dew heating systems - what is the most power efficent and the best to use

[h0ughy (David)]

well John i weighed up the cost of the dewnot and the others, and the temperature sensor was the thing that turned it for me. this unit will be in my observatory permanently, on full power, allowing me to use the thousand oaks and the no name brand one i have in the field. i have taken on board all that you have said, and the others. if i was using this in the field all the time then i wouldnt be doing this.

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Houghy,

In your original post:

I am after some help with respect to dew control heating straps and dew controllers?

I am thinking of using a 80 or 100 AH deep cycle battery to power it, but what is the most power efficient system, Kendrick, thousand oaks, dew buster? Which straps are the best to use?

And lastly, what is value for money?

Looking at running a dew strap for the finder scope, 127 scope, 2x 80mm scope

you mention nothing about setting it up permanently in an observatory. In fact you raise the issue of "power efficiency", so one has to assume it was going to be used in the field and the low voltage cutout was likely to be a major issue.

If the low voltage cutout isn't an issue in your observatory then the Digifire 10 is an excellent system and it would in fact be the one I would buy myself and recommend to you. Both the Kendrick Digifire 7 and 10 are excellent dew controllers. The inability to disable the "low voltage cutout", is their only fault, but in some circumstances it's a critical one.

Enjoy it, in your setup environment I am sure it will work very well.

Cheers,
John B

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Let me re phrase your post a little Houghy

Houghy: "John, I would like to buy a 4" aperture high quality refractor, for flat field imaging. What do you recommend".

JB: "Houghy, if cost is not an issue I would buy a Televue NP101 or a Takahashi FSQ 106".

Houghy: "John, I decided to buy a 14.5"/F4.3 Starmaster, with Zambuto mirror".

JB: "Houghy, if you bought a 14.5" reflector why did you ask me which 4" refractor you should buy?"

Houghy: "Well John I really wanted a big reflector for visual astronomy, but I just wanted to see which refractor you liked"

[h0ughy (David)]

John,

sorry but I got the answer very clear in everyones posts - no kendrick for mobile use!!! LOL so i fixed that and will only use it in a permanent situation. I valued all of the comments and evaluated them - hence my confusing response LOL .

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Houghy,

That's a fair enough call too. I completely understand your thinking. You will like the Digifire 10 in the observatory. They are an excellent controller. Extremely well made, very easy to connect and operate. I really wish they would add the switch to allow you to disable the low voltage cutout. If they did, it would be my no 1 recommendation in all situations.

Cheers,
John B

[kinetic (Steve)]

Hi John, Houghy,

I have conversations like that all the time with my wife

Her:

"Hi Honey, I'm down here at the shops, umm I can't decide which
portable DVD player to buy....the cheap and nasty has 2 screens
so it would be great to use travelling for the kids in the back....
or there's a good Toshiba one with a 9inch screen but only has
one screen for 50 bucks more"?

Me:

"Yeah it's a gamble, but I'd be buying the Toshiba....they are
a throw away item...moving parts, Toshiba would probably be
slightly better made, better lithium battery etc....we'd only use the
2 screen one once in a blue moon anyway....and the cheapies are
crap...remember the one I bought you for Xmas...it worked for 12
months...get the Toshiba..but just check if it has 2 headphone
outputs first"

Her:

"Ok, yeah it does.....ok thanks hon...seeya tonight"

You guessed it...she bought the cheapie with 2 screens

Steve