DSLR wide field and dew : (.....

[CoombellKid]

I've started to play around with astrophotography, just wide field stuff
on my humble EQ5. Anyways it hasn't taken long for dew to be a problem
on my front lens. Which has a UV filter attached mostly to protect the
lens so it is this that dews up. Should I remove the UV filter when doing
stella stuff?

So I'm interested to hear what other folks are using to prevent this
problem. I'm thinking of buying another dew controller and a strap
to wrap around the front end.

Any thoughts most appreciated.

Cheers,CS

[erick]

3" 12V dew strap and a small powerbrick (selected from the pile of surplus and spares that accumulates) that didn't trickle too much power into the strap was my solution. Point the lens at the sky all night - no dew.

[CoombellKid]

Eric,

so your hard wiring the dew strap to the powerbrick?

I'm starting to think maybe another Thousand Oaks dew controller with
a car ciggerette lighter type plug and a dew strap. And power it off
my jump starter kit that I use for my 16". I already have a TO dew
controller but it's hard wired into the SC on my 16" :whistle:

thanks for your reply

Cheers,CS

[dugnsuz]

Hi Rob,
I use a Kendrick MICRO FireLite Controller...
http://www.kendrickastro.com/astro/dewremover.html#MicroController
... got 2 straps, one for DSLR and other for 80mm guidescope.
Works well so far. Cheap(ish) option.
Used to use a hairdryer, but enough about my personal life!!
Doug

[erick]

Yes, a controller would be best. I didn't want to fork out more dosh. I already had a Thousand Oaks dedicated to my dob. And built a little one-channel unit myself to drive a band on the SCT corrector plate. I just checked the resistance/power consumption of the 3" strap then fiddled around with the various left-over powerbricks I had been collecting until I found something that would drive it moderately. Didn't butcher the strap cable - fitted an RCA socket to the powerbrick output cable.