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Temperature and the ASI2600MC

ZWO ASI2600MC Pro CMOS Cooling
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Jerry Gerber avatar
Jerry Gerber avatar
Hey there,

My equipment is at a remote site where it gets pretty hot during the day in the summer, about 100F.  The gear is in an observatory with the roof closed during daylight hours.  Yesterday I had to do some maintenance work and the camera was on for a few hours, I forgot to turn the cooler on.  The internal temperature of the 2600MC got up to 114F for a short while before I realized it and turned it off. 


How likely is this to damage the electronics or shorten the life of this camera?

Thanks!
Jerry
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Jean-David Gadina avatar
Jean-David Gadina avatar
114F is usually not that hot for standard electronic components.
Most computers operate around that kind of temperature when idle and can go up to 200F for quite some time when performing heavier tasks.

The tolerance might be lower for a camera with a sensor, but still I would not worry too much, especially if it was for a short time.
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Tim Ray avatar
Tim Ray avatar
No problems at 115°F. Run it next session at your regular temp. Inspect the first sub. If you have problems, they won't wait for the 2nd sub to show up, if good, move on to the next thing to worry about…  

I like you images as your total integration time has increased in recent months. Keep going deep!

CS Tim
Jerry Gerber avatar
Jerry Gerber avatar
Tim Ray:
No problems at 115°F. Run it next session at your regular temp. Inspect the first sub. If you have problems, they won't wait for the 2nd sub to show up, if good, move on to the next thing to worry about...  

I like you images as your total integration time has increased in recent months. Keep going deep!

CS Tim

Thanks Tim.  Now that I am ironing out the bugs at the remote site, I plan on increasing the integration time as the telescope is on a permanent pier.
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Bill McLaughlin avatar
Bill McLaughlin avatar
The big issue is getting into thermal runaway territory where things actually get hotter and not cooler. Probably won't break things but sure as heck won't cool. I have found that if ambient is above about 75 degrees F then I need to go above my standard -10 C setting.

I have set up a sequencer powerups (Thanks Marc!) where NINA looks at ambient as reported by the Powerbox before it tries to cool the camera at all. I have another SPU setup that turns my floor fan on and off to drop the ambient as quickly as possible and aid airflow over the camera.

Only an issue with my ZWO cameras. My Moravian with enhanced cooling has no issues even when it is hot.  Glad I paid the extra for that!
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