DS Buster

DS Buster is DIY dew heater controller based on Arduino UNO microcontroller, DS18B20 temperature sensors and 4-channel MOSFET PCB driven by PWM. In manual mode one can control output power of each four channels (P1-P4) separately. In automatic mode output power is controlled based on temperature sensor readings (still ongoing project).

Problem solver

I favor EXSYS and StarTech industrial grade powered hubs with external power exclusively. EXSYS operation mode defaults to that but in case of StarTech you have to open the case and remove one jumper on PCB.

Web Relay First Light

Web page control over LAN, WLAN or Internet:

 iPhone app control over WLAN or Internet:

DIY Weather Station data plotting improvements

Remote control made easy

I'm going to change this UDP Relay into Web Relay. There is nothing wrong with this unit but the latter one comes with built-in GUI in addition to iPhone app and command line interface.

KMTronic 8-channel UDP Relay:

iPhone app:

DIY bash control script:

Playing guitar?

These are Speakon connectors used by rock bands ;-) Originally designed to connect audio cables but can also be used to connect low power DC cables. My aim is to test them as reliable quick release connectors in outdoor use.

Heavy Duty Relay

This is the latest addition into my ever growing family of astronomy relays. I already have got commercial 8-channel UDP relay, 8-channel Web relay, 4 port IP relay and DIY 4 channel Arduino relay shield. This is basically Arduino relay shield with some hardware modifications to enable serial re-connects and even to survive host computer reboots without resetting states of the ports. This relay will control heating devices etc.

Connectors are standard male and female DC plugs:

Connectors close-up:

The enclosure (waterproof is little bit overkill here):

The whole beast:

Control program which I wrote based on skeleton I found:

Almost perfect

Weather was calm and tracking error graph showed almost no error at all.

Keep it simple

This very basic imaging system always reminds me of how all of this started some years ago.

Components: Skywatcher EVOSTAR ED80 Pro ED APO 80/600mm + SW 0.85x Reducer/Flattener, Canon EOS 60Da w. ACK-E6 + Hutech IDAS LPS-P2 EOS Clip, Astrotrac TT320X-AG + Astrotrac TW3100 wedge @ Manfrotto 055XPROB + Manfrotto 410 Junior Geared Head and cheapo Timer Remote Controller.

Double Challenge

Running two separate image acquisition systems at the same time.

Mobile setup 2nd iteration

HEQ-5 mount, f/5.6 triplet APO, high resolution SX-814 CCD camera, Lodestar autoguider, narrowband and LRGB filter wheels, temperature compensating focuser and Imaging Source viewfinder. Everything is remote controlled.

Dogs never sleep

Everyone knows the purpose of watchdog and this DIY solution is something similar. GPRS shield with prepaid SIM card and Arduino UNO sends SMS messages into phone when temperature gets out of defined range. It can also do other interesting things like execute preprogrammed "tasks" commanded by SMS messages. Of course this device can do everything which basic UNO does.

Really simple

This DIY thermistor is based on NTC temperature sensor and relay PCB. It is programmable and can act as a heater or vice versa as a cooler.

It's cold so let's give power to the heating elements:

Oops. Now it's too hot so let's stop heating:

Temperature has fallen enough to exceed thresholds so let's start heating again:

Get smart

Get smart with S20 WiFi enabled socket. This really is a problem solver and last line of defense when everything else like computers fail. Simply switch off and on the whole system anywhere in the world with your phone app and hope for the best.

James Bond?

Not quite. This simple gadget is RF controlled 2-channel relay which comes handy in some cases.

In Action

The bricked and refurbished relay board seems to work ok when put into live action:

PinByPin

This DIY solution utilizes Seletek's PinByPin application and particulary it's ability to provide PWM power into selected DB9 connector pins. My aim is to heat two small dew heater bands in order to keep some critical components warm and moisture away during cold periods.