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Has anyone used this power pack.. from Maplin.

mrjonathanbrown

By mrjonathanbrown
in Discussions - Mounts

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cgarry

cgarry

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The mount movement is very slow, we are talking about the same speed that the hour hand of a clock moves.  Even a fast slew is only 8x faster that that, you are basically not going to notice the movement.

Cheers,

Chris

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mrjonathanbrown

mrjonathanbrown

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@cgarry really mate? I've saw some youtube video's exact mount I'm sure (I'l double check now) and you could easily see the mount move flawlessly slewing up/down etc. and was just like my old "Skywatcher Virtuso 114P" I can't see the mount move at all. Thanks for all the help btw really appreciate it. 

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Photosbykev

Photosbykev

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if you put your fingers across the joint of the rotate it's possible to detect the sidereal rate movement but at max slew rate the head movement should be easy to see.

But on topic imho all of these maplin style car starter boxes with air compressor/light etc are at best poorly put together and at worst totally useless. They have a 'charger' which is is little more than a regulated power supply that trickle charges the battery so it takes forever to charge, ignore the charged light as those are ridiculously optimistic. Inside is a basic 17Ahr? battery which has zero chance of starting a car (if you get that option) so you are buying a lot of nasty plastic which isn't needed just so you can conveniently plug it into the wall to charge it. From the reviews it looks like the invertor is not protected from overload and just burns out.

Again imho just buy a reasonable size leisure deep cycle battery and a basic charger and it will last 5-10 years with a bit of TLC

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cgarry

cgarry

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Not directly. You need a regulated power supply.

To increase the slew rate with the Syntrek handset press button 3 on the top of the handset, this will increase the slew rate to maximum.

Which is still only 8x faster than the tracking rate...

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mrjonathanbrown

mrjonathanbrown

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 @Cornelius Varley okay, Yeah i have tried that still nothing even locked the clock disk to measure it's movements and well time really stood still.. it might have moved about a cm I couldn't even notice with my eyes. I'm now just presuming its the battery pack and i should get shot of it. seems it now powerful enough... Im really clueless on batteries. I'l pick up a leisure battery from halfords its double what I want to spend but it has to be I suppose. can anyone recommend what connections I buy for a leisure battery so it connect to the scope from the battery? Thanks again guys for keeping me informed. 

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Cornelius Varley

Cornelius Varley

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The psu is connected to the mains. 800x sidereal means 800 times faster than the earth's rotation (you will definitely see the mount move on that setting).

Are the clutches locked on the mount ? Is there any noticeable increase is the speed of the motors when the directional keys are pressed ?

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brantuk

brantuk

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To check if it's moving at sidereal rate - put a bit of black insulating tape across the join where the axis meets mount body holding it in place. Slice the tape with a hobby knife through the join. Switch on and go make a cup of tea - come back 15-20mins later and if the tape on both sides is separated along the axis join then it's working fine. :)

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Davey-T

Davey-T

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I bought a similar one from Maplin, finally got one to work after taking the first two back but the battery is not up to much, I think the 17ah was a bit optimistic, ended up binning all the innards and fitting a Li-ion battery in it, now runs heaps of stuff all night.

Have you tried jump starting with it to check the battery or try a local garage they'll have a battery tester, mind you the guy at Maplin said they weren't really suitable for jump starting, lol

Dave

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