The PrimaLuceLab Eagle LE Control Unit does away with connecting your telescope to a laptop or desktop computer with lengthy cables and big batteries.
In a single PrimaLuceLab Eagle LE you have a Windows 10 Enterprise computer, fast SSD storage, eight USB ports, an advanced power distribution system for all of your imaging accessories with 7 power out ports, a special WiFi system to remotely control the telescope from any smartphone, tablet or external computer (with Windows, macOS, iOS or Android operative systems) and DARK mode to disable all of the LED lights.
Everything is controlled via the included EAGLE Manager software and housed in a rigid red aluminum case designed with a flexible PLUS mounting system, allowing you to easily connect the EAGLE LE to any telescope.
The PrimaLuceLab Eagle LE Control Unit main features include:
– Windows 10 Enterprise computer lets you install your preferred devices and software
– 8 USB ports: 4 high speed USB 3.0 ports plus 4 USB 2.0 ports with remote ON/OFF capability
– 4 x 12V power out ports with remote ON/OFF control to power your mount, camera and other 12V accessories
– 3x variable 0-12V power out ports for dew heaters
– DARK mode to turn off all the LED lights
– Powerful and fast WiFi 802.11ac with dual band (2.4 and 5 GHz) connection
– Power level monitoring of every device powered through the 12v power out ports of the EAGLE LE
– EAGLE Manager interface to easily control all the EAGLE LE’s features
– PLUS aluminum case, allowing you to easily attach the EAGLE LE to any telescope
– Weight: 1145 gr.
The EAGLE LE eliminates the need for an external computer and you are not limited to a preset list of features you can install whatever software and device you want to use on the EAGLE. The Windows 10 Enterprise operating system is 100% Windows 10 compatible but is lighter-weight and more stable than traditional PCs that use Windows 10 Home or other OEM versions that may come preinstalled with bloatware.
PrimaLuceLab has optimized the Windows 10 Enterprise installation on the EAGLE LE to be a faster operating system (the EAGLE LE is ready to use in just 20 seconds after pressing the ON button) and to maintain better stability during astrophotography sessions. EAGLE LE uses a 2.0 GHz Celeron processor (J4005 dual-core with Burst Mode up to 2.7 GHz and 4MB cache) and 4 GB fast DDR4L RAM memory – both designed for low power consumption. This way you have the power you need to run any astrophotography software with a device that’s easy on your battery, improving overall portability.
The PrimaLuceLab Eagle LE offers fast SSD storage to install all your astrophotography software and save your data. Different from traditional spinning hard disks, the SSD drive in the EAGLE LE has no moving parts, so it’s faster and more durable over time. With the flexibility of the EAGLE LE you can save the pictures on the SSD drive for processing directly in the EAGLE LE or connect a 3.0 USB flash drive to one of the high speed USB 3.0 ports. That way, at the end of the session you can quickly and easily move the files to an external computer for processing.
EAGLE LE’s internal components were designed for field use in extended temperature ranges. This means you can rely on it for all night long, in higher humidity conditions since the small amount of internal heat generated by the processor prevents any problems with humidity.
The PrimaLuceLab Eagle LE also offers 4 fast USB 3.0 ports and 4 USB 2.0 ports that can be remotely turned ON/OFF. This provides the opportunity to connect and control a number of devices to the EAGLE LE and you can remotely turn on/off USB ports if needed, instead of having to manually unplug or plug the cables. This can be a great feature to save power (you can turn off the ports you do not use) but you can also reset a port it in case of a device connection failure. Thanks to the EAGLE LE’s four USB 3.0 ports, you can connect and use the latest fast USB 3.0 cameras for planetary imaging and to save videos of the Moon, planets, and Sun in the internal SSD drive.
The advanced power bridge with 7 power out ports powers devices directly through the EAGLE LE. The EAGLE LE has a separate 12V power input that can run on up to 16 amps. From there, using a special internal board, power is distributed to the 7 power out ports – four 12V power out ports are designed to power your camera, mount, focuser, or other 12v devices. These ports are equipped with safety screw-type connections to prevent unwanted detachment of the cables and PrimaLuceLab offer special power cables (optional) for different devices. The three 0-12V variable power out ports are designed to power dew heaters without the need of an external controller.
Control of these ports can be easily automated by adding the optional ECCO environmental module for EAGLE. A dedicated chip on EAGLE LE’s power board protects the electronics (both on the EAGLE LE and connected devices) from any overcurrents by temporarily disconnecting power in no more than 1ms in case of electrical problems – a lot faster than traditional fuses. Power is automatically re-activated once the problem has been resolved.
Additionally, a special microcontroller allows you to adjust (+- 1A) the maximum current limit of the 12V ports. This way, if you want to connect a device to a 3A max port and that device has a maximum power consumption of 4A, you can increase the port limit to 4A.
The integrated WiFi system allows you to remotely control your telescope from any device. To operate EAGLE LE, you don’t need a keyboard and mouse, you can control the EAGLE LE through a free dedicated app, available on any smartphone, tablet or personal computer running Windows, MacOS, iOS or Android.
Turn the EAGLE LE on, then enable your device’s WiFi connection and select the WiFi network provided by the EAGLE LE. Launch the remote control app and you will have EAGLE LE desktop on your screen with access to all your astrophotography software.
If you like, you can also configure the PrimaLuceLab Eagle LE to connect to a pre-existing WiFi or wired/ethernet network allowing remote access via the internet – perfect for remote observatories. Since the EAGLE LE doesn’t use VNC or other software for remote control, it’s faster and more stable. Each EAGLE device creates a unique WiFi network from any other EAGLE that might be nearby. To avoid any other issues at a star party, every EAGLE also has a unique access password known only by you.
The full aluminum PLUS case is CNC made and designed to allow easy integration with any telescope. Connecting the EAGLE LE allows you to have less cabling with shorter runs that move together with the telescope. This drastically reduces the potential for a cable snagging or detaching while your telescope tracks across the sky. PrimaLuceLab designed the EAGLE LE case to be incredibly rigid – rigid enough to a support a parallel telescope (up to 5 kg).
The EAGLE LE case comes with M5 and M6 threaded holes to attach accessories (support rings, guide rings, dovetail bars or dovetail clamps), to at least 2 points to maintain the system’s rigidity. For example, using the PrimaLuceLab PLUS mounting system, the EAGLE LE can be installed between the support rings and guiding rings, without any flexure (for guide telescopes up to 5 kg) improving the portability of your telescope and allowing it to be moved to the field pre-assembled, reducing setup time.
PrimaLuceLab also offers an optional ECCO environmental computerized controller for automatic dew heater control. By adding ECCO, (Environmental Computerized COntroller) to your EAGLE LE, you can automatically and continuously monitor the dew point by sensing the temperature and humidity of the air around your telescope and the temperature of your lenses. ECCO will then automatically vary the voltage to the appropriate EAGLE LE’s ports where your dew heaters bands are connected, keeping dew from forming on your optics. All of this with an automatic and easy to use device that you just have to connect to one of the EAGLE LE USB ports.
The EAGLE Manager software interface allows easily control all the EAGLE LE’s features. The software that starts automatically and provides an easy and intuitive interface, allowing you to:
– Enable/Disable every 12V power out port so that you can keep all your devices connected (for example, mount, camera, filter wheel, etc.) and activate them remotely when you turn on the entire system. Each port shows the current consumption that can also be monitored over time.
– Set the power out voltage of the 3 x 0-12V power out ports to increase or decrease the power to dew heaters connected to EAGLE. Each port shows the current consumption that can also be monitored over time.
– Activate DARK mode: this turns off all the LED lights.
– Connect or disconnect devices connected to the four USB 2.0 ports which is convenient in case of a temporary crash of an autoguider or planetary camera, which can then be reset without the need to go to the telescope and disconnect/reconnect a cable.
– Check power consumption and battery lifetime. If you power your EAGLE with a battery, a dedicated menu allows you to set the ampere capacity of your battery and charge percentage when EAGLE is powered on, enabling you to monitor its expected lifetime.
– The ability to set WiFi connectivity allows you to access EAGLE in Access Point mode for field use (use your smartphone, tablet or external computer by connecting directly to EAGLE without the need of a WiFi router) or HOST mode for connecting to your existing network such as your home WiFi.
– To set your automatic power routines you can define port status “After power on” and “Before shut down” for the devices connected to the EAGLE. This way, you can automatically turn on all your devices after you start the EAGLE and turn them all off when you shut down the EAGLE.
The PrimaLuceLab Eagle LE ships with:
– EAGLE LE unit
– 2 WiFi antennas
– 12V power cable with cigarette plug for EAGLE – 250cm
– n.4 M6x8 screws + n.4 M6x10 screws + n.4 M6x12 screws + n.4 M6x18 screws + n.4 M6x25 screws + n.4 M6x35 screws
– Quick guide
You can learn more here.
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