I suffer and greatly
from clouds!
In my pursuit to automate
the entire deep sky routine, so I can stay warm indoors I sacrifice some
visibility into the overall sky conditions for clouds, haze etc that might be a
detriment to the stability of my routine, especially when I plan to leave it
imaging while I'm asleep. 😴
I knew that
wide-angle, dedicated camera would work.
Looking at commercially available allsky I found them crazy pricey. Then I thought, hey, I built my own
telescope, i can DIY this. That's when i found Thomas Jacquin's Instructables DIY (https://www.instructables.com/id/Wireless-All-Sky-Camera/) project. Not only did he publish the h/w steps but he's got a killer github repo too (https://github.com/thomasjacquin)!
It's a full enclosed
and fully automated system and I've been loving it!! 🤖💞
Anyway there's tons of variation on the the Instructables site and I'm very happy to have found so many great ideas!
I set it up on the deck without the electronics to find it was a bit leaky so the photos show how much sealant I used RESEALING and retesting without electronics again!
First night out it rained but stayed dry inside!
Some of my details are in this video overview.
Right angle usb, it's tight inside a 4" PVC
POE injector for versatility in placement and remote power control!
Shot of the Pi and some nails/screws in mounting wood for cord routing.
Tube next to Pi.
Cat5 routes under the PVC cap via drilled hole that is filled with a glued down hard rubber cap with an x slit to help keep water out.
Underside
Temporarily bungied to the deck rails
Then the animation fun started...
Imgur video - https://i.imgur.com/uvvxzwl.mp4
YouTube
I've even begun a weather page that updates a recent gif of the cloud animations
I have a couple loose ends to tie up and might post an update in the coming months.
