The increasing sophistication of scopes and mounts under PC control really facilitates the ability to be inside with your family while still busily photographing that elusive new supernova!
After posting my comments above on the PWM dew heater controller, I got to musing over the lack of a low cost USB-based remotely-controllable general purpose "box" that one could build or buy to manage all the little jobs needed to take care of an observatory, especially to remotely monitor and control them from your warm house on a cold winter's night.
Focusing, various temp and dew monitoring functions, voltages, Camera cooling, filter switching, lighting, security, etc.
IIS members also need easy access to the simple brackets, motors and metalwork bits to bolt to your scopes to make things actually happen, such as electric focus, dew heating, etc.
The really fancy jobs are already taken care of; Camera control, mount control, Goto, etc, yet the simple tasks mainly still require you to stumble out to the obs, unless you want to spend gobs of money
.
My concept is for a simple "open-source" approach to designing a "modular" USB-controlled box with various off-the-shelf functional kits inside. You only bought the 'kits' to do what you wanted, but could add more kits and functions later if you wished, with the fundamental objectives of low cost and simplicity
; either build it yourself from a kit of instructions, or buy one ready-made from a member who may like the pocket money to build and test it for you.
Project members' skills that would be needed include sourcing the basic electronic kits from established suppliers, simple CAD metal bracket design and fab, simple programming, testing, documentation and some basic organisational aspects for the joint effort. I don't see this as a manufacturing project, more a means of putting together info and available items that will do the basic functions.
I may be way over ambitious in my estimation of IIS members' needs and abilities, but I thought a post to see response may be worthwhile.