Category Archives: Projects

Solar PV Generation Update, May 2012

Posted on June 18, 2012 by james

Well, for the first time since installation we’ve had a poorer-than-expected month. No great surprises there, given how utterly awful the weather has been. Output for April came it at a measly 395kWh when based on past performance I was … Continue reading →

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Solar PV Generation Update, April 2012

Posted on June 18, 2012 by james

Somewhat delayed, this, as I’d lost the piece of paper that I wrote the reading down on. Doh! Anyhow, output for March was 383kWh, another good month thanks to the unusually good weather. That takes our generation total since installation … Continue reading →

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Fan-Cooled Xbox Live Camera for Planetary Imaging

Posted on June 17, 2012 by james

The Xbox Live camera has found something of a following as a cheap planetary/lunar imaging camera since the SPC900 (which is undoubtedly a far better camera) started fetching silly prices. I’ve always found it very noisy however. The camera does … Continue reading →

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50mm Binocular Objective Finder

Posted on June 17, 2012 by james

I wanted a 50mm right-angle finder, but didn’t fancy paying the £90 to £100 they seem to cost, so after someone mentioned it was possible I decided to make my own. I picked up a 50mm binocular objective, cheap diagonal … Continue reading →

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Xbox Skycam Falls at the Final Hurdle

Posted on April 19, 2012 by james

I’ve been experimenting this evening with different lenses in the Xbox webcam. It looks like with a wide-angle lens with a field of view of 160 to 170 degrees the stars just don’t put enough light onto the sensor to … Continue reading →

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Xbox Live Camera on Linux (Part 2)

Posted on April 16, 2012 by james

Last night I discovered that I wasn’t able to change the gain setting on the camera using the V4L2 API. No matter what setting I used all my captures turned out the same, using what I presume to be the … Continue reading →

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Xbox Live Camera on Linux

Posted on April 13, 2012 by james

I’ve been tempted to build a couple of camera projects recently, the first being a camera to capture the images to create an Analemma, which shows the path of the sun through the sky at a fixed time (usually at … Continue reading →

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The Beginning of a New Dobsonian

Posted on April 12, 2012 by james

I recently had the chance to acquire some bits left over from a damaged Skywatcher 250mm Flextube dobsonian telescope for not very many pennies. As a result I’m now the proud owner of a the mirror and cell, spider (with … Continue reading →

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Solar PV Generation Update, Mar 2012

Posted on March 1, 2012 by james

I was bracing myself for low numbers this month as December, January and February are apparently only expected to account for about 7.5% of our total yearly output, but was pleasantly surprised when I read the generation meter to discover … Continue reading →

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EQ3-2 Polar Scope Illuminator

Posted on February 23, 2012 by james

I’ve read a few posting by people who have made polar scope illuminators for their EQ5 mounts and as I find aligning my EQ3-2 very awkward thanks to the lack of illumination of the reticle I decided to attempt to … Continue reading →

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