 1 styrofoam box, the base of my 4 heated camera boxes, the 110V heatpads can only be used in series, outerwise they will get too hot |
 2 rechargable batteries as power supply for the camera, the 8V voltage controller and the heatpad |
 3 batteries from a previous experiment, work great for powering the camera for about 2 days |
 4 selfmade 8V voltage controller with dummy battery |
 5 thermostat controlled heating, the thermostat is from a pipe antifreeze set, so the temperature in the box is just above freezing |
 6 tight fit with camera, battries, power supply for external monitior, heating etc. |
 7 outside remote control, all outside wires have to be teflon, and a nut glued to the switch to ease operationd with big mittens |
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 12 very important, the external monitor which runs of a 9V power supply, it will work for the first few minutes, but continues power keeps it a bit warmer and it survived all the freezing so far ;) |
 13 with the camera in the box, you don't see where you pointing, so the external monitor helps to level the camera and then you can adjust your image while outside |
 14 a cheap 5$ monitor will do the trick |
 15 the lid is on, just the gap between lens and box has to be sealed |
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 17 box is ready to go outside |
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 19 mounting plate for the tracking mount, with to "pins" to help put it on the mount outside in the dark and cold |
 20 old C8 tracking mount, the orignal motor stopped working, so I had to extend the housing to house a bigger motor |
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 23 first test runs, with the varaible restistor one can adjust the speed of the traching, and the little gear box made by our machinist Matt |
 24 heating for the mount, most of the heat pads are in series, like in the heated box, otherwise they would get too hot |
 25 the box after a day outside |
 26 the mount after a day outside |
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 28 taking long timelapse sequences |
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 30 me next to the mount behind our telescope |
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 34 any tripod or moving parts exposed to the cold have to be degreased and then a special low tempratuer grease has to be applied |
 35 normal grease just freezes up and it is like super glue at this temperatures |
 36 tripod collection |
 37 camera and lens collection |
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 39 a box independet from electrical power, only heated by two hot water bottles, but it will last for about 10h at -70°C |
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 41 another setup for movies of the telescope from the top of the groundshield |
 42 again external monitor, is very important to adjust your image |
 43 camera set up on tip of the groundshield, ready for a long timelapse of the telescope at sunset |
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 45 this can also happen, this lens and camera were on top of the roof as an all sky camera for 4 months, but everntually moisture was freezing inside |
 46 the new setup has some heat applied to the lens as well and this problem hasn't reoccured |