Hello,

I am setting up a mosaic job through the Ekos scheduler for the first time, and I want to further automate/optimize the capturing process from night to night.

My target is the North American Nebula, and right now it isn't visible in the night sky until 1am. What I'm doing now is manually turning on all my devices (mount, CCD guider ... etc) earlier in the night, then have the Scheduler "sleep" until the target meets altitude requirements, then starts the job. What I don't like about this is that every night I have to manually set the CCD temperature. Sometimes the CCD is cooling for several hours before the capturing routine begins. What I'd like is to keep the CCD off until it's time take images.

Is there a way to automate turning on the CCD, and setting the correct temp, especially since I have it powered through a Pegasus Ultimate Power box (UPBv2)? In an ideal situation, this is what I'd like:

- Set the UPB to have power enabled to all devices, except for the CCD
- Once the target meets requirements to start capturing, have the UPB power the CCD on, and set it to the correct cooling temp
- Add a 5 minute delay to give the TEC some time to cool the sensor
- Begin with the capturing process

I think this is looking more like a python-script type of solution, but not sure. Any advice would be great.

Clear Skies,
Hatim

Read More...