4
into the camera by turning the knob clockwise until
secure.
CAUTION: Do not set the DSLR Cooler down on the pro-
truding flash housing (Figure 5)! Doing so could dam-
age the flash housing.
6. Pry open the collar’s tab with your fingers or the back
end of a pen and lay the cables in (Figure 6). Then
close the tab and insert the collar back into the open
port. The camera should now appear as in Figure 7.
7. Plug the small end of the included DC power cable
into the power jack on the side of the DSLR Cooler
and connect the other end to your 12V marine battery
(see below). Alternatively, you can use an optional 12V
AC-to-DC adapter rated at 5A (available from Orion), to
power the DSLR Cooler.
8. Set the camera to ON, then reattach the rear housing to
the front section.
NOTE: The interior temperature sensor is affixed to the roof
of the cooling chamber, as shown in Figure 8. It is NOT
intended to be removed from there and adhered to the cam-
era body.
Desiccant Packets
We recommend placing one or both of the included silica gel
desiccant packets inside the DSLR cooler for each imaging
session. Although it is unlikely that moisture will condense
inside the chamber during operation (and even less likely
that it would condense on the camera itself), the moisture-
absorbing desiccant will keep the air surrounding the cam-
era dry, even in humid weather conditions.
The reusable desiccant packets can be dried, or “recharged,”
by heating them in an oven at 250°F (120°C) for two hours.
Attaching the Camera with DSLR Cooler to Your Telescope
1. Attach a 2" T-adapter, coma corrector, reducer or
flattener to the T-ring on your camera.
NOTE: Cooling performance will be compromised
somewhat if you use just a T-adapter with an open-tube
telescope such as a Newtonian reflector, as this allows
a constant flow of uncooled, ambient-temperature air
to enter the camera and warm the imaging sensor.
It’s best to “seal” the front opening of the camera by
using an optical adapter such as a coma corrector or
focal reducer – or even a clear filter threaded on the
T-adapter – or use a telescope with a “closed” tube,
such as a refractor, Maksutov-Newtonian, or Schmidt-
Cassegrain.
2. Insert the 2" barrel of the T-adapter or other adapter into
the telescope’s focuser and tighten the screws on the
focuser to secure the camera/DSLR Cooler. Figure 9
shows the DSLR Cooler attached to an Orion 80mm
triplet refractor.
Given the weight of the DSLR Cooler and camera combina-
tion, you may need to increase the tension adjustment on
your focuser drawtube to prevent any slipping while focus-
ing. Once focus is achieved, it’s a good idea to lightly tighten
the drawtube locking thumbscrew, if your focuser has one.
Operating the DSLR Cooler
1. Press the ON/OFF button once to turn on the Cooler.
It is recommended that you turn on the DSLR Cooler at least
1 hour before starting your imaging session, to allow suf-
ficient time to cool the camera. Keep the DSLR Cooler pow-
ered on for the duration of your imaging session. Once it is
turned off, the temperature inside the chamber will remain
about the same for 5 minutes or so, then will start to rise
rapidly.
Figure 6. Lay the camera cables in the open cable collar, then
close it and re-insert it in the housing.
Figure 5. The protruding flash housing could crack if it contacts a
hard surface!
Do not set the
DSLR Cooler
down on the
flash housing!
Open
cable collar