I have for years resisted the urge to have an all sky camera, simply because the ones available were too expensive to justify buying one.
In the last couple of weeks I have been going through the process of making an allsky camera.
I bought a Raspberry Pi 4 and a ZWO ASI224MC. A day ago a friend of mine helped me with installing the code on to the Mini SD. The code and how to do an Allsky camera can be found here.
It's a great alternative to the commercially available alternatives, at a fraction of the cost, and it works so well. 👍
Well most are several thousand or more dollars commercially and they do the same job, though maybe a little neater looking. This thing produces time lapses, Keograms and star trails. Everything I need really and more.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RobF
Nice going Paul.
I like the way its self-contained, but what will you use to power it?
Power it has been a pain, at present I am only usine a USB cable to power it but have something coming which has a longer cable and will still use USB. I'll have to do something about protecting the power adapter here at home but at the observatory 1.5m will be fine to go inside the obs.
Looks the goods I might have to pinch this idea for future reference.
Considering everything else ZWO does regarding cameras I'm surprised that they haven't commercially made one of these yet.
I have collected the bits to do this as well with a mono ZWO camera, my problem is powering the raspberry pi in the garden. I wondered whether using a power over ethernet POE hat for the pi would then provide enough power for both the pi and the camera?
I haven't tried it yet as I have only just got my boards.
Would be simple if so, a long ethernet cable would do the job(s)!!
I have collected the bits to do this as well with a mono ZWO camera, my problem is powering the raspberry pi in the garden. I wondered whether using a power over ethernet POE hat for the pi would then provide enough power for both the pi and the camera?
I haven't tried it yet as I have only just got my boards.
Would be simple if so, a long ethernet cable would do the job(s)!!
I don't know the answer to that question Graham. Perhaps someone here will know the answer. I have used a USB cable with power adapter water proofed temporarily for testing, but you can buy quite long powered USB's that should work too. Digging a trench is also an option. However, at the Observatory I'll be running a long protected USB to the power adapter inside.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RobF
I was wondering about a small rechargeable battery and solar panel, but then its more complexity and panel might obscure sky.
I saw something like this on a couple of sites. I think it was one of the commercial cameras that had it. I cannot remember where I saw it now.
...
No I had not considered that. Are you suggesting I buy one of their cameras?
Of course not..
But their software works on Raspberry, it is free, and you can join their network. I think by doing that you may increase the capability of your hardware....
See here: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...meteor+network
Of course not..
But their software works on Raspberry, it is free, and you can join their network. I think by doing that you may increase the capability of your hardware....
See here: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...meteor+network
Ah, sorry, I thought initially you meant I should join the group, which I think is an interesting idea, but once I saw they sold equipment I then thought that you meant I should buy something from them. Sorry for the confusion and the question.
When I saw that website first time, my initial reaction to their "business" was also negative.. it seems they need to work on their public image a bit more.
Basically, they are selling equipment in a kit for people who want the whole solution in a single package.. but by no means this is the only way to go.
Burried in the website are links to detailed technical information.Their software supports cameras with LAN interface (I went for this one), it was only AU$56 complete with optics), but it may also support ZWO (you can ask them).
For example, I will use laptop running Linux, because I have it - so it doesn't make sense (in my case) to buy Raspberry.
I have collected the bits to do this as well with a mono ZWO camera, my problem is powering the raspberry pi in the garden. I wondered whether using a power over ethernet POE hat for the pi would then provide enough power for both the pi and the camera?
I haven't tried it yet as I have only just got my boards.
Would be simple if so, a long ethernet cable would do the job(s)!!
I think I'd like to take this approach, as my house & observatory are wired with a POE switch. Have you tested to see of the POE Hat can power the camera and the Pi? Running some ethernet out to an enclosure with everything in it seems like a good option.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Haese
I don't know the answer to that question Graham. Perhaps someone here will know the answer. I have used a USB cable with power adapter water proofed temporarily for testing, but you can buy quite long powered USB's that should work too. Digging a trench is also an option. However, at the Observatory I'll be running a long protected USB to the power adapter inside.
I ran my ASI290MM in a CCTV camera enclosure which I found in the junk pile at work, but that required running a USB extension out. Admittedly, I put it out there in summer, so wasn't too risky, but I'd be interested to hear how you waterproofed your USB cable (especially since I'm going to have to run the cable at least 10 metres to get clear of the dome and mount it somewhere nicely out of the way.
....... but I'd be interested to hear how you waterproofed your USB cable (especially since I'm going to have to run the cable at least 10 metres to get clear of the dome and mount it somewhere nicely out of the way.
Also, where did you get the dome cover? The link that is provided on the instructables page has no stock.
Hi Rob,
in the end I chose a water proof case available from Jaycar. It comes with a seal which slips between the top and bottom. To seal the dome I used aquarium grade silicone.
I used an Ethernet cable and powered it via a adapter from Raspberry Pi.
The dome cover came from Ebay via a friend who was building one too. Apparently only about 7 dollars or something like that.
So looks like the PoE Hat does the job of running both the RPi and the camera.
A couple of questions:
Do you use it in the day time, and can the auto-exposure get it to the point where it's not totally blown out during the day?
Given the box is totally sealed, is there enough airflow to keep the RPi cool enough? I'd worry about the box getting pretty hot outside (especially during the day), without any way to get any cooler air in there.
I'm contemplating using the cheaper ZWO ASI120MC-S USB3.0 Colour cam ($279 right now from Bintel), but it's lower res (1280x960). In real-life, do you think the lower res (vs for example a 1936×1096 ASI290MC at double the price) is any kind of impediment? I suspect not, but sometimes the on-paper vs real-life experience is somewhat different.
the auto exposure handles day time imaging well too. It goes down to fractions of a second to achieve the correct exposure day or night. I did find however, that night time needed to have the gain raised to 300, to obtain the correct exposure for my dark sky site.
The RPi is cooled by a cooling unit which is from RPi too. Temperatures typically look to be around 50C at most during the very hot days. The sensor on the camera gets quite hot but has so far performed well.
The 120 will not work correctly with a Pi4 I believe, but is ok with a Pi3 from what I have been told. The resolution is not really a problem if you just want something to see what the clouds are like. If you want more detail you will need a more advanced camera.
the auto exposure handles day time imaging well too. It goes down to fractions of a second to achieve the correct exposure day or night. I did find however, that night time needed to have the gain raised to 300, to obtain the correct exposure for my dark sky site.
That's good to know - if you've managed to get any daytime images with it, I'd love to see how it goes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Haese
The RPi is cooled by a cooling unit which is from RPi too. Temperatures typically look to be around 50C at most during the very hot days. The sensor on the camera gets quite hot but has so far performed well.
That's pretty hot. The fan can only circulate the air that it has, so although that's better than no fan, if I do it, I might try to put some filtered holes underneath with very fine mesh, just to give it a chance to get some cooler air.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Haese
The 120 will not work correctly with a Pi4 I believe, but is ok with a Pi3 from what I have been told. The resolution is not really a problem if you just want something to see what the clouds are like. If you want more detail you will need a more advanced camera.
I think the issue was with the older USB 2 model, not the newer USB 3 one, but I will stand corrected. I have both kinds of PI here. I suspect the older one would do just fine anyway, it's not that "busy".