humidity control

[Joshua Bunn]

Hi All,

I'm setting up my observatory for remote operation some distance away from where I live, and so will not be able to manually turn on the dehumidifier i currently use after an imaging session.

I would be interested in hearing what others use or what you do to turn on a dehumidifier remotely or what you use to rid the moisture from the observatory after closing the roof on a dewy morning, maybe fans that pass air through the observatory??

A lot of dehumidifiers now have soft switches and even then, they need to be set before operation. So keen to hear others thoughts.

Thankyou :)
Josh

[billdan]

You could use a 240V timer like what I use to switch the swimming pool pump on/off. I think I bought the last one from Bunnings for $15.

However if you lose mains power you will have to manually reset its internal clock.
e.g Lets say you had it programmed to come on at 5-00am and switch off at 8-00am, if you lost power for 2 hours then the next cycle won't start until 7-00am and switch off at 10-00am.

[lazjen]

You can get some timers that can hold the time without power for a long time. No need to reset a clock if the power goes off for a while.

[h0ughy]

mine is on all the time but on a sensor humidity switch with a hose to the outside

[Joshua Bunn]

Thankyou for your replies lads,

David, what dehumidifier do you run?

Unfortunately using a 240 Volt timer wont work as i understand because the dehumidifier doesn't actually start to dehumidify... it just powers up like a standby mode, but happy to find one that will start up, then a timer could work.

Josh

[h0ughy]

mines on all the time but it when the humidity rises that it kicks in, it doesn't run all the time, i am imaging now but will get a photo of it mine is an older version but this one allows you to attach a hose https://www.thegoodguys.com.au/delonghi-25l-dehumidifier-dds25

[Joshua Bunn]

Thanks David, I was looking at one of them, but wasn't sure it would do what I wanted. good to know, thankyou!