Hi,
I went with the DIY approach as I wanted something that would suit my setup and most other options were very expensive.
I built my own dew heater controller using an Arduino. It has an auto feature for setting temp and a USB connection to log graphs and set manual settings for manual mode. It even starts up to the tune of Black Dog by Led Zeppelin!
These are easy to make if you are tech inclined. There was a similar one here on IIS in the DIY section.
OR
Use a simple very cheap motor controller for the dew heater control from eBay $12 per channel. Power in, Dew straps out! Simple, put in a small box. I have one as a spare.
The next bit was the power box.
I made this from multiple DC to DC modules from eBay.
Very very simple, I used 4 of these with a 12volt regulated 5 amp power supply. The cool thing about these is you adjust each one for the exact voltage to require for each device. For example: Camera 8v, Focuser 12v, usb hub 5v, laser pointer 3v.
As for a USB hub, I buy a small powered unit that has 4 USB ports.
1 - Main imaging camera
2 - Guide camera
3 - Focuser
4 - Dew Heater
The power box, the dew heater and the USB hub all fit on the actual telescope tube somewhere or another as they are small lightweight plastic boxes.
If one bit breaks, cheap and easy to replace/fix.
I use 3 cables only to go to the actual scope tube, it's really like 2 cables as 1 is the USB cable from the PC and the other 2 are tied together for power to the power box and the dew heater power. I keep the dew heater on a separate power supply so no unwanted noise creeps in.
As the mount for my telescope is fixed, I run power directly to it and also have a USB lead from the laptop to it for control as well. These cables remain fixed and do not move so cable management here is not needed, just cable ties to keep neat.
The thing it does not have is the ability to switch the USB port on and off, but I personally have never really had to worry about that, the system just works. If I did have an issue with one of the ports, I would simply unplug the USB lead ans plug it back in.
So in summary I have a system where there is good cable management at the scope end, only 3 cables all tied together as 1 to go to the scope and I have auto control for dew heaters, focus control, camera control and power.
I can then use any type of computer I wish without going too proprietary and expensive. For example, the other night, I thought I had all the software I needed loaded on the new laptop, not the case, and the bits loaded had Murphy hanging around, so, I grabbed my old laptop, plugged everything in and was good to go as it was still configured for imaging.
Costs:
Dew heater controller $40 approx.
Power box $15 approx + Power supply. I have a few 12v regulated 5A plug packs.
USB hub $25 approx.
So for about $80, I have a system that I am happy with, is versatile and quite easy to put together.
Oh and add on another $2,142 for cable ties
Only kidding.
There's my take on this topic, good luck with making a choice.
Cheers,
Damien.
