#1  
Old 23-10-2007, 07:41 PM
Eris (Gerard)
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Cooling Down a SBIG ST-2000XM

Hi Everyone,

I have a SBIG ST2000XM minus the water pump attachment. The question is can I use any suitable water pump to push this water through the camera or is there something special about the SBIG pump I don’t know about.
Thanks to all who are able to offer advice.

Regards,
Eris
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  #2  
Old 24-10-2007, 07:47 AM
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Comet Hunter
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G'Day Eris,

Basically all you are doing is passing water through the cooling block to absorb the heat, so any aquarium type pump would do. Use the flow rate of the SBIG pump as a guide. Also, there are 12v pumps available that are commonly used in watercooling PC's if 12v is preferred.

Cheers,
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Old 24-10-2007, 08:35 AM
Dennis
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Hi Eris

I have an older model ST7E which can generally get me down to 25 deg below ambient and it too has the water cooling 2nd stage. I understand that the water cooling option can reduce the set temperature by a further 6 deg C. I've never bothered with the additional set up complexity for that extra 6 deg C. So, in the final analysis, is it worth the effort - just a thought?

Cheers

Dennis
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Old 26-10-2007, 08:21 AM
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Well I wouldn't say ANY pump. Depending on your set-up you may need a pump that has a good head. That means a pump that can push the water UP to the max height of the camera above the location of the pump. You also need to worry about a good connection to the water tubing - US tube sizes compared to Metric Aussie sized pumps.....

Cheers

David
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Old 31-10-2007, 10:17 AM
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http://pccasegear.com.au/prod1663.htm
that would be a good pump for the purpose, i have used a few of these for watercooling computers. if you decide on another pump make sure you look at its wattage, it could put more heat into the water than the camera.

also you would need a radiator to dump the heat from the loop, a single 120mm radiator + fan would suit just fine
http://pccasegear.com.au/prod3980.htm

all this depends on the barb size of the camera though, the mcp655 and radiator would be fine down to 3/8" but for 1/4" you'd have to look at something else.

by the way, make sure not to watercool it without a radiator as the water will end up very hot not only from the heat of the ccd but also the pump. also it is a good idea to use Clearflex or Tygon tubing as most of the other tubing avaliable will go powdery inside and flake away when you use additives to stop nasties from growing in the water and this isnt very healthy for any of the parts in the loop (both mentioned are very flexible laboratory grade tubing)
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Old 01-11-2007, 11:16 AM
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You know it never occurred to me - A radiator - I must get one of these. I'm surprised that SBIG don't include this type of information in their instruction..... Many thanks for the link. I will buy one of these. I assuem a standard 12v PC fan will suffice as a cooling fan?

Cheers
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  #7  
Old 01-11-2007, 11:58 AM
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Hi Eris

I just bought an ST2000XCM off Lars in the IIS classifieds, should receive it hopefully tomorrow. From the looks of the replies you are getting to this thread I wouldn't bother at first with a water pump, see what you come up with without it but I'm glad you posted this so I could read what others say about the topic as well.
Cheers

Steve




Quote:
Originally Posted by Eris View Post
Hi Everyone,

I have a SBIG ST2000XM minus the water pump attachment. The question is can I use any suitable water pump to push this water through the camera or is there something special about the SBIG pump I don’t know about.
Thanks to all who are able to offer advice.

Regards,
Eris

Last edited by bluescope; 01-11-2007 at 05:32 PM.
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  #8  
Old 01-11-2007, 12:51 PM
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[1ponders] (Paul)
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I will be seriously considering a water pump for use during the summer up here in cloudy SE Qld. I did see an interesting design for the water cooling system used by Eric Rumbo in BrisVegas. From memory he uses a tall ice bucket (similar to a champagne bucket). He encloses the top of the bucket with a lid that has a peltier connected to it. He then has an aluminium "maze" attached to the peltier. As the water comes back from the camera it cirulates through the maze, cooling as it goes, and then empties into the bottom of the ice bucket where it then gets pumped back up into the camera.

He does this to overcome the heat transfered from the camera to the water. Eric has been carrying out photometry on variable stars for many years and certainly knows his apples from his oranges. Could be an interesting design to consider. Or even attaching a peltier to the radiator could be considered.
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Old 01-11-2007, 02:29 PM
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Paul, guys have been water cooling their PC's for years now using the gear monoxide linked to. A basic radiator+fan setup would be ample for the heat our ST's pump out. Anything more would be overkill + unnecessarily complex. While strapping a pelt. to a radiator sounds great, the benefit you get out of it isn't worth the effort - as I said, guys have done all this on their PC's for years.. the hard work has all been done, there's no need to re-invent the wheel.

Just for interests, these are test shots a few weeks back from my ST2000 @ -10C / 15sec., auto dark in CCDOps. Ambient was ~23C with ~80-85% cooling workload.
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Old 01-11-2007, 03:50 PM
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[1ponders] (Paul)
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Thanks for the feedback Andrew. Looks like I've got a little side project to do during the summer holidays then, apart from building the observatory that is
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Old 01-11-2007, 08:47 PM
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David: a 12v PC fan will do perfectly.

if you need any help at all with watercooling feel free to PM me.

i've included a few pictures of my current pc watercooling setup just so you can get an idea of whats going on (ignore the dust)

my first watercooling setup was actually using a 2600lph pond pump and full size radiator out of a camry and my waterblocks (heat exchangers) i made myself with 6mm copper plate, 20mm plexiglass and a dremel
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Old 01-11-2007, 09:10 PM
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[1ponders] (Paul)
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I love it. Now that is serious gaming.
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Old 01-11-2007, 09:41 PM
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i've played with peltiers to chill the water but they are VERY inefficient and can lead to a lot more problems than they are worth, also with a chiller setup you will need two cooling loops. one to cool the peltier and the other to deliver cold water to whatever you are cooling, this setup also requires 3 heat exchangers before you even get to whatever you are cooling.

while still on the subject of watercooling i should mention that you should only use distilled or demineralised water to fill or top up the loop. any additives are only to stop nasties from growing weather it be a cap full of metho or ordinary car coolant (use car coolant if there are dissimilar metals in the cooling loop to stop corrosion.)

i hope all this "do this, dont do that" hasn't put you off lol

anyway i must fetch my pc a glass of water.
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