I have seen the breakdown of the grease on my Celestron.
I keep the equipment out all year in my 8 foot Exploradome. However, I have
an air conditioner installed with some controlling software I wrote that
monitors the temperature and turns the air conditioner on/off. Without the
air conditioner the temperature reaches 116-120 inside; the air keeps it
generally 95 or better. On really hot days it may approach 100.
Most computer systems are rated only to be reliable at 104 or below, unless
that has changed since my computer support days. We used to see high rates
of failure above 104. Some failures were due to excessive expansion of
circuit board connectors.
brew
On Tue, Jun 7, 2016 at 6:13 PM, Mike Zele <mikezele@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Dr.Clay once calculated that the Meade LX200 SCT scopes could operate well
up to 105 degrees but then the viscosity of its internal lubricants would
begin to break down.
With that in mind, I wait for the evening temperature to cool down only
operate my equipment at 95 degrees or lower. The observatory desktop is
even stable at those temps,
I leave all of the equipment in the observatory year round, however.
But then all of my equipment is secondhand and modestly priced. If I had a
TAK or TEC with an expensive camera and mount as well then I would think
twice about leaving it out there all of the time.
Mike
Sent from my iPhone
On Jun 7, 2016, at 5:58 AM, "Greg Schwimer" <schwim@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Tom,Just trying to keep my option to image open to as many night as possible.
Thanks for the reply! I'll probably bring it in for the monsoons anyway.
in an uncontrolled environment during the heat of summer?
Greg
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Polakis" <tpolakis@xxxxxxx>
To: sac-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, June 6, 2016 1:52:29 PM
Subject: [sac-forum] Re: Summer heat & Equipment
---- Greg Schwimer <schwim@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
All of that said, has anyone run into any issues leaving your equipment
Thoughts/comments/concerns/etc all welcome!
setup. My backyard observatory was a real greenhouse last summer. Earlier
Hi Greg,
Actually, an observatory without A/C is probably worse than your covered
this year, we installed an A/C unit, which is kept the air temperature
below 95F the last several days.
all the way through the end of June last year, will no ill effects. Come
Of course it depends on the equipment, but I left my equipment set up
monsoon time, I figured the weather is bad anyway, so I took the OTA and
camera inside through mid-September. Still, the mount was out there (minus
control box and hand control) all Summer, and doesn't appear to have
suffered, at least in the short term.
hundred other things just right, it sure is difficult to tear it all down!
Once you get that perfect polar alignment, focus, sky model, and a
Tom
