Your Setup!

[robmorin]

Hey all, I wanted to see what others are using/doing with their AllSky project. Like me, I am sure some people get stuck or confused on certain aspects of the build. Maybe we can share what we have accomplished or what are current status on this project?

Here is my test rig so far, I am using less expensive parts for first build.

Board: Raspberry Pi 3 B 1GB RAM. I will upgrade to a Pi 4 4GB when done testing.

Storage: I am using external M.2 256GB USB SSD for booting and storage, makes quite the difference in speed.

Camera: RPIHQ Camera
https://www.canakit.com/raspberry-pi-hq-camera.html

Lens: StarDot LEN-2M1.55MMCS 1.55-1.55mm f/1.5-1.5 Fisheye Body
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01CX4U7DK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Enclosure: BUD Industries NBF-32016 Plastic ABS NEMA Economy Box with Solid Door, 11-51/64" Length x 7-55/64" Width x 5-7/64"
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B005UPANU2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Dome: SupremeTech Acrylic Dome/Plastic Hemisphere - Clear - 4" Diameter, 1/2" Flange with Pre-Drilled Holes
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01N29BQN6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have not received my enclosure or dome yet. :(

The AllSky software seems to be working as advertised. :)

So what does your build consist of?

Have a great day!

Rob VE2XTC
Montreal, Canada

[EricClaeys]

I have a Pi 4b with 4 GB memory, Power over Ethernet, and a ZWO ASI178MC camera sitting on the top of a 6-meter pole at my observatory. At home I have a Pi 4b with 8 GB memory I use for testing the Allsky software. It has both an ASI290MM camera and an RPiHQ camera. Right now that's all sitting in my office but I plan to make a "Y" shaped housing for it, with each camera on one of the "Y" ends, and the Pi in the middle. It'll probably look like an alien!

[robmorin]

Sounds cool, you should post pics when its up and running!
:)

[SamCrask]

Hi @robmorin , good idea, thanks for starting the thread, hope we can get others to participate! Here's my setup...
I'm using a Pi 4b 4GB with DC power, mounted on a short pipe just below the roof peak about 10m/30ft up so it has a nice 360 clear view. Camera is a ZWO ASI178MC with an Arecont 1.55mm lens from B&H. After retiring last year, I've finally had time to mess around with different case designs and find ways to keep the box cool/warm as needed. Having the Pi in the box helps with heating in the winter, but problematic cooling it in the summer without airflow, I've found an electrical 6x6x4" junction box from HomeDepot was easy to modify & mount, easy to fan cool, tolerates direct sun, and seals well against rain and snow (so far at least).

Major parts:
Carlon / Cantex 6x6x4 junction box
4 inch SupremeTech dome with flange from Amazon - with RainX (use [plastic compatible version]
12v 10A waterproof LED power supply
USB-C buck converter for Pi
Aluminum Heatsink Case for Pi - installed so fan blows along ribs
Pimoroni Automation HAT Mini from SparkFun, needs a 40pin GPIO extension
Vonets 5G wireless to ethernet module
70mm Fan from Amazon, runs from Hat relay as needed
DHT22 temp/humidity sensor and a couple TMP36 sensors for temp sensing in the dome / case / ambient
ANMBEST 5v dual relay module for dew heater control
Homemade dew heater PCB with 6x 3W 100ohm resistors - 3 resistors on each relay, using all 6 will melt snow (eventually), based on this very useful instructables project - https://www.instructables.com/Raspberry-Pi-Dew-Heater-for-All-sky-Camera/

Lots of 3D modeling & printing was used for internal parts, fan ducts, along with printed dome & fan duct seals in NinjaFlex. Fan ducts have window screens to minimize bugs. Parts made in PETG from Matterhackers. Here's an assembly view:

Next project is to add a focuser stepper motor to adjust focus after installation, along with a small 12v battery to act as a UPS for brief power outages.

(edit - removed links as they were all borken)

[SamCrask]

Here's what I got and it works well on the acrylic dome...
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Rain-X-Plastic-Water-Repellent-12-oz/47301723

[Curtis2012]

Thanks!

[Curtis2012]

Damn that stuff's hard to find online. Walmart shows out of stock. Only place I found it available was Amazon Canada!

[SamCrask]

I was lucky to get it from Amazon, but they're now showing no stock. Probably sitting in a container off LA harbor, like most of the stuff I need!
Here's the Amazon link in case you couldn't get to it...
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00T9LR2BQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Curtis2012]

Thanks I will keep a watch on it.

[Curtis2012]

Hola from Volcan, Panama!

Just built a test setup:

rPi 3B+
rPi HQ Cam
Acrylic dome from Amazon
3D printed adapter for acrylic dome to 4" PVC, this is also the mount for the HQ cam.
3D printed mount for rPi 3B+ that fits inside 4" PVC

Also built software to count stars in images and message me if the sky is clear (for astrophotography). We often have cloudy skies in the evening which clear in the wee hours...so this allows me to snooze until they are clear rather than waking up to check.

Working on dew heater now.

Related links:

https://www.tinkercad.com/things/2mVwWnRjFgg
https://www.tinkercad.com/things/9xIrboG4kA6
https://github.com/Curtis2012/clearskyalarm

[Curtis2012]

Also: I added threaded metal inserts for mounting the acrylic dome to the flange. I did not include the holes in the design, just created them with a fine tip on a soldering iron (an old tip I reserve just for that purpose).

[Curtis2012]

I've got my allskycam mostly running smoothly now. As the skies begin to clear here in Panama, it is producing some pretty decent timelapses.

Link to a recent timelapse:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wduph6zz1sq0s6q/AllSkyCAM%20TimeLapse%2020211226.mp4?dl=0

[jimjackii]

My Allsky system, operated in Dresden / Germany:

• Raspi 2B V1.1 with RaspHQ camera and 1.55mm lens (see first post).
• Electrical distribution box from the hardware store and acrylic dome (see first post).
• In addition, a fan and heating control, based on the Raspi temperature, a internal TH sensor Si7021 and other weather data from my weather station with own shell scripts.

My Allsky website:
https://wetter.jimjackii.de/astrocam1/allsky/

Construction of the system was initially provisional, but is now running on the roof. ;-):
https://wetter.jimjackii.de/astrocam1/bilder_aufbau/IMG_20211104_165610_res.jpg
https://wetter.jimjackii.de/astrocam1/bilder_aufbau/IMG_20211104_170050_res.jpg

Unfortunately, finding the right values ​​for the white balance is still problematic.
The values ​​for night are okay (only need a little correction), but the same values ​​for day do not work at all.
Unfortunately, the RaspiHQ camera does not yet offer the option to set these values ​​individually for night / day.

A very big problem is still the very long pause of up to 10s between 2 pictures (at night).
This means that the Allsky system cannot yet replace my other meteor camera with MeteotuxPi.

[Jonk2]

South coast - UK

I have 2 setups, one outside under test and one indoors for updates / development etc.

The outside Allsky is the latest RPI4 with USB-C to M.2 instead of SD card, of course running this allsky software. it is connected via PoE meaning I can fully control it from within indoors, and just have to pull the ethernet cable to power off if it's required.

The camera is a ZWO 178MC-Cool and a Fujinon 1.4mm f1.4 180 degree+ lens.

The camera dome is from an old Vycon CCTV, for which I designed and 3D printed a PETG lower half to hold the camera, dew heater and cooling fans.
The cooling fans will come on if the internal dome temperature is getting 'too warm' by the greenhouse effect. This I can't do much with until the summer but it's nearly ready and waiting to test.
Essentially, the PI will take care of it all automatically.

Attached to this PI is an arduino on a custom PCB running MySQMPro by Rob Brown, which is turn creates a text file for overlaying on top of the allsky image. This may become redundant as I could write some basic code and use different sensors directly onto the PI for a much trimmed down version, such as temperatures only. Not much else is relevant. The rest of the hardware could be used as a portable SQM device.

The dew heater is an aluminium ring with a silicone heater strip wrapped around it. It's quite large not only to fit in the space available well, it also take a while to cool down if the dew heater power is lost for watever reason.

The dew heater is controlled by my own basic python code to come on when the external temperature is below 12 Deg C. This seems to work well for the most part. Eventually I will have this take into account the internal temperature of the camera dome and any dew points to calculate if dew is likely (inside and outside).

The cooling fans will come on if the internal dome temperature is getting 'too warm' by the greenhouse effect. This I can't do much with until the summer sun / heat arrives.
Essentially, the PI will take care of it all automatically.

The inside setup is very similar hardware wise, but a non-cooled 178MC. This is used for update testing, python code testing and have just started to use grafana / influx db as a dashboard.

My little project is constantly evolving and I enjoy it. An allsky is a must for astronomers in my opinion.