BRIXIIS Astronomical Observatory

Copyright © All rights reserved. Made By Erik Bryssinck  Terms of use  |  Privacy policy

Archive Modification B&W Quickcam  Modification Vesta Webcam  Buildingproject Genesis camera  Synta EQ6 equatorial mount
Contact Form Building project - 2001/2002 GENESIS astro CCD-camera

In 2001 I started building an astro CCD camera. After some research on the internet I came across the French Audine-ccd-camera and the American variant, the Genesis Astro CCD-camera. For various reasons I finally chose the Genesis camera, designed by Rick Smith.

You can download here the complete manual to build the CCD-camera

I chose to take a KODAK KAF1602E CCD chip for the Genesis camera.  




















Below you will find some pictures of the internal of the ccd- camera after it was built


Genesis astro ccd-camera, Erik Bryssinck genesis astro ccd-camera, Erik Bryssinck

Improvement - adding a defogger for the optical window

After some use, I encountered problems due to dew formation on the optical window of the CCD camera, presumably due to the cooling of the CCD, which after a while also lowered the temperature of the optical window and therefore could cause dew formation on the outside.


A solution would be to place a small heater around the optical window of the CCD camera.

But, i had a first problem with this wire. I ordered the Isa-Chrom60 lacked version with diameter of 0.07mm.. I placed the heating resitance wire between the retaining ring and the front-glass.  So i thought this wire is isolated and gives no contact with the retaining ring of the glass.

When i do mounted this wire i had a shortness with this ring. I saw this ring can be electrically isolated by using plastic screws, but is choose for making a new retaining ring in plastic material that also is heat risistant for about 160 degrees Celcius for short periods and for continue use at max. 90 degrees (ERTALON).

Mechanical parts of the CCD-camera

The mechanical parts after machining by a friend of my.

The coldfinger is made from cupper, al the other parts from DURAL (aluminium). The heatsink + fan is a Pentium IV heatsink assembly that was a little modified to mount this on the rear-plate of the camera.

Genesis astro ccd-camera mechanical parts, Erik Bryssinck

Mechanical drawings (click on the image for higher resolution)

First light with KAF0401 CCD-chip


Power supply for the Genesis ccd-camera

This kind of camera need different voltages:


- +/- 15V DC with max rimple of 2 mV (60 mA)

- + 12V for shutter and fan (1Amp)

- adjustable voltage to 7V (3.5 Amps) for the Peltiercooling


For this different voltages, you can't find one power supply unit with this spec's.  So i've designed a simply power supply for this purpose and easy to build.

supplemental, i've made an easy temperature-indicator with the original LM335 temperature-sensor. So, eventually, i can build later a automatic temperaturecontrol for the peltier as an option.