Scopebox Pro (Subscription) $299. Includes 1 year of updates. Extended phone and email support. Prioritized feature requests. Renew for $199 / year. Cancel any time and keep the most recent version. Scopebox Pro (Perpetual) $999. Recieve free updates and support for life. All the benefits of the ScopeBox Pro license. Day 14: 20 Insights in 20 Days Holiday Marathon How I Set Up ScopeBox for Color Correction. This Insight is a follow up to ML0048 – where Robbie Carman demo’ed the ScopeLink feature in Scopebox which gives you on-board scopes for Premiere Pro, After Effects and Final Cut Pro 10. Description The application is able to import all or selected Scope Boxes from a linked Autodesk® Revit® project into your project, as well as checking if yours and the linked Scope Boxes are the same - if they are different you're able to Synchronize your Scope Boxes to match those in the linked project. ScopeBox running with my own UI layout providing live data and screen preview – next to the Reflecmedia LED controller. Connecting my camera with a Firewire cable to the MacBook Pro, I was able to get ScopeBox to recognize it immediately and start giving me live data feedback.
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(0)SENSORBOX MODULE
Turn your MDMAX, MDMAX2A or MDMAX3 into a unique sensor simulator to substitute known good waveforms for intermittent components that cannot be verified.Sensor simulation tests include: DC voltage, fixed frequency, pre-defined waveform and hand-drawn waveform.Contains a library of standard reference waveforms that can be modified by the stroke of a finger..View Details
(0)MAXIMUS J2534 VEHICLE COMMUNICATION INTERFACE
Universal pass-thru device that is both hardware and software updatable.Powered by Drew Technologies with OEM validation and compatibility.Provides complete SAE J2534-1 and J2534-2 reprogramming standards as well as added functionality for all vehicle makes and models..View Details
(10)MAXIMUS 3.0 DIAGNOSTIC SCAN TOOLScope Boxes In Revit
Real media cutter. The fastest and strongest member of the Maximus family.Once you scan a vehicle, you can equip yourself with the information needed to get to the fix using the MaximusFix database, gaining access to technical service bulletins, flow charts, wiring diagrams and more.Runs on an upgraded open Android™ system, so multiple applications can be utilized simultaneously at blazing speeds..View Details
(2)BATTERY BOX MODULEAdd battery testing to your MDMAX, MDMAX2A or MDMAX3 to save time and test batteries inside or outside the vehicle.Charging and starting system tests include: charging voltage and results, charging voltage too high/too low and low cranking voltage.Uses advanced conductance technology - includes CCA and additional test standards (DIN, JIS, EN, IEC, GB and SAE)..View Details
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(3)OBDII MODULE FOR MAXTPMS AND MAXTPMS2Primarily used on imported makes, and it covers domestic brands as well.OBDII module that pairs with MDMAXTPMS and MDMAXTPMS2.0 to enable re-learn procedures through OBDII port.Designed to bypass many of the manual reset procedures that are time consuming and confusing..View Details
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(0)MAXIMUS CRASH 12 MONTH SUBSCRIPTIONAccess Motor information systems e-tech online crash estimating data for 12 months.Covers import and domestic cars, light trucks, vans and SUV's.Vehicle data for 1984 - present ..View Details
(0)MDMAXTPMS ANNUAL UPDATEReceive monthly updates on your MDMAXTPMS tool with the annual software subscription including the latest and greatest features and coverage.Includes new tool functionalities, procedures, corrections, vehicle coverage, sensor coverage and more.New vehicle and OE aftermarket sensor coverage added each month..View Details
Scope Of Operations Definition
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(3)MAXIMUS THERMAL IMAGERCaptures infrared rays and other types of rays, converts the radiation information into an image and clearly displays on color screen .The center point measurement cursor quickly and accurately locates the problem, measures the temperature and saves time.Visible light combined with infrared images..View Details
(0)MAXIMUS 3.0 SCREEN PROTECTORCustom screen protector to fit Maximus 3.0.View Details
(1)MAXIMUS 2.0 SCREEN PROTECTORCustom screen protector.View Details
I have a telescope. Unlike most telescopes, mine is not computerized. No motors to track the stars or slew to an object punched into a keypad, not even shaft encoders (aka “digital setting circles”) to read out the current position. Finding objects is a full-manual experience, involving the Telrad sight and/or the 10x finder scope with lots of switching back and forth between the finder and a star chart. This process is called “star hopping,” and I wouldn't have had it any other way when I first started out. It's pretty inefficient if your goal is to check off the most galaxies/nebulae/etc. possible in the shortest time, but it's a great way to get to know the sky.
I've been doing astronomy like this for ten years, and finally decided it might be time to join the 21st century and add some encoders and a computer. (This is fairly straightforward on my Dobsonian telescope, whereas adding a motor drive system is not.) I think the tipping point came when I weighed my finder scope and my Nexus 10 tablet, and found that the tablet weighed less: I could replace the finder with the tablet, right up at the eyepiece.
Requirements
This being a home-made telescope, and me being a EE, of course I had a list of requirements no commercial product could quite match:
A wireless digital-setting-circle interface: altitude and azimuth optical encoders, with a bluetooth link to apps on the tablet. You can buy this off the shelf, but my telescope has some mechanical imperfections (axes not perpendicular), and with access to the code I could correct these in software.
Fan control. My telescope has a fan behind the mirror to quickly bring it into thermal equilibrium, and fans blowing across the mirror to mix the boundary layer there. These are controlled with toggle switches, but with motion awareness the new system should turn them on and off automatically as desired during times of telescope use and inactivity.
Battery management. My old, heavy sealed-lead-acid battery is wearing out, and the electrical cable dragging on the ground is a continual hazard. This could be replaced with a much lighter lithium-ion pack, and the whole thing mounted on the telescope rocker box. In fact, it would be really convenient to have the charger built in so I can just plug the telescope into a 12V source to charge.
Microcontroller, encoder interface, and wireless link
I chose my favorite 8-bit microcontroller, an Atmel AVR (in this case the ATmega168PA). Every pin and most of the internal peripherals are used:
- PC0/1 and PD3/4 (each pair on a different pin-change interrupt) read the quadrature encoder signals for altitude and azimuth.
- PB0-2 and PC2 form the user interface: one piezo buzzer, two switches, and one LED.
- ADC input 6 monitors the battery voltage.
- The SPI pins and nRESET are dedicated to in-system programming.
- USART0 in asynchronous serial mode talks with the bluetooth module.
- TWI (two-wire interface aka I2C) talks with the battery-management chip.
- Timer 0 is a PWM DAC setting the boost converter output voltage.
- Timer 1 plays tunes through the piezo buzzer.
- Timer 2 provides 100-Hz periodic interrupts.
Scope Box For Windows
The AVR's ISP pins are routed to holes at the edge of the PCB for easy programming with microclip leads from a Bus Pirate.
My encoders are older US Digital S2s which operate at a very inconvenient 5V. Their supply rail comes from the battery-management chip, which can run in buck mode for charging and boost mode for supplying 5V back out of the supply terminal. This is intended for USB OTG but it's just what we need here. A level converter (SN74LVC8T245) is used to interface with the AVR's GPIO pins. The AVR could have been supplied at the same 5V rail, eliminating the level converter, but it needs to stay alive during charge cycles when the 5V rail is absent.
The altitude and azimuth encoders get different pin-change interrupt handlers, so we already know which one has moved at the start of the ISR. Also fortunate for us, the AVR's non-configurable interrupt priorities give highest priority to these pin-change interrupts.
The Roving Networks RN42 bluetooth module is designed for serial-cable replacement and requires little configuration from the microcontroller side. I did run out of GPIO pins on the AVR, so two of the RN42's spare GPIOs are used to switch the two boost-converter output jacks on and off. (One is for the rear fan and the other for the cross-blow fans.) To toggle these GPIOs the AVR must enter command mode, send a command string, then exit.
Battery management and power supplies
I decided to stay with a 3.7V, parallel-connected battery pack. The fans need up to 12V which could be supplied by a boost converter or four cells in series. I don't like worrying about cell balance for series-connected packs and most everything else in the system needs a low voltage, so I opted for the boost converter (see below).
The battery consists of ten 18650 li-ion cells in parallel. The number was chosen somewhat arbitrarily to fit into the plastic enclosure I had available. My cells are LG high-capacity types with an unusual 4.35V charge voltage. The total capacity should be at least 100 Wh, enough to run everything for several nights of observing. I did not add a separate protection circuit. The 18650 cells have basic short-circuit protection (PTC thermistor) and the battery manager and microcontroller will protect against over- and under-voltage conditions.
The battery-management IC is a bq24193 from Texas Instruments. It can act as a standard switch-mode battery charger with inputs up to 17V, or run in boost mode to supply 5V at up to 1.3A for USB OTG applications. The scopebox circuit takes advantage of this to supply 5V to the optical encoders and to a USB standard-A receptacle, which serves as a USB power outlet for a tablet or cell phone. When a [potentially much higher voltage] DC supply is plugged in for charging, the switch in the DC power connector CONN2 turns off MOSFET Q1, isolating the 5V rail from the charger voltage. (The digital setting circle functionality is disabled while charging.) Refx nexus 2.6 5 crack.
The bq24193 is highly configurable over its I2C interface, permitting the use of my high-voltage li-ion cells, setting precharge and termination currents, IR drop compensation, and so forth. PD2 on the AVR registers faults and status changes on the bq24193 INT output, and PD5 toggles the switch-mode circuit between buck (charge) and boost (5V OTG—normal scopebox operation) modes.
The unregulated VSYS power rail follows the battery voltage and supplies the microcontroller, the fan-voltage boost circuit, one-half of the level converter, and the bluetooth module, the latter through a 3.3V LDO.
Boost converter and fan control
An LTC3122 boost circuit provides an adjustable 6-12V at up to 500 mA for the fans. The same voltage is supplied to one or the other or both fans via the dual MOSFET U103. A high-frequency PWM signal from the AVR is low-pass filtered to around 1 Hz and injected into the LTC3122 feedback network to adjust the output voltage. This is useful to lower the fan speeds, which permits leaving them on while observing; at higher speeds their vibrations disturb the view.
Source
- gEDA design (gschem schematic and pcb layout): scopebox_hardware.tar.gz
- AVR Eclipse C project: scopebox_code.tar.gz
Divergent Media Scopebox
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