Cool USB Temperature Monitor review

[cventer]

I bought one of these cheap USB temp monitors from fleabay a month ago.

One of these http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/PC-USB-Powered-Thermometer-Temperature-Sensor-Data-Log-/180764824394?pt=AU_Laptop_Accessori es&hash=item2a166c534a

Just posting a quick report to say this thing is awesome. I have it connected to my Mount Hub Pro which sits on top of my scope and provides a USB hub as well as dew heater , power controler and robofocuser.

This allows me to monitor the temp of the air right next to my scope.

It has a very nice little interface that shows a graph of ambient temp and trend line as allows emails to be sent or alerts when temp drops below certain value.

You can set the frequency that it monitors the temerature. I sample every 1 minute.

attached is a screen shot of the interface from 5 minutes ago while I am imaging.

I use this to determine if I need to refocus the scope. more than 3 - 4 degree drop and its time for a refocus.

Hard to beat for the grand price of $10. Took about 2 weeks to arrive by snail mail from Hong Kong.

[Logieberra]

Cventer

Nice find. Is there an option to callibrate? I was thinking of using 2 of these, one affixed to primary mirror, the other outside the scope... but they would need to be callibrated to match eachother...

I also wonder if the software can handle 2 units running at once...

[DavidTrap]

Have you compared it to another thermometer?

DT

[cventer]

I have a cheapo indoor / outdoor weather station and the temps match within half a degree.

I did not buy it for accuracy though. I am more interest in the relative temp and the drop over a period.

[DavidTrap]

Agree a trend is more important than an absolute temperature for what you plan to use it for. Unfortunately, I've run out of sockets on my USB hub that sits under the scope - everything is working so well at the moment that I'm reluctant to change the hub just to add a thermometer. I also refocus with each filter change, so it's rarely longer than an hour before refocusing. The exception is a longer run of luminance or Ha that occurs after shooting RGB earlier in the evening - although hopefully by the time that occurs, the temperature has stabilised.

DT

[bmitchell82]

thats why i just purchased one :) to watch the trend. I roughly how much my tube changes Vs temp so when i see a cirtain temp change i know its about time to redoo my focusing :) it also explains what my cooling is doing and approximately how much cooling i can expect!