At 10:03 PM -0800 10/30/98, Len Gordon wrote:
>One of the small (about a foot-square) electric heating pads may be
>more effective/efficient than the 25 watt bulb. At least all the
>power used is going for heat, not light.

If the light is inside an opaque enclosure like a Desert Storm bag then it
is eventually converted to heat anyway.

>...

Maybe you guys are dealing with more severe weather than I have to. Here
in the SF Bay Area, we rarely get temperatures much below 0 C. I worry
about dew forming inside the bag but I don't worry about things getting too
cold. My question really is: "Does a little dew inside the bag hurt
anything?" During normal observing sessions the LX200 can become quite wet
with dew. This doesn't seem to have any deleterious effects, at least if
it drys out the next day. My main concern with the Bag is that it might
not dry out during a prolonged period of damp weather (which we do have
plenty of :-(

OTOH, I'm really more concerned about how this plays out in a real
observatory. I don't expect my LX200 will live in its desert storm bag for
more than a few months. But my observatory will not be heated. It will
be rain-proof but I expect it will get pretty damp inside when it is
raining or foggy. I've heard of all sorts of kludges for keeping things
dry but I don't think I've actually heard anyone say that their equipment
was damaged by this kind of dampness.
---
Bill Arnett "Science is a way of trying
Emerald Hills, CA USA not to fool yourself." -- Feynman

View index by [date] [author] [subject]
Previous message: Re: [M]: LX50 Dec Question, Gregory David Stempel
Next message: Re: [M]: RE: [M] OT NGC 205 & NGC 7331 Image References for LX, Frank Loch
Next message in thread: Re: [M]: OT Observatory, Frank Loch
Previous message in thread: Re: [M]: OT Observatory, Len Gordon