Thread: DSLR Dew heater
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Old 31-07-2019, 09:21 AM
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adavis (Andrew)
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Sydney, Australia
Posts: 186
DSLR Dew heater

I have tried for a year or so to build a dew heater controller specifically for my DSLR. Most of the projects on here and on other forums are for astronomy usage and have multiple outputs and sensors and extra parts that I didnt require, so I took matters into my own hands and went and built my own :-)

This project is based on an Arduino Nano and has very few parts.
Arduino Nano
MOSFET
OLED Screen
SHT3X Temp/Humidity sensor

I made up a custom PCB to mount everything and found a very cheap dew strap on Amazon that is USB, so runs on 5v. $13 delivered

The code is very simple and displays on the OLED screen the current temp, current humidity and the dew point temperature.
When the current temp gets to within 2 degrees of the dew point, the heater is turned on, and when it falls outside of that condition is turns off again, displaying on the screen that it is heating.

I dont worry about the lens temperature, so I do not need an external thermometer to measure it, however I am now experimenting with running the heater for a while, then turning off for a small time, so that I can save some power.

The unit runs on 5v, so you can run it from a single USB powerbank, however the Arduino uses such low power when the heater is not running that you need to make sure that the power bank doesnt auto power off.

The heater is also PWM controllable, so I can turn down the power levels as well.

This heater has been field tested last weekend in the warrumbungles and worked a treat on an 18 hour time lapse, kicking in in the early hours of the morning right through sunrise.

I have some spare boards that I can put together of anyone is interested in an inexpensive dedicated heater.
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