the new Somnium observatory

[Somnium]

alright, i am starting the thread going now. Tomorrow night is the final test of the remote site, all things going to plan i will be building the observatory shortly. i went reasonable the first time, this time i am going excessive. i will share details on the design as i work it out but it will be a roll off roof design with a metal frame, walls and roof. it will be quite large and heavy so i am thinking of using dual motors to run the roof. the whole system will be ascom compatible and hook in with my weather station. Some of the challenges i will have include access to the internet and power. i will be running a complete off the grid system so i have spent time to make sure i am happy with the site. the site is fantastic, no sky glow and beautiful seeing on the 5 trips i have done, no twinkling above around 15 degrees from the horizon. stay tuned.

[strongmanmike]

Got the popcorn ready...away you go, looking forward to seeing this progress :thumbsup:

Mike

[xelasnave]

I have a little experience with off grid power and I suggest you incorporate gel batteries for all sorts of reasons.
They cost more.
Have you worked out your power needs?

The sat internet here draws more than the fridge...

And it must be on 24 hours a day each day every day...75 amps a day at 12 vlts. I come up with...

You can see if you get a week of no Sun you will need a decent battery bank.

Maybe you could set the net on a timer ...

Anyways I don't have experience with a remote observatory but I think you will need a large battery bank just for internet ...then motors but they will probably use less overall because although high draw they are not on for long...

Alex

[xelasnave]

I will make a guess...
Assuming you assemble the power supply....$5000 for batteries, $1200 for panels, $1000 for regulator etc, $1500/for inverter...
Alex

[xelasnave]

If you have 1000 amp hour battery bank you should instruct the inverter to shut down after you draw 20% that give you 200 amps...2.5 days connected to the net.
These are ruff numbers but I hope it gets you thinking.
Alex

[w0mbat]

Alex, I am surprised to hear you say you have to keep your satellite internet running 24/7. I assume you have NBN satellite?......if so you certainly do NOT have to run it 24/7. I am conscious of the power the satellite modem uses....about 40 Watts I believe. However, in sleep mode it only uses a small fraction of that. So every night I turn off my wireless router and the modem goes to sleep (orange circle). The NBN can still access the modem while asleep if necessary for software upgrades etc. Even if you do turn it off completely it only takes 2 minutes to be up and running again.
And if you have one of the older satellite systems it is even less correct.
I think you have been badly advised.
Ian
ps We are now on the NBN satellite and have been on two previous satellite systems. The new NBN satellite internet is VASTLY superior to anything we have had before. Works very very well almost all the time.
And the plans are gradually getting cheaper.

[w0mbat]

Sorry Alex, just realised you mean it has to be on because it is in a remote observatory.
Ian

[xelasnave]

Yes we switch the one here off at night.

My point is if you are not there it will run twenty four seven... So 40 watts x 24 hours x 7 days ...560 amps for a wet weak ...at 12 vlts...mmm $15000 battery bank

I think you could have it on a timer so it only comes on when you need it and then a way of giving other commands like over ride timer now that I am here.:)

Maybe you can get an inverter that cuts out when the batteries reach a low point and come back on when power is back up.

And maybe think 48 vlt system given that your motors when on will draw a high current..I assume.

You may get by with one panel but they are cheap and the more you have the more power you get when it is cloudy.

Alex

[xelasnave]

And Ian...I did not mean to sound negative which in reflection you may have felt.
I hoped that I could offer input that would help...
I think its is fantastic that you are undertaking such a project.
And I am rather confident that when a problem is identified it can be solved or managed.

Will you have security camera s ?
Alex

[w0mbat]

Aidan was the op Alex.....I'm the one who didn't read your post properly.

I reckon your idea of putting the modem on a timer would work.
Also Aidan will have to deal with the occasional issue where the NBN satellite modem needs to be restarted (red circle). I think this has happened to me twice in around a year. There are devices available that regularly "ping" a site on the internet. If no reply is received for a predetermined period of time, the device assumes the modem needs to be restarted and does a power cycle.
If mobile phone reception is available there are also switches that can be operated that way as a backup.
Ian

[xelasnave]

I thought at the time something seemed different but as I get that sort of feeling somewhat regularly I thought little of it so although I feel bad about being wrong I feel good that initially I thought something was wrong and although I thought I was confused I was not although it would have been better had I realised I was confused and investigated why I felt something was different which it was even though I concluded it was not when it was.
Alex

[w0mbat]

Alex I fully understand.....we are clearly of a similar age.
Ian

[Somnium]

sorry for the late response but i was on site last night, the temps got down to -5 and oh boy was it cold.

the points raised are valid and have been thought of. there are multiple options for internet, NBN is one of them, in my last obs i had an issue with the modem occasionally hanging, i put in a timer and did a 15 min power cycle every day, that worked a treat but no matter what happens you always want to log in during that 15 min window.

as for power, my thoughts are to supplement the battery storage with a generator. i am not looking to power on batteries for a week if there is no sun, rather, have the gen automatically kick in when battery levels get too low. the whole system will not be cheap, i am fully aware of that.

the site visit yesterday was great, guiding was around 0.25" RMS on the combination of both axis. that is about half i would get at my old site on the best days. i will post some pics shortly.

[xelasnave]

I will be interested in your auto start Genny that's the next step here.
Alex

[xelasnave]

Re the Genny ...
Wasps will nest in the exhaust and you go crazy trying to work out why it won't run...
Alex

[Somnium]

here are some images of the site, i might set up in a slightly different location but you get the idea, there are perfect views all around. i am currently processing the images i took that night and it is looking great, i got FWHM readings consistently around 2.2". hopefully i will get time to finish the images by tomorrow and i will post the results.