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Maximum Delay Time


lukasik

Question

Hello Everyone,

 

is there a way to set the delay before capture to greater than 9999 seconds?  I've been trying to capture temperature matched dark frames (roughly matched) by capturing near the same temperature as my light frames.  Often though the time for the best outdoor temps may start at 3-5 AM.  I'd like to set it all up and go to bed and find my frames in the morning. 

 

right now the max delay I can figure out how to set is 2.78 hours.

 

Thanks, and Best Regards,

 

Bob

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I started out thinking I would use non conductive, non toxic antifreeze, just in case of leaks (and if I want to try dry ice or some other way of going below 32 F, but I've never had any leaks in the system just going with the ice in water means I can use an open system, vs a closed system with liquid to liquid thermal transfer from the icewater to the anti-freeze. Also thought about distilled water, but again I've been imaging almost every clear night for six months with no issues.

 

I have grown some mold, so now I've added an algaecide.

 

ice chest sits on the ground with ice, water and pumps. insulated tubing up to the scope and insulated camera bag, where the water goes through two water blocks on aluminium plate that fits snugly into the LCD cavity on the camera and also attached to the tripod nut on the bottom of the camera. From there the water goes to a radiator that what a fan behind it, then back down to the ice chest. 

 

As to the camera, I have two t3i's. One is astro modified and the other is not, so I'm not worried about trying to use the astro one for non-astro. It never leaves the scope.

 

 

 
I would love to see a photo and or diagram of this rig.  It has me intrigued to try it out based on the description.  Can you post it in a new thread, though?
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Just wondering if it might be possible with a future release to have BYE automatically start a capture plan on startup, perhaps by supplying the capture plan filename as an argument to the BYE executable.  That way it might be possible to set up a scheduled task in Windows to start BYE at, say, 03:00 to take the darks. Would avoid the need for a lengthy delay.

 

Paul

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Just wondering if it might be possible with a future release to have BYE automatically start a capture plan on startup, perhaps by supplying the capture plan filename as an argument to the BYE executable.  That way it might be possible to set up a scheduled task in Windows to start BYE at, say, 03:00 to take the darks. Would avoid the need for a lengthy delay.

 

Paul

 

You should post your feature idea in the new "Feature Suggestion Box" forum :)

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Bob,

 

You could add a row to the start of your capture plan that takes several short exposures with a long pause between each exposure to artificially extend the time until you start to capture of your darks. 

 

Setting a delay of 7200 seconds, followed by 16 short exposures with a 900 second pause, would cause whatever follows to be delayed by about 6 hours.

 

I tried to paste a screen shot, but was not able...I must be doing something wrong.

 

I hope this helps.

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Lukasik,

You can always consider producing your Darks in a more controlled and readily available environment:  your Refrigerator/Freezer.

Or, if a USB Cable trailing out the Fridge Door to a Laptop on the Kitchen Counter is found to Offend your Wife, then you can use a Picnic Cooler and a couple of the plastic Blue Ice coolers.

 

These approaches allow you to more closely monitor the Temps, instead of leaving your Darks (and your Camera and Laptop) to the mercies of the Night...

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s3igell,

 

I have previously used my freezer,  The issue here is that the temp can't readily be adjusted to suit whatever imaging consitions I'm trying to match.  This is more of an issue if I'm trying to take a lot of darks with several minute exposures, particularly in the summer.  I have thought to build myself an environmetal chamber, but alas way too many projects and too little time.  All that showing up at work gets in the way ;) .

 

Thanks much for the reply.

 

Regards,

 

Bob

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That'd be nice, but few of the DIY Cooler Projects involve the sort of Control Circuitry necessary to provide Set-Point Cooling.  Rather, they simply have an Always-On TEC with a Heatsink and Fan - which helps them Depress DSLR Sensor Temps by some general value below Ambient.  Such a Cooler still makes for a Challenge to produce Darks of a Similar Temperature without waiting for another Night of similar Ambient Temperatures.

 

A Fridge or Freezer or even a Cooler with Blue Ice Gel-Packs can be used during Daytime, and with a measure of certainty of certain Temperature Ranges.

 

Have you built a DIY DSLR Cooler that has Temperature Regulation ??  If so, perhaps you could post where you found the Control Module Plans ??

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My cooler uses icewater. Typical temp for an 8 min sub is 41 degrees F on a warm night, but it can go down as low as 35 F in cold weather.  20 lbs of ice lasts all night.

 

I consistently (for RGB anyway) image at 480 seconds and 1600 iso, so making a dark library with ~30 matches within 3 degrees is not a problem. I use DarkMaster to match things up (assumes you are stacking in DSS I guess).

 

I can take my darks during the day or anytime I want to run the cooler. Doesn't matter what the ambient temp is. 

 

I don't feel the need for temperature control. it can't get colder than 35 F (temperature of the ice water bath with the pumps running) and because of the air inside the camera housing (an insulated bag) is also cooled and blowing around, I don't get any condensation. I cut a hole in the back of my T3i (where the LCD would normally sit) that exposes the metal RF shield, which is in turn connected to the heatsink for the processor. Some copper shims and a heatsink pad, filling the hole,  give me a "cold finger" thermal transfer with electrical isolation.

 

Again with this rig I haven't found the need for temp control or internal heating, etc. Pretty low tech.

 

I messed around quite a bit with TECs, but that was before I cut the hole in the camera and was always trying to cool the water with the TECs. Turns out you need like 150 watt or more TECs to cool even a small volume of water, so I gave up on that. With the hole in the camera I could probably use a single 40watt TEC to do the actual camera cooling, but might still need an additional TEC or icewater to make sure the air inside the bag was also cold (reducing the dew point to avoid condensation).

 

In any case if on battery my icewater rig will draw a lot less current than using TECs (I'm lugging my thermal power to the observing site via ice).

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OK, but I was talking about placing the Camera INTO the Cooler along with the Blue Ice...

 

As the Blue Ice is self-contained, there is no chance of Leakage or Water-Damage to the DSLR - unlike Melting Ice Cubes...

 

Nor was I suggesting wholesale Cutting of the Camera just for the OP's task of taking Darks at a Time more convenient than 3AM...

 

But...

Yes, I can see how 20lbs of Ice and maybe 1-2gallons of chilled water would have the Thermal Mass to Chill a DSLR for All-Night...

(Unless it were one of our Central Arizona Summer Nights - not below 100*F until 10PM-Midnight...)

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I started out thinking I would use non conductive, non toxic antifreeze, just in case of leaks (and if I want to try dry ice or some other way of going below 32 F, but I've never had any leaks in the system just going with the ice in water means I can use an open system, vs a closed system with liquid to liquid thermal transfer from the icewater to the anti-freeze. Also thought about distilled water, but again I've been imaging almost every clear night for six months with no issues.

 

I have grown some mold, so now I've added an algaecide.

 

ice chest sits on the ground with ice, water and pumps. insulated tubing up to the scope and insulated camera bag, where the water goes through two water blocks on aluminium plate that fits snugly into the LCD cavity on the camera and also attached to the tripod nut on the bottom of the camera. From there the water goes to a radiator that what a fan behind it, then back down to the ice chest. 

 

As to the camera, I have two t3i's. One is astro modified and the other is not, so I'm not worried about trying to use the astro one for non-astro. It never leaves the scope.

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