Mounting a mini PC on my imaging rig

[ChrisWright]

So I have suffered cable drag and wanted to try and mount more of my equipment on my rig to expediate setup time as well. This included a Gigabyte Brix mini PC that I remote control, a DeepSkyDad mini 12v power management unit and HitecAstro DC focusser. Before this weekend my rig (and associated spaghetti) looked like this:

Firstly I ordered an Altair Astro 350mm Losmandy bar to give me more mounting space than my current 180mm bar. First came the mounting of the mini PC. With some advise I shamelessly copied a fellow enthusiasts option of mounting the PC below the bar. At first sight the mini PC had M3 holes but I soon realised that would not give the best orientation for the USB ports so a quick drill and some M3 bolts, washers and screws and the mini chassis was ready for mounting on the bar:

Then I wondered the best way of mounting the other control units which ensuring the setup would accomodate larger refractors. I ended up creating a 'quick and dirty' mounting bracket from some aluminium plate from a hardware store. This was cut, bent and drilled and attached to the Losmandy bar:

For now I have attached the focusser and 12v control units with velcro but will create a more permanent fixture in future.

 

This is till a work in progress. I have a photography mount cheese board coming tomorrow to mount a USB hub on top of the scope and more wiring is required but pleased with what in reality was a couple of hours work. Looking forward to testing out on clear skies soon!

[Wyvern]

That looks awesome, shame my mini pc is not quite mini enough to bolt to my rig or I'd be following those instructions right now.

[Andy 274]

My obsy is a rats nest too. Really need to sort my cabling out. Great job

[ChrisWright]

Thank you @Wyvern and @Andy .

[Skipper Billy]

Posted by: @Wyvern

That looks awesome, shame my mini pc is not quite mini enough to bolt to my rig or I'd be following those instructions right now.

Velcro works a treat!

[Hallingskies]

I’m intrigued by your mini PC. How is it powered? I’d like to run a set-up off a 12v Li 35Ah battery but conventional laptops would drain that in no time. I’ve looked at a few specs on Amazon but they are vague about power requirements.

[Skipper Billy]

@Hallingskies It is supposed to need 19v but in practise it runs just as well off 12v.

 

[Hallingskies]

@skipper-billy

just wondered what the overall power draw of a mini-pc was.  Ordinary laptops seem to pull anywhere between 30-70w running at 18v.

[Skipper Billy]

@Hallingskies It draws about 22 watts when starting up, about 7 watts at idle and over a full imaging session it averages out at about 11 watts at 13.2 volts.

[Hallingskies]

@skipper-billy Thanks for the info, I’ll have to have a closer look at these, looks like they aren’t too hard on batteries...

[ChrisWright]

I hadn't even realised it could run off 12v. I had run a second cable extension from the pc to the spreader plate and plugged in the original PSU there. I will certainly using the 12v. Thanks