"Teabag" for my 8" newtonian OTA

[depardeuz]

Hi, I thought of putting this up for those who are having trouble keeping moisture at bay from their primary mirror of their relatively "too large for Toyogo box" newtonian OTA



Borrowing the idea from teabags, threaded sewing thread round the top of the "Hippo" moisture buster for cabinets, not affecting the seal of the packaging and secure it by the tightening cap on the scope cover.



No need to waste money buying dry cabinets/large ziplock bags liao...

[cloud_cover]

How does it work?
I tried something like that before but the relative humidity didn't really budge much so in the end I had to go with dryboxes

[Gary]

Without a hygrometer to measure the humidity, it is hard to objectively judge the effectiveness of this method. Base on my limited hands-on experience with your dob, the main tube is quite well-sealed and the dust cover fits snugly. So this method may be effective for this particular design/model of dob.

So same experience as cloud_cover for me. Not effective and not a replacement for dry cabinets/box/large ziplock bags for my larger telescopes. The benefit of a truss tube dob is that one may be able to fit the base and upper assembly into 2 separate dry box/cabinet.

The chances of the string breaking off is low when properly installed as shown in your pic and description. But the probability, no matter how small, of the whole package accidentally dropping on the precious primary mirror may still be too frightening a scenario for the owner to risk for the sake of controlling humidity in this way.

[Hardwarezone]

Tie the end of the string to something bigger than the cap hole incase it slides free.

[Mariner]

You can get a hygrometer with magnetic attachment from Daiso. Agree with Gary that while this method is good enough for short term storage, it is still no substitute for a dry cabinet/box. That being said, I don't own a Newt so I can't really comment on the alternatives. I am however, eyeing a truss tube Dob (still eyeing ONLY) but storage is always a concern since I have a strong aversion to fungi. I have an expensive lesson in my camera lens.

[depardeuz]

Wow! Appreciate the replies! Will check out Daiso for the hygrometer. What would be the optimal level of humidity to maintain? Agree that this is definitely not as consistent as a dry cab can perform

[Gary]

Not sure if I have mentioned this before, I used Daiso $2 hygrometers but the accuracy can be way off (poor quality control and manufacturing).

So what I usually do is to bring along my small digital hygrometer along and double check the Daiso units available for sale and only buy those that are relatively accurate (plus minus 2 degrees).

[Mariner]

Uh oh. Time to double check the units I got....

[antares2063]

Luckily, mirror coatings are way more fungus-resistant over refractors, SCT correctors and camera lenses..somehow fungus just love Light-transmission coatings but not reflective coatings =)

[Clifford60]

One can check if the hygrometer is accurate by using concentrated salt solution. Just google for the proper procedure.

The solution is too risky to replace the more expensive system.