March 29th Sol

[Peter Ward]

The one big gripe I'd have with Point Grey cameras is they run really hot. I guess due it's serious data throughput, my GX3 often hits 58-60 degrees centigrade during an imaging run. 600 frames running to about 4 Gig of data.

To cut a long story short, it is now peltier cooled and now runs at about 28-30 degrees centigrade....and is showing a significant noise reduction in the data as a result.

Modded first light image is here, at the camera's native resolution.

[Larryp (Laurie)]

Lots of lovely detail there, Peter. Cooling the camera sounds like it was a good idea!

[Star Catcher (Ted Dobosz)]

Now that is looking very nice Peter! Looks like you are getting the heat away successfully with a fan cooled peltier. Did you end up running with one rated at 4 amps?
Ted

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by Larryp

Lots of lovely detail there, Peter. Cooling the camera sounds like it was a good idea!

Originally Posted by Star Catcher

Now that is looking very nice Peter! Looks like you are getting the heat away successfully with a fan cooled peltier. Did you end up running with one rated at 4 amps?
Ted

Thanks Laurie, Ted. I ended up using a 95 watt unit (think it can take 6 amp)

[h0ughy (David)]

thats a fair effort there - Bl00dy unfair - when did you get to se the sun? Lovely details and the prom action is a treat - as too the resolution. got a pic of the camera?

[Paddy (Patrick)]

Very impressive Peter!

[DavidTrap (David)]

Noice!

I'm assuming this is a DIY cooling mod? Would be interest to see a pic of the setup.

DT

[RickS (Rick)]

Great result, Peter!

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

Superb image Peter, the detail is crisp and impressive. Great work

[Peter Ward]

Thanks for the feedback guys, seems there is some interest in the cooling mod to my PGR camera, so I've attached a couple of images.

The basic kit is: a 95 watt peltier, thermal grease, and a PC CPU cooler.

Also attached is a graph showing the effectiveness of the system, the cooler was switched off just before 18 minutes of runtime, the steep ramp up in operating temperature is obvious at that point.

I tried a few heat sink types, from old Pentium 4 cpu coolers to more elaborate types with copper heatpipes (pictured). Most work well.

[h0ughy (David)]

does running the cooler interfere wiht the electronics or just you being careful and no vibrations? no moisture on the ccd?

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by h0ughy

does running the cooler interfere wiht the electronics or just you being careful and no vibrations? no moisture on the ccd?

The the cooler is effectively DC loop, hence no interference seen.

The fan I am using has not caused any vibrations.

I've not experienced any dewing on the sensor or window to date, however, externally the case has dewed up on numerous occasions.

With peltiers it's really important to get the waste heat efficiently away from the hot side, or they simply don't work.

[astronobob (Bob)]

Grouse detail Peter, Facinating Mod, looks like a tubo charged intercooler system, um, Cool