Allsky Camera Lives!
It took me longer to get back to my Allsky camera build than I care to admit but it’s alive and kicking!
I started with a ZWO ASI120-MC stuck on a mini-tripod under my telescope in November 2023. At the time, my intent was to build a kit that I could permanently mount to my observatory through the winter months. As with most things of late, life ensued and this plan landed in a box with a handful of other projects in my workroom.
Finally, over this miserably hot and humid summer, I pulled this one from the ruble pile of misfit projects and brought it to life.
This is running on a Raspberry Pi 4b using a ZWO ASI678-MC camera with a 1.55mm f/2 lens. The dome and project box housing the hardware were bought from Amazon.
For capture software, I did start out using Allsky by Thomas Jacquin. After a few weeks of tinkering, I found it was missing a few items I wanted that were not yet supported. So, I switched to Indi-Allsky by Aaron Morris. Over the course of a few weekends, I dialed in the settings and UI elements. The automatic YouTube upload of timelapse videos was by far the most difficult piece to get working. The setup process isn’t very straightforward and the instructions make some assumptions in critical areas. What really threw me off though was that finding my installation was missing two Python modules critical for OAuth and Google API to function. Once I figure this out, it worked like a charm!
I’m not quite done with the build yet. For starters, it is still mounted on an old tripod on my back deck powered with an extension cord. I’ve installed a POE hat in the Raspberry Pi to power the unit over ethernet. Since I already have ethernet ran to my observatory, I’ll be able to use the POE hat when I figure out final mounting.
I also need to figure out a solution for a dew heater. The humidity this summer caused several night of lost data due to condensation on the outside of the dome. Right now, I have an old dew strap meant for a finder scope cut apart, wired to a USB-A connector and shoved in the dome. This is working great but it’s visible in the FOV of the lens.