Re: [APML] 2 More ST-4 questions

[Alan Voetsch <critter12952@yahoo.com>]

--- "John C. Mirtle" <jmirtle@shaw.ca> wrote:
>     Ha! Got you beat - we are in the middle of a full-blown blizzard.
> It's
> chest deep with snow in parts of my yard, and it is supposed to keep
> snowing
> until Monday. Looks like this new moon is a wipe-out as well.

Yeah, you beat me. :-) I've been able to snap about 5 frames total the
last 2 months. Not even getting a sniff of a chance this time.

> As for the
> ST4 - last time I measured the current (1995ish) it consumed 1.1 amps
> of
> current. 900mA of that is drawn by the peltier cooler. It is well
> under 2
> Amps, which I believe is the power sucked up by the STV.

Great, thanks for that info.

> As for thermal warm-ups, IIRC the whole point of this was to
> reduce the
> chances of damaging a chip due to huge temperature extremes across
> it's
> surface. The TC211 in the ST4 is so small physically that I don't
> think that this was ever a problem.

That makes me wonder why Meade even bothered to hide the instructions
for shutdown in their manuals. Those chips certainly are no bigger than
the ST-4s. Maybe at some point it was considered a smart thing to do in
regards to protecting the chip. 

> Heck - move to Canada, you never have to worry about heat problems!

Yeah you do... how to heat the house, yourself, etc... 

Keep warm,
Alan



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