed David, and looks pretty functional, nice work.

Leon

[strongmanmike]

Very neat :thumbsup:...I'd be happy with something like that...now just need my own backyard :sadeyes:

Mike

[silv]

yup neat! :thumbsup:
and for the backyard-less people - like Mike - , you can get it patented with this (http://www.woolgro.co.nz/wawcs0149850/49850.html) in the plastic box under the PC.

[DavidTrap]

Thanks Leon, Mike & Silv,

Mike - I am blessed with a pretty good backyard view - basically from an hour before the meridian to the western horizon. If things work correctly, I will be able to use the meridian delay feature on my AP mount and image from before the meridian for 5-6hrs straight, depending on declination. Unfortuantely, I'm only 6km from Brisbane CBD, so it's more suited to narrowband than LRGB.

DT

[strongmanmike]

Yep that's been pretty much me too for over a year now :)...that's why I use NB data to make RGB like images..it's all trickery ;) :thumbsup:

Mike