Remote Imaging - which mini-pc

Thank you Nick. You're right, I could use a 19v mini-pc or even  a 220v-powered laptop. I only need a +1 smart plug to turn it on-off regardless of the pegasus' 12V power supply. I'll have a look at your mini-pc. Nice wahoo in your pic BTW

I love my Beelink mini pcs. Super affordable. Runs NINA, PHD2, and Pegasus software all through the night with no issues. Sharpcap slows it down a bit, but I hardly ever use it. If I used Sharpcap more I'd probably get one with a Ryzen CPU. Right now on Amazon, there's a bunch on a bit of a sale. It's a regular 12v power cord so it's easy to use with my Pegasus Powerbox. One of them that I got is $170 at the moment. It's the BEELINK MINI S12 16G/500G/N100

This is the same decision I made and for the same reasons.  I went with an Intel i7 NUC with 32 gigs of ram and 2TB SSD.  This gives me room to store a decent amount of files and do some minimal processing remotely if needed.  It also handles the large IMX455 files without issue.  

Kevin

If you are happy with mounting the PC on your pier (or even just on the floor next to the pier), then the world is your oyster: there is zero reason to compromise on a mini-pc/NUC or pay the extra expense of an Eagle, when you can run a full-sized PC which will give you a lot more grunt for things like live-stacking and can be built from off-the-shelf components, upgraded over time, have loads of USB ports etc.

So yeah, I'd say full-size PC on the pier, powerbox on the OTA and you are good to go.

Hi ! 
We use a mele Quieter 3c with a Pegasus box. Our remote host advices us to use a fanless computer 

Everything works perfectly since a year now  
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AstroShed:
I use the Mele 4c Overclock, 32gb version and it’s been flawless, and I had the 3c Overclock before this one, see my YT review here..

https://youtu.be/6QayJnl9-zQ?si=1kcS2J2k5SmMshzX

I have used a Mele Overclock 3C for about a year and it does everything I need. 
I watched your video and saw that you also cloned the NVME (I had a 512Gb laying around) to the into EMMC storage.
I has performed great for me.
i have it velcro’ed  to my mount.

Jim

I think it's important to distinguish between a remote setup, and a backyard setup.  I've run minux and mele for years in my backyard.  They are certainly more then adequate to handle the software I use for capture.  However, remote setups may have different requirements.  Are you looking to be able to run analysis tools like ASTAP Hyperbolic Curve analysis, or NINA HF?  When running programs like these, the mini computers really struggle especially in the heat. I noticed a massive performance difference between Vermont winters and summers… and my summers are not nearly as hot as many of the more popular remote destinations.  We're talking minutes to run hyperbolic curve analysis with IMX455 vs seconds when compared to a "real" computer. 

Also, depending on where you are going to locate your setup, internet connections may be slow and transferring large datasets very time consuming. Having the ability to preprocess on site with pixinsight can be very helpful and you're just not going to do this with a mini-pc. 

You will get all sorts of opinions on this topic, but that's because there are so many unique needs and use-cases.  I have a drawer full of mini PC's (minux, beelink, mele) and ultimately, I ended up spending a grand to get a real computer that could handle my current remote needs as well as unanticipated or future needs.  Like precise parts adapters, I seem to have a fortune spent and lost on mini-pc's….   For the backyard or for the nomadic imager a mini pc offers a tremendous value.  For a more robust remote deployment PC in harsh environments… I'd seriously consider looking elsewhere.  If you have a site with good tech support, maybe this isnt as big of an issue.  If you have to drive 300 miles to visit and service your own observatory, reliability is perhaps more important.  Either way, my mini-pc days are behind me.  Like everything, you get what you pay for.  Scopes, mounts, cameras, etc….

Chris White- Overcast Observatory:
I think it's important to distinguish between a remote setup, and a backyard setup.  I've run minux and mele for years in my backyard.  They are certainly more then adequate to handle the software I use for capture.  However, remote setups may have different requirements.  Are you looking to be able to run analysis tools like ASTAP Hyperbolic Curve analysis, or NINA HF?  When running programs like these, the mini computers really struggle especially in the heat. I noticed a massive performance difference between Vermont winters and summers... and my summers are not nearly as hot as many of the more popular remote destinations.  We're talking minutes to run hyperbolic curve analysis with IMX455 vs seconds when compared to a "real" computer. 

Also, depending on where you are going to locate your setup, internet connections may be slow and transferring large datasets very time consuming. Having the ability to preprocess on site with pixinsight can be very helpful and you're just not going to do this with a mini-pc. 

You will get all sorts of opinions on this topic, but that's because there are so many unique needs and use-cases.  I have a drawer full of mini PC's (minux, beelink, mele) and ultimately, I ended up spending a grand to get a real computer that could handle my current remote needs as well as unanticipated or future needs.  Like precise parts adapters, I seem to have a fortune spent and lost on mini-pc's....   For the backyard or for the nomadic imager a mini pc offers a tremendous value.  For a more robust remote deployment PC in harsh environments... I'd seriously consider looking elsewhere.  If you have a site with good tech support, maybe this isnt as big of an issue.  If you have to drive 300 miles to visit and service your own observatory, reliability is perhaps more important.  Either way, my mini-pc days are behind me.  Like everything, you get what you pay for.  Scopes, mounts, cameras, etc....

I was a big fan of my Mele Quieter2Q mini pc, until this morning I realised that I loose 6% of imaging time because of calculations done in between frames (HFR etc.). With the very limited dark and clear sky time here, upgrading the PC iis probably more photons/euro than upgrading to a faster scope. The old Quieter2 still does the job though

Not sure what mount you are using, but I recently got the Pegasus Saddle power box and it works great with the AM5, and is compatible with many mounts. You would put the Mini PC on the OTA, and the powr box is now the saddle. All you have to do is connect power to the Saddle, so that will be the only moving part. You can have your mini PC on the OTA connected to the Pegasus saddle and it has a USB hub on it an power distribution. It is a little pricy but has the humidity/ temp monitor built in.

https://pegasusastro.com/products/saddle-powerbox/

I have used the MeleQ3 fanless and the MeleQ4c with a fan and both are great. I will say the fanless design is far lighter than the overclock version, so if weight is an issue, get the fanless version.

My little N100 runs TheSkyX,  Nina, Roof Control, Weather, ascom safety, OneDrive (it's how everything syncs back home), Astap, PHD2 and its dealing with frames from a 6200 

I used to use a full-blown PC, but dust and especially bugs were problematic for anything that needs forced air cooling.

Beelink's using NVME for OS helps drastically with general performance for astro imaging and I just have a 2tb SSD that is the image drive to sync

Chris White- Overcast Observatory:

Byron Miller:
My little N100 runs TheSkyX,  Nina, Roof Control, Weather, ascom safety, OneDrive (it's how everything syncs back home), Astap, PHD2 and its dealing with frames from a 6200 

I used to use a full-blown PC, but dust and especially bugs were problematic for anything that needs forced air cooling.

Beelink's using NVME for OS helps drastically with general performance for astro imaging and I just have a 2tb SSD that is the image drive to sync

I wonder if putting a coarse screen around the vents on a PC would help.  Not small enough to restrict airflow but keep bugs out.  Wouldnt help with dust....

Also, might be more location specific of a problem to consider.  I'll be shipping my gear in a few weeks so last minute tweaks are happenin'.

I put my money i was spending on an observatory pc for performance into just making a beastly threadripper at home.

The only time I needed a beefy PC was one remote obs that used satellite internet and daily syncing got throttled but I just chose to find a place with gigabit since I don't want any data isolated from me since there will be an inevitable catastrophic loss of something exposed to the elements nightly.

If it means spending 176 bucks for the next generation model of a beelink PC every 2 years, then that's a lot less hassle than trying to proof up a PC that demands a lot more cooling, a lot more power and a lot more moving parts that can and will go wrong.

CPU Thermal paste? that will rot out and wear out in less than a year.
CPU fans? bugs, dirts and critters that make NESTS love those fins and will move in
PSU fans? dust suckers and dust blowers 
Case fans - ditto

With having gigabit internet, I can live stack remotely to see how things are going and its only delayed by a few seconds.  I also use tailscale, so heavier uses of the skyx such as exploring it like a planetarium software, i just have my miniPC reference my workstation PC as the planetarium over the tailnet 

oh, and as someone mentioned before, my UPS runtime with the N100 beelink is half a day for 160 bucks... it's weathered every storm and power loss without shutting down once where a full blown PC would have gone down in 5 minutes... and this power is shared with my roof controller, network/switch/router and the roof motor so i have plenty of power to always be within safety limits of whatever is necessary to react to any safety change.

i used to keep old laptops for this purpose but i find SBC's just do a lot better since laptops still have forced air and thermal paste and stuff like that