ZWO cooled - what temperature reduction do you get?

[JimsShed (Jim)]

I'm contemplating a ZWO pro cooled camera (ASI 294 or 071) and was wondering what sort of sensor temperatures you're getting at this time of year in Brisbane or areas north.
My non-cooled ASI185MC typically sits around 33.5 C according to Sharpcap when ambient is around 23 C.
Thanks, Jim

[Marke (Mark)]

They typically go -40 ambient I find it will go to -15 on warm summer nights or at least -20 in cooler weather.

[The_bluester (Paul)]

I have been running -10 on my ASI294 which I bought early in the new year, we have had some really hot days here and -15 would have left very little spare cooling power capacity when trying to do dark frames in daytime.



I will go to -15 and redo my darks once the weather cools off a bit.

[glend (Glen)]

I would avoid the 294, it has major cooling issues - the sensor architecture does not allow even TEC cooling to the rear of the chip. This means uneven substrate patterns. It also has pretty bad AMP glow. It is ok as an EAA type camera where fast frame stacking produces video, but not for traditional AP application.

[JimsShed (Jim)]

Originally Posted by glend

I would avoid the 294, it has major cooling issues - the sensor architecture does not allow even TEC cooling to the rear of the chip. This means uneven substrate patterns. It also has pretty bad AMP glow. It is ok as an EAA type camera where fast frame stacking produces video, but not for traditional AP application.

Hi Glen, I’m torn because I see so many examples around the net of people getting great results with the ASI294 Pro Cooled. Did you get one of these and found you were disappointed?

[glend (Glen)]

Originally Posted by JimsShed

Hi Glen, I’m torn because I see so many examples around the net of people getting great results with the ASI294 Pro Cooled. Did you get one of these and found you were disappointed?

I almost bought one, then read everything that the CN forum Beta Tester (Jon Rista) wrote about its performance when he looked at it. I followed the debate about how to process out the problems, and concluded it was not worth the effort required for traditional AP. For EAA it is great. I have had an ASI1600MM-C since mid 2016, and can't find anything better. If your convinced about the 294 then buy it.

[The_bluester (Paul)]

I am happy with the 294, but it is the first dedicated astro cam for me. There is a glow characteristic to these (To the sensor not the camera) but with proper darks I have not noted it on the results.

Uneven cooling I am not as convinced about being a real problem, I don't see anything really significant other than the characteristic glow on dark frames. But as my first cam I cant comment on too much. From what I have read, a lot of the newer sensors will come with electronics on the back of the chip so direct heatsink to substrate contact will probably be an issue for a lot of new cameras.

In the end to avoid choice paralysis I just jumped in, astro cams seem to be like every other consumer item, google it and you will find pages and pages of people having issues and end up buying nothing because apparently everything in your price range has some insurmountable problem.

[ChrisV (Chris)]

The past month I've been using an ASI071 at 0C (in Sydney). I think the camera is running at about 50% power at temps of mid 20s. Sure I could run it harder but I'm a bit conservative.

Now its starting to get cooler at night I've gone back to -5C which seems to be as much as I need to go with this camera.

[JimsShed (Jim)]

Thanks for the replies guys. Obviously the cooling systems are more than capable of continuing to work in our hot and humid conditions.

[The_bluester (Paul)]

To answer the question a bit more directly. I reckon I am reliably seeing 30 to 35 degrees delta on the cooling, 40 went from a comfortable 75% on the power to just about maxed out at -15 sensor temp.

I commented to someone recently on Facebook that one thing that is really critical is unobstructed airflow over the heatsink. When doing darks with it on the table I have found that any obstruction to the heatsink significantly impacts the cooling, adding maybe 20% to the power required for the same sensor temp.

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

Just to add another data point, I typically run my 1600 at -10 as I can be certain of being able to reach that even through the summer months in Brisbane and surrounds, and it means I only need one dark library

[tvandoore (Tim)]

I've always left my 1600mc at - 15 and it has no trouble getting there, even on warm nights. It runs the cooler somewhere between 20-50% to maintain the temp and takes minutes to get there and settle. I don't feel it's pushing it too far.