18” Dobsonian Drive Finished

I finished the last bits of integrating the Raspberry Pi into the system today. I had to build a little 12V to 5V converter to power the rPI and this is now mounted on the inside of the lid. The GPS antenna is also on top of the lid, fixed down with some velcro. 

After powering up the system, I log into the rPI from my MacBook Air using an ethernet cable and run the scope control programme from the rPI command line. Once it is up and running I can unplug the cable to prevent “cord wrap” problems. I’m going to see if a wifi dongle can be used instead of the cable, but I suspect it will interfere with the Nexus wifi. The rPI has its own separate power switch so I can reboot it if necessary without resetting  the Nexus and Phidgets.

All I need now is some clear nights at Kelling Heath in a couple of weeks!


© AstroKeith 2024