Firstly, please excuse me if I have posted this in the wrong forum. I'm after something that (from what I can tell) doesn't seem to exist!
I'm working with someone else who has previously designed a simple on/off timer to switch on and off a 12v powered video camera and cabinet heater for me that turns the camera and cabinet heater on and off at user defined times using an ardunio and a neat little bit of Windows software he has written. I'm now looking to build an all-sky camera with a similar system for turning on and off the camera. The all-sky camera will be using a ZWO ASI 120MC camera. This camera is USB powered. What we are after is a simple little circuit board with two female a USB sockets that acts as a relay to allow the user to turn on and off the power and/or data for a device plugged into the board. Try as we might, we don't seem to find any off the shelf hardware controller that will do this.
Sounds like any basic timer can do this for you: timer socket to switch on/off the power based on time + 2-port USB adapter to power your devices (or a 12V adapter for the 12V thingy).
wvmarle:
Sounds like any basic timer can do this for you: timer socket to switch on/off the power based on time + 2-port USB adapterto power your devices (or a 12V adapter for the 12V thingy).
Thanks for your reply. Can you point towards an examples of "timer socket to switch on/off the power based on time + 2-port USB adapter"?
Okay, maybe I didn't explain my project clearly enough. The camera uses the same USB cable for both power and data, so a simple USB charging socket isn't going to work. You can find the camera specs here.
johnwasser:
Are you running off a battery? If not, why turn off the camera?
The system is designed to take pictures of the night sky. It uses a camera with a very sensitive CMOS chip with a relatively simple (and hence relatively cheap) lens that does not have an automatic iris to control the lens's aperture. Allowing a magnified unfiltered image of the Sun to project onto the chip can cause damage, especially if the chip is turned on.
Unfortunately, a suitable fast, ultra wide angle lens with a powered iris suitable for use with a 1/2" chipped camera could cost £100s of pounds, hence possibly much cheaper second best option of powering down the camera during daylight hours.