asaint
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/25/03
Posts: 2021
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How to Dehumidify a Telescope
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lukman
super member
Reged: 06/27/04
Posts: 159
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Excellent Review!!! Thank you...
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Lukman
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Michael Miles
professor emeritus
Reged: 02/11/05
Posts: 604
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Hi Dan:
That was fun. In the spirit of someone who would do a CNC convesion of a milling machine just to make one-off telescope parts, I salute you.
Of course, you could have just gotten a Newtonian and skipped the whole thing...
Michael 
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LXD-75 w/
Stellarvue 102ED
Hardin 10" Newt
Antares 8" Newt
Meade AR-5
Meade N-6
Celestron 102mm refractor
Canon 300D, Meade DSI guiding
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mcoren
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 01/11/06
Posts: 1150
Loc: Northern Virginia, USA
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Nice job Dan! A very creative solution to the problem, if not just a bit of overkill. But, hey, that's what makes it fun, right?
Back in my SCT days, I would just put a baby sock over the visual back (to keep the spiders out) and allow the exchange of air in the heated/air conditioned house to dry things out in time for the next night.
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Mike
Orion SkyQuest XT10
Suburban Washington DC
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highfnum
super member
Reged: 09/06/06
Posts: 104
Loc: NY
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well someone figured it out ! I will try on my 9.25
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JFWall
newbie
Reged: 05/20/08
Posts: 4
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Interesting idea but I prefer using the "KISS" principle.
Get a buddy bottle filled with nitrogen. They seal optical scopes for firearms with it to prevent just this problem. When your ready to go out, fill her up with a blast of nitrogen and your good to go. "KISS"
John
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Mr. Bill
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 02/09/05
Posts: 2759
Loc: Just passing through.....
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Very clever...
I found that my Cat Cooler would exchange the humid air inside my C11 for dry outside air pretty efficiently though.
It will clear up internal condensation in a matter of minutes inside the house.
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10x50 Fujinon FMT-SX binos
15x70 AP binos + Paragon p-mount
Oberwerk 100BT 45 degree + Hercules fork mount
120mm f/5 Orion achromat + Moonlite focuser
140mm f/5.7 Vixen NeoAchro Petzvel refractor
150mm f/6.5 Antares achromat
150mm f/8 homemade achromat....EE Barnard MW Sweeper
8 inch newt with f/5 Swayze mirror
10 inch f/4.7 Orion newt + Paracorr
15 inch f/5 Discovery split tube
35mm Pan, 26mm Nagler, 17mm Nagler, 13mm Ethos, 8mm Ethos
Member IDA
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Larry F
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 05/24/04
Posts: 1396
Loc: Westchester, NY
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Quote:
Interesting idea but I prefer using the "KISS" principle.
Get a buddy bottle filled with nitrogen. They seal optical scopes for firearms with it to prevent just this problem. When your ready to go out, fill her up with a blast of nitrogen and your good to go. "KISS"
I don't know how you'd keep the system sealed; eventually the nitrogen would leak out. Which suggests an aftermarket solution: a small tank that bleeds nitrogen into your SCT during the observing session and during post-viewing temperature equilibration via one of the accessory-mount screw holes.
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C5 Orange Tube SCT
Orion 127 Mak
SV Nighthawk (1st generation)
CPC 800 XLT SCT
Coronado Maxscope 40
5 1/4" f/5.2 home-built Newtonian
Denk II Binos
Giro 2/Tech2000 Giro Driver/Tech2000 QuickDraw Pier
A zillion eyepieces and some more mounts
Mason & Hamlin BB 214 cm (piano)
My Gallery
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Brian Gibson
member
Reged: 10/17/07
Posts: 15
Loc: Brampton, Ontario
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I have been using 8" SCT's (Celestron and Meade) here in Ontario, Canada since 1980 and never had an issue with internal humidity. A dew cap over the corrector plate solved most of the dew problems and a Kendrick dew heater took care of those nights where everything was soaked in dew. I always keep the scopes in the house but allow sufficient time to cool down when taken ouside or to warm up and dry off when brought back into the house.
Brian
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deSitter
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 12/09/04
Posts: 778
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The air inside your scope I assure you was good Yankee bracing winter air. You can't bring a scope into a warm house, where 10 times as much water is dissolved in the warm air, from the cold outdoors, and not have condensation on it, unless you live on an airless or waterless planet.
In any case such things are completely harmless, other than producing insignificant dust stains on the mirror and corrector, which are just the price of outdoor use. On the other hand, your elaborate mechanism will do nothing but increase the chance of injecting dust and other large particulates into the inside of your scope while doing nothing whatsoever to protect it.
-drl
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greedyshark
member
Reged: 10/31/05
Posts: 56
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Quote:
...your elaborate mechanism will do nothing but increase the chance of injecting dust and other large particulates into the inside of your scope while doing nothing whatsoever to protect it.
...not to mention the outgassing of the pump mechanism itself. Don't believe me...try enhaling from the pump airhose...not exactly clean air coming out of there. Who knows what effect it will have on your optical coatings over time.
Charles
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