2019-07-24: Rubbermaid Observatory Update

Post date: Jul 25, 2019 12:59:25 AM

As an update to my earlier construction post, I can now write that the Rubbermaid Observatory is fully operational.

I made it much easier to roll off and on, and to secure the roof. It takes me three minutes to unlock and roll off the roof. After trying different approaches to secure the roof against wind storms, the simplest worked best: I use stiff rubber straps (heavy bungee cords) to hold the room against the lower rail.

There is an adequate amount of room for me to walk around the pier. The deep cycle battery is contained in the black, roll-around tool cart.

The solar charger is wonderful. During this summer, it fully charges the battery by noon. Winter will probably require a full day. The charge controller is fantastic at charging and maintaining the battery, without over charging. It also has over and under voltage protection, as well as thermal protection. I used marine fuse blocks and terminal strips to survive the high humidity nights.

I found that the black plastic roof gets very hot in the sun. So, the inside of the shed easily gets above 40C (>100F). I painted the roof a beige color, using plastic rated spray paint. This helped, but the real solution was to add a solar blanket (the "Sky Lab" fix). The temperature dropped within minutes.

I rigged the interior perimeter with white working lights, and can switch over to red when observing. These are on an LED dimmer switch. These images show the setup will all my astro gear on site.

There is still an infinite amount of tweaking to be done, but I'm excited to finally be using it. The total cost was approximately $1800.