Hi,

thanks for the suggestions.  I won't be able to get to the shops until 
next week. I do have an old car lying around the back and I could take 
out some of the bulb fittings from that and run 12 volts to the box.  I 
think the box is light tight (I'll check tonight) so probably okay for 
insects. 

The temperature is about to drop in the next hour or two so I'll see how 
effective a heat source is from the temporary light I put in.

I still access the box every few days as I try to find the optimum 
settings and I've still to tackle the damping issue, so it has to be 
reasonably easy to get in and out of.  So the plastic sheet sounds like 
the best solution.

The good news is that this morning's Calafornia 6.7 quake saturated my 
A/D.  Good as in a quake 5000 miles away did that.  If I can get the 
oscillations down then I should be able to resolve 4.x teleseismic 
quakes.  One can dream!

Thanks again

Ian

ChrisAtUpw@....... wrote:

> In a message dated 04/01/2006, ian@........... writes:
>
>     Hi,
>     thanks for the reply, I'm still working through it!  In the
>     meantime, I don't have any good pictures but here is a drawing of
>     the housing that I just quickly sketched:
>     http://www.iasmith.com/housing.jpg . 
>
>     I have no heater.  I had hoped to avoid one but sounds like I need
>     to consider it.
>
> Hi Ian,
>  
>     It is not very easy to seal the open top of a box like this. You 
> might be able to do it with foam strip around the edge or the bottom 
> of the thermawall cavity board plug.
>  
>     I would be inclined to get a big sheet of polythene (~9ft square 
> damp proof membrane?) from a builder's merchant, drape it over the top 
> and to the ground all around the box, fold in the corners and secure 
> them with tape or string. This is in place of the multi layer paper 
> sheet. Alternatively, you could use gaffer tape either to seal the 
> paper to the sides of the box, or tape the existing top sheet to a 
> surrounding paper wrap. Then put the sarking board lid on the box.
>  
>     I suspect that you will need some form of heating inside the case. 
> You will probably need at least 10 watts. Power resistors are 
> preferable to filament bulbs, which tend to attract insects. Can you 
> 'acquire' a large cardboard box to put over the top of the existing case?
>  
>     Regards,
>  
>     Chris Chapman




  
  


Hi,



thanks for the suggestions.  I won't be able to get to the shops until
next week. I do have an old car lying around the back and I could take
out some of the bulb fittings from that and run 12 volts to the box.  I
think the box is light tight (I'll check tonight) so probably okay for
insects.  



The temperature is about to drop in the next hour or two so I'll see
how effective a heat source is from the temporary light I put in.



I still access the box every few days as I try to find the optimum
settings and I've still to tackle the damping issue, so it has to be
reasonably easy to get in and out of.  So the plastic sheet sounds like
the best solution.



The good news is that this morning's Calafornia 6.7 quake saturated my
A/D.  Good as in a quake 5000 miles away did that.  If I can get the
oscillations down then I should be able to resolve 4.x teleseismic
quakes.  One can dream!



Thanks again



Ian



ChrisAtUpw@....... wrote:


  
  
  
  
In a message dated 04/01/2006, ian@........... writes:
  
Hi,

thanks for the reply, I'm still working through it!  In the meantime, I
don't have any good pictures but here is a drawing of the housing that
I just quickly sketched: http://www.iasmith.com/housing.jpg
.. 

    

I have no heater.  I had hoped to avoid one but sounds like I need to
consider it.
  
Hi Ian,
  
 
  
    It is not very easy to seal the open top of a box like this.
You might be able to do it with foam strip around the edge or the
bottom of the thermawall cavity board plug.
  
 
  
    I would be inclined to get a big sheet of polythene (~9ft
square damp proof membrane?) from a builder's merchant, drape it over
the top and to the ground all around the box, fold in the corners and
secure them with tape or string. This is in place of the multi layer
paper sheet. Alternatively, you could use gaffer tape either to seal
the paper to the sides of the box, or tape the existing top sheet to a
surrounding paper wrap. Then put the sarking board lid on the box.
  
 
  
    I suspect that you will need some form of heating inside the
case. You will probably need at least 10 watts. Power resistors are
preferable to filament bulbs, which tend to attract insects. Can you
'acquire' a large cardboard box to put over the top of the existing
case?
  
 
  
    Regards,
  
 
  
    Chris Chapman