After much huffing and puffing, I finally came around to a solution for video telemetry form the dome. 3 IP cameras (D-Link DCS-934L if you’re interested), I installed them into the places most needed, and also easiest to bring power (that is to say, I’d like one mounted to the shutter, as well, but that’ll have to wait until I put in solar or some other independent-of-dome-rotation power source).

I spent a little time scratching my head, trying to figure out how to get “just the video, please”, as the cameras wanted to give a whole admin interface. A quick trip to the Googler produced the required URL, and here’s the result.

aw, yeah.

This will save a lot of running up and down the ladder to see whether the shutter and scope are lined up. Plus, I’m still not over the Cool Factor. 🙂

One glitch to note: for reasons passing understanding, one of the camera power supplies went dead within an hour of booting it up. Rather than spend any time at all diagnosing the problem, I simply chopped a USB cable, soldered on a “M” size DC plug, and used a USB charger. I’d been planning to do this with the other cameras anyway, but found ways to just use the provided wall warts. shrug. Gotta love 5v.

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