New DIY ASCOM-Compatible Wireless Flat Panel!
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- Опубликовано: 13 окт 2024
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DESCRIPTION:
In this video, I talk about a groundbreaking new DIY ASCOM-compatible wireless flat panel I recently designed and built.
Links mentioned in this video:
GitHub repository for this new project: github.com/jle...
Take Perfect Flats With NINA's Flat Wizard In Dynamic Brightness Mode: • Take Perfect Flats Wit...
RUclips video about the 1st version of my DIY ASCOM-compatible flat panel: • How To Build An ASCOM-...
GitHub repository for the 1st version of my DIY ASCOM-compatible flat panel: github.com/jle...
LED tracing panel on Amazon: amzn.to/3vs0abX
Deep Sky Dad Motorized Flat Panels: shop.deepskyda...
My Equipment:
Askar 151 PQH: bit.ly/3RQFFyJ
Askar .7x reducer for PHQ series: bit.ly/3Q9uvnC
Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox Advance Gen 2: bit.ly/3Nubnip
MeLE Quieter3Q Fanless Mini PC: bit.ly/3TnBCL2
QHY Q-Focuser Standard Version: bit.ly/3FONRYU
QHY Q-Focuser High Precision Version: bit.ly/47lr9Ub
iOptron CEM70 Center Balanced Equatorial Mount: bit.ly/3PzUMuP
iOptron Tri-Pier: bit.ly/3RhDzYz
Antlia V-Series LRGB Pro Imaging Filter Set: bit.ly/3LHcRVJ
Antlia SHO Narrowband 3nm Pro Imaging Filter Set: bit.ly/3Rj3yii
ZWO 8-Position Electronic Filter Wheel: bit.ly/488uvuW
ZWO ASI533MM Pro Cooled Monochrome Astronomy Camera: bit.ly/4887g4b
ZWO ASI174MM Mini Guide Camera: bit.ly/469sJYv
Follow Me!
Instagram: / darkskygeek
Facebook: / julien.lecomte
Wow! Love the multidisciplinary aspect of this project. Must have taken quite some determination to realize this and be really satisfying once finished.
This is awesome! I really appreciate all of your time and effort to help all of us in the astrophotography world have a simple and better way of acquiring flats. The project looks like fun as well. I will build one soon and share my results. Thanks again for your efforts!!
My pleasure!
Thank you for upgrading flat panel.... I'll try this ASAP..
Nice project. I went the other way.... I used the KISS (keep it simple) method. I use a variety of setups..... 11" SCT with flat field reducer, same 11" SCT with Hyperstar, 8" SCT with reducer, 8" SCT with Hyperstar, 152mm APO refractor, and 80mm APO refractor in my observatory or at remote imaging at star parties. I made a box out of foamcore with a diffuser made of white frosted plastic. I cut in a series of circular nesting foamcore plugs that restrict the light to each of the specific apertures. Light is from 4 LEDs that are wide range and a few baffles to even the light across up to the 11" SCT. Power is from a couple of AAA Lithium batteries (to ensure no gradual voltage drop off during the exposure run). Rather than wireless or computer ASCOM control.... I simply used a small potentiometer with various outputs designated across the range of the potentiometer. Each filter/scope combo has a log of the settings of the potentiometer to achieve the correct exposure. It is simple and very easy to use as well as very light. Because it is very simple it has no failure points other than dead batteries. I can hold the device over the scope or mount it on a camera tripod to hold it in place....or simply aim the telescope straight up and sit the box on top of the scope aperture. I used a couple of devices to ensure flatness of illumination....first was a 1" photo spot meter....later a similar light measuring device I used in my old dark room. Both were extremely accurate and showed that the light fall off was negligible.
Have you checked for the flatness of illumination across the device? I previously had a light panel for a 14" Astrograph and found it was far from even illumination.
Here is a measurement of the flatness of my panel: github.com/jlecomte/circular-led-flat-panel-evaluation
It looks like your panel is very good unlike some others I tested. The extra steps you took and attention to testing paid off!
Long awaited! Can't wait to start the project! Thanks!
Please, file an issue if you hit a snag and I’ll do my best to unblock you.
I have the same LitEnergy flat panel. It is relatively easy to bypass the dimmer and control it with a simple Arduino Nano. This mimics mimics the Optec units and can be controlled within Voyager and NINA. I have my planel mounted on my observatory wall. There is a thread on the build over on Cloudy Nights.
Yup, there are plenty of DIY flat panels 👍🏻
World’s best indeed, loved the video, great as always
Now that I am committed to building this, a couple of remarks/questions.
1. In the FreeCad file parameters, I am unsure how the OTA thickness works. I had to tinker with it to get the correct dimensions but, while my actual thickness (at the end of the tube, where the panel will sit) is 21mm, it works only if I set the thickness to 10mm.
2. I am unsure if it is a chance effect of my setup but for the routing templates, the interior and LGP are strictly identical, so no need to print both.
3.I find that to connect the box properly, you need 35mm+ screws, which none of your linked items has.
That's it for, waiting for the PCB board and LEDs to arrive to continue.
Once again, thank you for this!
1. The OTA thickness is the thickness of the dew shield for a refractor, or the thickness of the tube for a newtonian telescope like yours. My dew shield is 5mm thick. Is your tube REALLY 21mm thick? That seems incredibly thick for an 8" scope...
2. I think there is a small bug here. I just updated the LGP routing template in the 3D model. The new version is in the GitHub repository. Give it a try.
3. I added some info to the README. You actually need a combination of 30mm and 50mm long screws.
@@darkskygeek
1.The thickness is the one of the cache/spider screw holder at the end of the tube. It's an Orion astrograph 8". The tube itself is of course much thinner but this is where the panel will rest.
2. Cool, I'll check, thank you.
3. Even better :)
Very well done project! Congratulations and thanks for your work and to share all with us! One suggestion: would it possible to add a physical button to switch on/off and dim the flat panel and use it without ASCOM connection? In some situations you don't have a ASCOM system available and then you could use this great flat panel as well...
It certainly is possible to change the design and implement your suggestion.
Awesome ! It looks very professional and handy. I might give it a try !
Thanks!
Thank you so much for your support!!! I very much appreciate it! Glad you enjoy my content. Viewers like you keep me going 😁
Nice work and thank you for the shout-out! :)
The shout out is very well deserved!
Fabulous. It is crazy that commercial companies haven't even put out a wireless panel. Congratulations and thank you for sharing. My question is: does it scale up to cover an 8" aperture ?
Yes, you can easily scale it up to cover an 8” aperture (the unit I built covers 6” since it is for my 151PHQ, so it’s not far off) However, for diameters larger than 8”, I would want to add a small LED strip in the middle, behind the secondary mirror, to ensure perfect brightness uniformity across the entire surface. CS!
@@darkskygeekGénial, merci !
This is a great design, nice work Dark Sky Geek! Even better that you made the design freely available and listing of materials and suggested items, I'm looking forward to giving this a go! One question, I was following the 3D build advice on your Github and you mention that you can change the "OTA diameter and thickness values" for our telescope. The OTA diameter is straight forward, but what is the "OTA thickness"? Is this simply the thickness of the dew shield or is it something else?
It is simply the thickness of the dew shield. Have fun building this project! Someone else has already completed it, which makes me feel good about spending all that time painstakingly documenting everything 😅 See www.cloudynights.com/topic/906995-diy-ascom-wireless-flat-panel/. Clear skies!
This looked so promising i decided to try it myself. So i ordered the PCB on PCBway. i dont have any expercience in electronics but i hope following the instructions will work out fine. One question though; if i ordered the PCB from PCBway using your design, do i need to take the breadboard step or can i start building directly? The breadboard looks quite intimidating to me...
The breadboard won’t hurt, but it is not mandatory.
Amazing job! Thank you so much for sharing so great project, wireless! You went beyond, thank you!
Thanks so much for this project. I'm slowly working my way thru building this for my Askar 65PHQ scope. This project is forcing me to learn lots of new techniques as I'm a rookie in 3-D modeling, 3-D printing and have never been very comfortable with a soldering iron and small electronic components. So far so good as I don't think I have screwed anything up yet. The current skill/problem I'm working on learning is using heat set brass inserts. My question is what size inserts are the holes in the circuit board box designed for? Are they M3 or some other size?
They are for M2 inserts.
@@darkskygeek Thank you for the prompt reply
As a an astro-geek myself I love your videos! I am actually trying to write a driver for an industrial camera but I am avoiding ascom as the C# is too complicated (for now) so working with indi on Linux. We need more innovation and standardization in this area. Just imagine if you just needed to make your hardware conform to a standard that already has a driver that supports it instead of coming up with this on your own and writing your own driver? Just think about how the industry has something like GenICam where you can literally just plugin a camera that follows that standard and the application downloads the capabilities from the camera itself and it's already to go without ANY drivers! Sorry for the rant but being an engineer I see a lot that can be made better and people like you show what can be done! Thanks for the video and awesome project!
Thank you for your kind words! ASCOM and INDI actually accomplish what you mention, but at a different layer of the stack. Unfortunately, the driver will remain a necessity because it is tightly coupled with the hardware, and that is what allows the rest of the system to be based on standards.
Thats pretty cool..... You dont build for sale for people like me who can do things but not like to this level.... But I like it
Hi Julien. Excellent project and thank you; can’t wait to get started on it. I don’t see the capacitor listed in your BOM.
Ah, thanks, let me add that!
Great Project. Just wondering if the project can work with an ESP32 utilizing Wifi, although it also supports Bluetooth, but my preference is always wifi in Station Mode...
I’m sure it is possible.
Amazing!!
Brilliant design. Is there anything stopping me increasing the diameter to make one of these for my Newtonian?
Nothing shall stop you! 😁
@@darkskygeek lol same idea, same plan, just bigger printed frame and panel?
Why not?
Success! It's working. I scaled it down to to fit my Askar65 PHQ Scope. The only problem I'm currently working thru is that it seems my battery is fairly discharged as everything works when plugged into USB power but N.I.N.A. won't connect on battery power alone. Any idea on how long it takes to fully recharge the battery?
I don’t know, haven’t had to charge mine yet. Maybe a few hours to a day.
Thank You!! This 1 I want to build!
Go for it! And don’t hesitate to file an issue if anything is unclear in the docs. Best of luck!
my build is nearly complete, waiting for my led strips to be deliverd and i can start testing. The only confusing thing for me: In the instructions on Github theres a picture with the comment 'Here is a photograph of the control box, which hosts the PCB, after soldering all the components. Note how the switch has been wired'. That is quite confusing; the red wire seems to connect to the - part on the JST?
For the switch, the colors of the wires do not matter at all. A switch is not polarized. It makes the circuit open or closed. Hope this helps!
@@darkskygeek thanks, i'm in the endphase now, looks like the hardwarepart is all done. Id did leave a tip for other users on the github page, because the markings for the led diodes seem to be backwards (switched + and -).
Amazing DIY project! Before I get excited about building it can it be used with the ASIAir? 🙏🏻.
Unfortunately no, it cannot, partly because I did not develop an INDI driver for this new version of my flat panel, but also because of limitations of the ASIAir platform. I’ll add this to the FAQ. Thanks!
I was trying to find a way to simplify this project a bit more, (especially for those without access to a 3d printer). I was wondering if there was a reason we couldn't use the Taloya LED Ceiling Light as the flat panel (instead of ripping it apart)? It's construction seems close to the final product, and with that already finish, all we'd need is to find a way to power and control it, likely using the same electronics/software here. I know we'd have to change it from using 120AC, but I think that would just require removing a rectifier, yes?
It certainly is possible. But it’s a lot of work regardless, and you lose one of the benefits of this project, which is to have a compact flat panel that is tailor suited to your telescope. CS!
Great Project. Is / can you make it also Alpaca ascom compatible? that would be super
I might create an INDI driver before I worry about Alpaca, which has not really taken off.
EDIT: The ASCOM website states the following about Alpaca: “Windows Classic ASCOM drivers will remain compatible with no changes whatever.” Therefore, I don’t think that I would need to do anything special. CS!
@@darkskygeekan INDI driver I think would be great, especially with that new StellarMate unit.
Thanks for sharing! Can you provide details on the JST connectors you are using. I can't find anything in the BOM.
Oops, sorry, I just updated the BOM in the README. Thanks!
Hello, this is a great projected and one I am well on the way to completing. However, I am at the point where I need to start cutting the panels from the donor light.
In your cad drawing there are router templates, which I asume produce the correct size templates for cutting the defusers. What I cant seem to do is print those router templates, or is that not what they are for? Any help you cn give before I mess up the donor light would be greatly appreciated.
That is what they are for. You need to export them to STL and then import them into your slicer. Shouldn’t be too difficult.
I think this is great, however as I've got into this more I have a concern that your LED strip is just a general Amazon warm white led based strip. I've tried to see what LEDs it actually uses and it only details the footprint as far as I can see. Therefore if someone uses a different strip I'm guessing they could get very different performance. Worst case getting 6000k strip leds instead of the warm white. Some LEDs have very specific frequency outputs and my other concern, if using this for narrowband calibrations is whether this could cause problems i.e. not adequately cover one end say either Oiii or Ha (likely your 10bit update should help this). Please dont take this the wrong way, I think this is excellent (I'm a fellow DIYer) but I think this may be worth highlighting (if I'm correct) so some dont get the proper benefit of your excellent work. ps Thanks very much for sharing.
Certainly, the choice of the LED strip is an important one. And I believe that I outlined that in the README. As you said, a strip that does not emit enough in the red part of the spectrum would require slightly longer exposure for an Ha or SIII filter. Usually, OIII is not much of a problem because most LEDs emit plenty around that wavelength. Thanks for the kind words. Clear skies!
Hi, would this work as a controlbox on a existing 12V led flats panel? The flats panel I have gives a very nice flat illimination, so I want to keep it.
You would need to change the electronics since the LED I use on this project is only 5V. Then, assuming that your existing 12V flat panel can be dimmed via PWM, then yes, this would work.
Hi Julien. How can i contact you directly? Have some question about ASCOM driver?
You can ask questions by filing an issue on the GitHub repository. Thanks!
hello, where to buy this flat panel? Could you provide a link?
KR
This is a DIY project. You have to build it yourself.
Ah, for sure not. I am not a electronics technician@@darkskygeek
hello
I made this flat panel.
It works fine, but the LED is too dark. It's almost invisible. I want to increase the LED brightness, but is there any way?
It's so dark that you can't see the light if you put in a diffuser...
I wondered if the LED strip I used was dark, so when I connected it via USB, the LED was too bright...
You probably picked up an LED strip designed for 12V. You need one for 5V (the resistors soldered on the strip have a different value)
@@darkskygeek LED strips are rated for 5V. However, the board is only outputting a maximum of 2.2v. The battery was in a charged state.
Let's change to a different LED strip and test again.
thank you
@@darkskygeek Solved! The resistor used was defective.
👏👏👏👏
Hi again. I’ve started building this and really enjoying it. I’ve just hit a bit of an issue in that my LEDs do not seem bright enough. I’ve never had a flat panel before so I’ve taken a video for you but in N.I.N.A. I connect, turn on the panel and set brightness to 1023 but it doesn’t seem very bright. If you mind taking a look at my really short video showing the issue, I’d appreciate your feedback and help!
ruclips.net/video/QzdYhK9Rgkw/видео.htmlsi=v18v0qRrkMz0edY7
Not bright enough! Are you sure you got an LED strip designed for 5v?
@@darkskygeek yes. It’s 5v 4000k usb LED strip identical to those in your BOM. I can follow circuit diagrams but can’t pretend to know how the transistor is working. I didn’t have a 5k resistor and have used a 4.7k resistor in the transistor circuitry. Could this have caused an issue?
No, that won’t cause any issue.
@@darkskygeek any trouble shooting suggestions only I’m a bit stuck how to move forward? Is there anything that could cause this or is there anything I could test?
Obvious point but I presume going to NINA -> Equipment -> Flat Panel and then set to 1023 should be the brightest LED setting?
Could the issue be that my slightly larger 10” diameter is using a longer strip than you use?
What happens if you just connect the LED strip to a power supply that outputs exactly 3.3V? If it is dim as well, then you have a bad LED strip, end of story. In the GitHub repo, I recommend the purchase of a bench power supply to test things.