Equipment connections

As stated elsewhere, I am really just getting over a lot of hurdles I had and am now in a good position to putting the 'setting up my gear' behind me and hopefully start putting my time into actual capturing data through the scope to the computer.
I use my gear at home which is a big plus - not having to rely on battery power. I have my laptop about 17 or 18 meters away from the scope but have power a little closer to the scope than that. Regardless is was a journey to get connections working well and with just having 3 USB ports for all I wanted to control.....it took some thinking through as to what way to make it all happen.

I have made a diagram of my connections layout. I was forever looking at other people's gear on photos that I could find on the net just to see what they had done. This works for me - so perhaps this will be of help to some others starting out. Feel free to ask any questions. (The items with the dotted lines are not connected yet....but I see a need for them and have included where they will go in my system)

Kinch
(Can be seen better via this link to FLICKR or if anyone wants it in PDF - just ask).
www.flickr.com/photos/kinch-astro/10967479225/lightbox/

I must draw up something similar for my own setup. I've just got power installed in the observatory and it's only a matter of time before I write something incorrectly!

Out of interest do you really have 6 240->12v supplies there? Would not one good regulated bench supply be a better option? I'm asking as I have most things running off the one 12v supply, but I don't have as much equipment so perhaps I'm just getting away with it so far.

Also you mention connecting 2 USB hubs with cat6 cable. Are you using usb to ethernet adaptors for that or just cat6 cable? While you can use cat6 with usb plugs on the ends it has higher internal resistance than USB cable so will drop voltage quicker and be less efficient than a good quality long (up to 5m) usb cable.

Hi Albert,

The power supplies are there as I just added things bit by bit. It is not an observatory but rather just the bottom of the garden and I have cables pre-run and terminating in plastic boxes under a couple of patio slabs. When I got the mount, it came with a 24v adapter.....so I run a cable to give power to the adapter. Then I knew that I needed power for the camera / filter wheel - run another power cable and connected their 12v adapters. Then another cable for a 5 socket extension to power whatever else came. The power cables are very short and come to the base of the tripod. Whenever I take down the equipment the cables remain buried at that spot.....as I said ... in a plastic container and just a patio slab over them.
On the far side of the tripod there is another slab/plastic container with the ends of the cables that run to yet another box (under a slab) and this last one is close to where I have my laptop plugged in. The cables remain in the ground (in a plastic pipe) all year and I just pull the end out when I set up the equipment. Works where I am - may not work everywhere but it was put together bit by bit over time and I just made mains power available for the various equipment adapters as I got them.
In time - if I ever get a shed for the scope - then I might do something with less power cables. This looks like a very good option (but again more money).. www.firstlightoptics.com/astronomy-cable...ount-hub-pro-v3.html

As for the connections from the laptop.....the USB cables are active USBs bought from Maplin. Not cheap either - but work well. As I said - the laptop is about 18m away from the scope and the USB to Mount and Main camera have each got 4 active cables connected in line without problem.
When initially getting the other items connected I tried a cheap Cat 5 extender. This, I did not realise until I got it, was just USB 1 speed. Although my Atik camera worked fine I knew that the speed limitation was going to become a problem and as I needed more ports anyway....I broke out and bought USB2, 4 port extender by Startech. Quite expensive....(see www.amazon.co.uk/Startech-com-Port-Exten...usb+2+cat+5+extender ) but it works well. Oddly though my first intentions did not work out as I was going to put the Atik camera through this also.....just would not work with it though. In the end, the layout has evolved to what you see in my diagram. It may not stay that way - but for now it works fine and that is what it is all about.

I put the diagram up - not for people to use but just for ideas. The hardest part of stating out in this hobby (when not in a club) is finding out how other people do certain things and being able to copy part or all as suits ones needs. I hope that the diagram and perhaps also what I have written here will be of help in some small way to give ideas to those just starting out with a 'backyard' set up like mine.

Kinch.

Hi,
If you require a good 12v and/or 5v source, then you should consider an unused pc atx power supply, they're high power so they can run multiple devices, I use one in my observatory setup and it runs well,
You'll need to protect it from damp though in a non observatory setup as theyre not well protected, full of air vents.