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Here is my setup, this picture was taken on New Years Eve/Morning, while everyone was celebrating
I was out under the stars. As you can see in the image I now use a desktop PC now compared to
my original laptop setup seen below. The PC is a Pentium Pro machine that I built which is
just fine for CCD work.
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This is the JMI focuser I puchased in May of 2003. It replaces the terriable plastic
focuser shipped with my telescope. As you can see in the image the focuser can also
be motor driven. This provides for very fine focusing as well as hands free focusing
for my CCD work. This focuser has added so much to the quality of my telescope it's
un-imaginable.
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Here is another close up picture of my JMI focuser. As you can see in the image
I have a laser Columnator. It's amazing how this little piece of equipment can
bring so much out of your telescope. After purchasing the Columnator I discovered
how poorly aligned my optics were, after aligning the difference in image quality
was like night and day. The best $70.00 I ever spent!
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This is my newly purchased Finder Scope. It is an 50mm with a nice right angle
on the end. The original Finder was a straight thru and was very uncomfortable
to use, a real killer on the back. This was purchased 06.2004, the price including
the rings to attach was around $92.00.
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This is a picture of my complete system, Telescope, CB245 and Laptop. The Telescope is a 10" f/4.5 Meade. The laptop is an older 486 25Mz machine, it has proven to be exactly what I needed to interface with the camera.
I no longer use the Laptop in this picture as it started to have
problems with it's memory. I now use an older 486 desktop
system. I really prefer the desktop system as using a real
monitor instead of the LCD screen on the Laptop provides a much
better image during integrations and find/focus modes. The
desktop also can connect to my home network for easy transfer of
files to my image processing computer. The desktop
requires more setup time but I am looking into building some
kind of mobile table for the computer to ease setup time.
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Here is a shot of the power supply. You will notice that I have added the recommended banana clips to my wires to make for easier setup. I originally didn't have these and after about two nights of fighting wires in the dark I decided to buy some. Well they have made a world of difference, my setup is much more simpler and takes less time.
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This is a shot of how I have mounted the interface box onto the telescope. I just used some velcro that had sticky backing on it.
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Here you can see how I have modified the cooling system a little. I started out with the original design that utilized the windshield washer pump. The pump failed only after about 4 hours of operation, besides that it made quite a noise. So I decided to find a more commercial pump, one that was designed for long hours of
continuous operation. What I ended up with is the pump you see in the picture. It's a submersible sump pump that I bought at Wal-Mart for $40. It is an AC based pump, runs so quiet you don't even know it's running. I plug it in to the electrical outlet on the power supply. So far it has worked very well. With the windshield washer pump I was always
concerned that maybe the camera wasn't getting cooled properly but with this new pump I have gotten to the point that I don't even worry about it.
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This is just a shot of everything from a different angle.
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Since I no longer needed the connection from the power supply for the pump I have reutilized this as the power source for the motor drive system. It just happened that the drive required the same voltage DC that the power supply put out for the pump.
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