Building My Own Dome Controller!

Brilliant Dome Automation with a Velleman K8055!

Over on his site, Pierre de Ponthiere shares an awesome breakdown of how he uses a Velleman K8055 electronics kit (a steal at just €39!) to automatically control his dome’s position, perfectly syncing it with his telescope’s orientation! He’s even developed an ASCOM-compatible driver that’s capable of linking his custom interface directly to his telescope’s mount. You can find all the schematics for building the setup on his site, and the driver itself comes with a generous 60-day free trial. After that, it’s a modest €30 if you want to keep using it beyond the trial period. Honestly, I think this idea is absolutely brilliant! I’m definitely planning to use the same board for managing various observatory events and even controlling my rolling roof.