A while back, I came across what at the time I considered to be a really great DIY Cooler box design for a DSLR.
The design used an off the shelve plastic hard case but air tight insulation (enclosing the DSLR in plastic sheeting whilst the expanding foam set was the trick) providing a really high efficiency in cooling.
It was I believe a South American amateur astronomer with links of where to buy the hard cases.
For the life of me I cannot find the links to his blog and pics!!
Has anyone else that has trawled all the Cooler DIY material on the net come across this guy and have the link to his page???
Has anyone in IIS built something similar to this?
Where was the enclosure box sourced from and what is the best way to overcome the issue of dew etc in the camera?
I have just completed my own build but it's not a patch on his version. I think I'm up for a major rebuild real fast !!!
Good idea using expanding foam to get insulation to fit and I have similar heat sinks and fans. Should be able to find a similar box with seals etc from Bunnings or an electrical wholesaler and I love his temp indicator on top. Dick Smith maybe .. ?
Almost ashamed to post up pix of my amateur attempt now. I'll try it and see how it works anyway but I'm off to Bunnings next weekend for sure ....
At 18* below ambient you probably still won't have hit the dew point. I get about 9* below with the ZWO but that is contact cooled, well insulated and I built a silica dry cell in the camera and a warmed front window.
I have just completed my own build but it's not a patch on his version. I think I'm up for a major rebuild real fast !!!
Good idea using expanding foam to get insulation to fit and I have similar heat sinks and fans. Should be able to find a similar box with seals etc from Bunnings or an electrical wholesaler and I love his temp indicator on top. Dick Smith maybe .. ?
Almost ashamed to post up pix of my amateur attempt now. I'll try it and see how it works anyway but I'm off to Bunnings next weekend for sure ....
At 18* below ambient you probably still won't have hit the dew point. I get about 9* below with the ZWO but that is contact cooled, well insulated and I built a silica dry cell in the camera and a warmed front window.
Any effort is a good effort, it's not about aesthetics - As long as it works! So good on you for trying.
Have been looking at hinged outdoor electrical plastic boxes - readily available.
The heat pump he has used also looks interesting but weights 750 grams, so quite heavy.
Noticed that Orion stopped selling their cooled DSLR boxes. Wonder why?
I am thinking of having a crack at the cooler that Gary Honis made for his 450D, as I have the same camera. Most of the solutions I look at are adding too much weight to the focuser imho.
I am thinking of having a crack at the cooler that Gary Honis made for his 450D, as I have the same camera. Most of the solutions I look at are adding too much weight to the focuser imho.
Glen, I'm going to have a crack at this too. I'd be interested to learn what choices you make about the thermoelectric assembly you use and the way you incorporate some kind of dehumidifier into the box (if any). I've got a Farpoint Astro dehumidifier plug designed for some of the older SBIG CCDs (like to ST7) and all it needs is a threaded opening into the box. Shouldn't be too hard to rig up.
I'm using a 50 watt TEC and CPU heatsinks to shift the BTU's.
Dew\Ice becomes a problem as you hit zero but it can be managed.
I don't expect the 450D and Cooler box to get down to that temp in it's current form so not a big issue although I'll throw some silica gel packs in there with it.
I know it's not a huge temp shift but for you guys in Aust where the temps are getting up there it obviously can make a difference. I can see significant noise reduction with the AS! 120 and that is shifting about 24* at best. Every 5* lower = 50% less noise supposedly ?
Not to be sneezed at ..
I had bought a similar box for just that thing. Although nice I decided it was a bit heavy than actually needed. I subsequently used the box as a Sous Vide temperature controller which works really well. Cooks steak just like Hogs Breath Cafe.
Anyway I like the foam idea, I tried that for packing recently nice application.
Brett. If your cooling fan exhaust temperature is within 10C of ambient your TEC heat sink combo is doing very well. If not bump up the heat sink and/or fan if necessary.
Brett. If your cooling fan exhaust temperature is within 10C of ambient your TEC heat sink combo is doing very well. If not bump up the heat sink and/or fan if necessary.
Yep, figured something like that out. When I first ran it without fan the temp sensor started 'bumping' up and down as the heat wasn't being dissipated fast enough and was leaking back across the TEC. Swings of 5* or so over 10 sec intervals.
The formula is to have quite a smallish internal cold block and a larger heat siphon type CPU sink with fan on the outside. I have plenty of choices for both from scrapped PC's at work. I may buy a couple more TECs so I can fiddle around some more.
Better head round to the scrap trolley and see whats waiting for me
I had a couple of old car-fridge things lying around from a previous "project" and decide to have a look at them as possible DSLR chillers. They're minus the peltier coolers - which were not much chop anyway and were air-to-plate types anyway - not air-to-air. The skeletons weigh in at about 1100 gms and the one shown is 235x175x235 (LWH).
I have taken off the padded top and exposed the hinged plastic top which 2mm thick. Then I cut a centre hole for the T-Rig connection to the DSLR and also drilled a 9mm hole and tapped a thread into it and a bit of aluminum plate that holds the dessicant plug in place.
The hole in the side where the peltier formerly sat seems a good size for an air-to-air replacement. It's got an existing opening about 80x80mm.
Lessons learned so far:
1. Don't cut the hole for the T-Ring connection dead centre. DSLRs tend to be lopsided and by doing it this way, I was forced to align the camera 90 degrees to the way I had imagined it.
2. Curse that bulbous nose the EOS Flash assembly has because it sticks out in front of the camera by about 5mm and made it necessary to cut a shaped hole in the top plate which I will have to cover over later.
Here's some pics. The original chillers boxes came from Dick Smith and cost about $30 bucks each. They are probably sold under a range of names though and I'm sure you'd be able to locate some easily enough.
Rowland's point was a good one. It was too big. I've been able to modify it though. It was not difficult really - a light touch with the angle grinder (is thee such a thing as a light touch with one of those) and I was able to reduce the height by 40 mm and the weight by about 300 grams. There was a metal tub insert that I removed leaving only the polystyrene foam insulation and it is apparent that I could very probably further shrink the box's height. I'll defer doing that until I get hold of a suitable air-to-air assembly and determine just how to attach it. But I'm guessing I could reduce the height by up to another 30 mm. That'll shave more weight off it as well. With a bit of luck I'll get the weight down to about 600 grams or so (without DSLR).
That could make this a viable project after all.
Peter
Bunnings or an electrical wholesaler this weekend. The one in the link at the top of this is just too good, I have to make one.
And I get to play with expanding foam !
The most difficult issue I have with any design is weight.
My scope is a Newtonian with a rotating truss.
My weight limit will be 1kg max.
I am wondering if a cooler bag or a foam filled plastic lunch box can do the trick here?
Otherwise perhaps I will have to follow Gary Honis way and simply try and build a box out of light weight aluminium and then mount the camera inside this.
yes. Hmmm! Perhaps a little judicious trimming. Stay tuned.
