Telescopes shouldn't get rained on

squeaky

baza52 wrote: »

Out of interest, if the laptop or camera had suffered water damage would you be chasing the retailer/manufacturer for a resolution? In all fairness you could argue a camera is used outside but you still cant use them in the rain.
Whether it was in the rain for 5 seconds or 5 minutes makes no difference.

As I've said - THEY, while not designed for outdoor use (well the laptop for sure) survived the shower - the telescope which IS designed for outdoor use, failed.

So while I don't have a watertight case here, nor does the company and, more importantly to me - nor does my telescope.

bod1467

squeaky wrote: »

So while I don't have a watertight case here, nor does the company and, more importantly to me - nor does my telescope.

Basil Brush would be proud of you.

Looksguywalker

Squeaky, as someone else has suggested I think you should invest in some sort of shelter/cover for your hobby. I know hindsight is a great thing but being caught in the outside in the rain with 3 or 4 valuable electrical items could have been cheaply avoided. I'd also look at getting some rubber grommets to fill the holes in the scope.

bris

squeaky wrote: »

There is no way on God's green earth that anybody expects this telescope to be an indoor one.

Maybe not, but I bet nobody ever uses them in the rain.

Looksguywalker

squeaky wrote: »

There is no way on God's green earth that anybody expects this telescope to be an indoor one.

Okay, outdoor under cover which protects you, your laptop, camera, inverter and telescope. Is that practical?

barbiedoll

Dear oh dear OP, clearly not many astronomers on here tonight. Using a beautiful telescope like yours, indoors? it's not meant for indoor use, unless you have your own observatory!

The weather can creep up on the most unsuspecting of us, and if you're peering into a tiny eyepiece, watching a patch of sky no larger than a 10p coin held at arms length, you can be forgiven for not noticing the rain clouds behind you. I've thrown my coat over my telescope before now, just to protect it from the rain which appeared from nowhere.

Good luck with your replacement bits and pieces, if you manage to get it working again, do post some of your pictures on here.

squeaky

bod1467 wrote: »

Basil Brush would be proud of you.

I would hope so

squeaky

Looksguywalker wrote: »

Squeaky, as someone else has suggested I think you should invest in some sort of shelter/cover for your hobby. I know hindsight is a great thing but being caught in the outside in the rain with 3 or 4 valuable electrical items could have been cheaply avoided. I'd also look at getting some rubber grommets to fill the holes in the scope.

The thing is - when you put a roof over the telescope - you can't see the sky.

And filling the holes in the telescope stops the light getting in.

The rain cover that I have for my telescope is actually designed for a large mobility scooter. Fully waterproof and covers it completely from nose to tail and all the way to the ground. It was in my car all of seven yards away - but in this case the heavens just opened at full blast. A maximum of 30 seconds to get it under cover - but still too late.

TBH I'd have thought that my laptop would have died first, the inverter second, the camera third and the telescope last of all. But nope - the scope was the only thing that failed.

squeaky

barbiedoll wrote: »

Dear oh dear OP, clearly not many astronomers on here tonight. Using a beautiful telescope like yours, indoors? it's not meant for indoor use, unless you have your own observatory!

The weather can creep up on the most unsuspecting of us, and if you're peering into a tiny eyepiece, watching a patch of sky no larger than a 10p coin held at arms length, you can be forgiven for not noticing the rain clouds behind you. I've thrown my coat over my telescope before now, just to protect it from the rain which appeared from nowhere.

Good luck with your replacement bits and pieces, if you manage to get it working again, do post some of your pictures on here.

Thank you

There's no IF about it. I have to get it fixed.

As for photos - I need a bit of practice yet

Only ten reasonable viewing nights since early April here, and I'm close to a large town and surrounded by trees. Between light pollution, full moons, high haze... I've barely got past being able to turn the camera on and point it in the right direction yet Best night I had netted me a whole 9 thirty second subs that were of any use - and as you'll be aware that's hardly enough to produce anything worth showing.

squeaky

Looksguywalker wrote: »

Okay, outdoor under cover which protects you, your laptop, camera, inverter and telescope. Is that practical?

Not really. I'd need something on the order of a 3mtr x 3mtr tent, which not only allowed me just to poke the front of the scope out of it, but also turns at 15 deg per hour, or 180 deg in about five seconds when I change from looking at one target to another.

A tent on a turntable

A proper observatory where I could hit an emergency close roof button would be great - but it's pointless building one here. I only view and image from my home base while practising. To get anything like a good result I have to travel miles to get a decent horizon and no light pollution. My kit as it stands already fills my car completely and a throw over cover, such as I have, is my only option here.