Santa Barbara Instrument Group ST-5C, Operating Manual, Page: 40 / 42

Appendix B - Maintenance
Page 36
from upright a stream of cold liquid (the propellant) will issue forth rather
than the burst of air.
2. In lieu of canned air, a small, soft, camel hair brush can be used to wipe dust
from the windows.
3. Finally, for hard to remove particles or water spots, use a Q-Tip lightly
dampened in Isopropyl Alcohol to clean the windows.
Note: The key to cleaning optical surfaces is successive cleanings with a fresh Q-tip
each time.
B.4. Replacing the Desiccant
This section describes the replacement procedure for the desiccant used in your camera. The
desiccant absorbs moisture in the CCD chamber, lowering the dew point below the operating
temperature of the cooled CCD, thus preventing the formation of frost. The desiccant is
contained in a small rectangular package inside the CCD chamber. In normal operation the
useful life of the desiccant is over a year. If the CCD chamber is opened often, the desiccant
should be replaced when frosting is noticed.
Follow the instructions in the section above to gain access to the CCD chamber and
desiccant packet. Discard the old packet and replace it with a fresh one. Note that the desiccant
material in the packet can be regenerated by baking it in an oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for
four hours but you'll have to remove the desiccant from the packet first . Otherwise the packet will
melt. In a pinch you could snip the end of the packet off, pour out the desiccant beads, bake
them out, pour them back into the packet and reseal the packet with scotch tape.