Hardware & parts list

Every part in (or headed into) the reference sky-camera rig this software is developed against. Prices checked 2026-09-15 on Amazon.com / Harbor Freight, before tax and shipping — prices move, re-check before ordering.

#	Part	Role in the build	Source	Price
1	Raspberry Pi 5 kit, 4GB (board + case + Active Cooler)	Compute — runs Skylapse (capture daemon, API, watchdog)	RasTech / Amazon B0FNBYQWX3	$158.99
2	Arducam HQ Camera, 12.3MP IMX477 (no-lens variant)	Camera sensor — Skylapse’s Pi/CSI driver	Arducam / Amazon B0D3WYQF2Q	$51.99
3	2.5mm F1.2 1/2.5″ CS-mount lens	Wide-angle sky lens for the HQ camera	Amazon B0C46GP6HV	$12.49
4	Dew heater — Skylapse 12V heater ring coming soon	Heater around the dome — software-controlled via the MOSFET module below. Any resistive element works today	Dew heater	~$20 (est.)
5	Weatherproof enclosure	Housing for Pi, camera, PSU and electronics	TBD	$20–$50
6	Mean Well LRS-50-12 (12V 4.2A)	12V main power supply	Amazon B019GYODX0	$17.99
7	Waterproof 12V→5V 5A buck converter, USB-C output (2-pack)	Clean 5V for the Pi from the 12V rail	Amazon B0FD735LFG	$15.99
8	ANMBEST dual-MOSFET trigger/PWM switch module, 5–36V 15A (5-pack)	Switches the dew heater from a Pi GPIO — straight-through screw-terminal wiring	Amazon B07NWD8W26	$7.99
9	BME280 3.3V sensor module (2-pack)	Temperature / humidity / pressure — drives the automatic dew heater	Amazon B0DSVNCVVV	$12.99
10	25 ft 14/3 indoor/outdoor extension cord	AC power run to the camera	Harbor Freight item 62920	$14.99

Total: ~$333–$363 depending on enclosure choice. Multi-packs (buck, MOSFET, BME280) include spares.

Skip the kit markup

The Pi 5 kit (#1) is priced well above the board plus the official Active Cooler bought separately from PiShop, Adafruit or CanaKit. The bundled ABS case is not used inside a weatherproof enclosure anyway. Price-check before buying.

Why this power architecture

The 12V-rail design — one 12V supply, a buck converter for the Pi, 12V direct for the heater — is not arbitrary. Running a 5V heater and a Pi 5 from one 5V supply was measured on the reference rig causing repeated undervoltage and hard PMIC latch-offs: the camera dies with a red LED and stays dead until physically unplugged. Splitting the loads ends that. The Heater tab carries the same warning.

The Pi 5’s undervoltage threshold is 4.75V; whatever feeds it wants headroom above 5.0V and short, thick wiring.

AC (extension cord)
  │
  ▼
Mean Well LRS-50-12 ── 12V ─┬─► MOSFET module ─► heater ring
                            │        ▲
                            │        └─ Pi GPIO (Skylapse)
                            │
                            └─► 12V→5V buck ─► USB-C ─► Pi 5
                                                          │ CSI
                                                          ▼
                                                    HQ Camera + lens

Notes per part

• Pi 5 kit (#1) — see the tip above; you are paying for the case.
• Lens (#3) — fixed-focus CCTV lens; focus is set once against a live view (focus assist on the dashboard) and locked. For a true 180° view see the fisheye discussion on Cameras & lenses.
• Heater ring (#4) — a Skylapse-made 12V ring is coming; until then wire any resistive element as shown on the Dew heater page.
• MOSFET module (#8) — signal ground is common with power ground on the board; with the single-12V architecture that is automatically satisfied.
• BME280 (#9) — must be a BME280, not a BMP280. The BMP cannot measure humidity, and humidity is the whole input to a dewpoint. Skylapse rejects BMP280s by chip id rather than compute nonsense.
• The dew heater also runs without any sensor at all — manual on/off switch on the Heater tab (v0.5.27+).

Optional extras

• DS3231 RTC module (~$5) — a Pi has no battery-backed clock. Without one, it boots with a stale time until it reaches the network, which matters for a camera that may spend a night on its own access point.
• External USB SSD — recommended if you shoot every-frame RAW. See Storage & RAW.