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Electrical and electronic

The mains power supplies to the telescopes can be divided into three catagories.

The mains connectors used from these supplies are the standard UK pattern. For more detailed information on the specifications of these supplies consult La Palma technical staff.

All the telescopes are provided with an extensive set of general--purpose cabling for data transfer and control. Various types of shielded multi--core and co--axial cables run from the instrument mounting points to the control room. Connector types are standardised between telescopes. At the WHT there is a set of fibre optic cables to transfer data between the various focal stations and the control room. The fibre cable is Optronics H200P with SMA type connectors.

User supplied instruments can be connected through this cabling system with suitable interface connections. Whilst it is possible for this interfacing to be done by the user after liason with La Palma technical staff, it has been found that the most satisfactory and reliable method is to arrange for suitable interface cables to be made by the La Palma technical staff. It is of course essential to provide plenty of advance warning of these requirements.

The other alternative is for the user to provide cables of sufficient length to run directly from telescope to control room along a suitable path. This arrangement is most suited to the smaller telescopes such as JKT and INT Cassegrain focus, where the telescope movement permits a cable length which is not excessive. The relatively large movement possible with the altazimuth mounting of the WHT would make this difficult.



next up previous contents
Next: Coolingcryogenics, vacuum, Up: Users' own instruments Previous: Acquisition and guidance




Tue Aug 15 16:42:46 BST 1995