We've been having a few good clear nights down in Melbourne this week, coinciding with the new moon for a change. Unfortunately, I start work early so sessions starting at 10.30pm and finishing about 12.00am is not a good mix. The nights have also been on the warmish side which is creating an increase in noise for my sensor. I tried increasing my subs to 4 mins and took only 5 to see if it would help to keep the sensor cooler, rather than taking thirty 40 second subs. I don't know whether this improved things because there is still a lot of noise.
I've heard that using AC power rather than the battery can help with keeping the sensor cooler but I don't know if the comparison has been documented.
So this is a shot on Tuesday night of the belt and sword in Orion taken with an old Pentax K mount 135mm f3.5 prime lens on a modded Canon 550d using a CLS CCD clip in filter. I stopped down to f5.6 to help minimize lens aberrations. I ended up with 5 x 4 min subs at 800 iso unguided on a HEQ5 pro mount from light polluted Melbourne.
Anyone got any other ideas of how to keep a camera sensor from getting too warm?
Hi mick.ive got a peltier and heat exchanger sitting in the study I was going to experiment with. Plan was to build a very light aluminium box to house a camera in and cool it with the peltier. Some say it does, some say it doesn’t work but my thought is any reduction in temp is a good thing.....even if you get 5 degrees at the sensor it is prob the difference between shooting in spring as opposed to the middle of summer.
Several of us on here have gone down the 'cool box' path and to put it bluntly they have a minimal and very short term effect. The only real solution is a cooled sensor but that is a bit more complicated to implement.
The problem with the cool box is the sensor heats up locally regardless and there is no effective thermal path for it to escape. Only a copper or Alum 'finger' parked behind the sensor can transfer sufficient heat away and maintain a reasonably even temp across the back of the sensor.
You might actually do better to buy one of the smaller OSC astro cameras and add your own peltier system. I modded my ASI 120mc quite effectively, the metal case is the key to it. I've since moved onto an 1600mm-cooled so it has been relegated to the guide scope without the cooler.
Agree with what you say Brent, however cooler weather does result in cooler sensors doesn't it?
I guess my take on it is that if you create your own cooler atmosphere (meaning a peltier cooled box) then it has to have some effect.
I like your idea of cooling a OSC like a ZWO though.....very smart thinking
Yes, a cooler atmosphere does equal a cooler sensor, but not enough
cooler to begin to make a noticeable reduction to the noise in your images
until the ambient temperature gets down to around 5 or 6 degrees.
Even at 5 or 6 degs you need to give your sensor some time to cool down between subs, or it will just get hotter and hotter as the session goes on.
raymo
Anyone got any other ideas of how to keep a camera sensor from getting too warm?
Camera's with a flip screen seem to work best with external cooling because the cooling module is fitted to the back of the camera, directly behind the sensor("Martin Pyott" external peltier cooler) http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...t=cooling+dslr
