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Old 25-11-2021, 12:29 PM
glend (Glen)
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glend is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Lake Macquarie
Posts: 7,033
Alan, I tried to dehumidify my roll off roof observatory for a couple of years after I built it. After burning out two dehumidifiers I gave up and adopted a different approach. I simply do not leave equipment inside the observatory (with the exception of the CGX mount which is on a pier). In this recent sort of weather you cannot do any astronomy anyway, so why leave gear in there to potentially deteriorate. Scopes are easy to store inside your house, unless maybe you have a +16" Dob.
My mount lives inside an insulated shroud in the observatory, the shroud which is aluminised foil insulation, is constructed as a chimney to provide air flow upward through the shroud, exiting through the top. At the bottom of the shroud is a 25w decorative light bulb, which provides just enough heat to provide a chimney effect, and this rising warm air prevents any condensation on the mount itself. It takes just two minutes to remove the shroud when I want to use the mount. Usually I have a 24 hr timer running the bulb, and this prevents any cold weather condensation.

Of course if your one of those people who want everything setup perfectly, scopes, camera, etc, then a few minutes of prep time when you want to use it, then this approach might annoy you.
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