Parked Mount Sensors: A Deep Dive

No Collisions Allowed: My DIY Observatory Roof Safety System!

Now that my observatory roof is motorized, I absolutely needed a way to make sure it wouldn’t crash into the telescopes or the mount when closing! My initial thought was to check the mount’s status via ASCOM and EQMOD (parked or not), but that solution seemed a bit too complex to implement for what I needed.

So, I pivoted to a much simpler, yet equally effective solution! While rummaging through the attic, I stumbled upon a set of IR optical barrier sensors… After a few quick tests, I figured they’d do the trick! An hour later, they were installed in the observatory! And guess what? It works like a charm…

Now, I can’t close the roof if the IR beam is broken by a telescope. However, I still need to test the system at night. My modified Canon 350D might be sensitive to this (to us invisible) IR light… If that’s the case, I’ll need to tweak the setup slightly so I can cut power to the sensors during exposures.