With little clear sky the last few nights my thoughts turned to portable power. Although I have been using 12v in the observatory it was a fixed option but now I have decided to use my CG-5GT as a Grab n Go it will need power.

I bought a power pack off eBay and modified it by taking the compresser attachment off the back, this allowed it to fit perfectly into a flight case. I had a load of electrical pieces from my sailing days so these have been installed and tested okay.

Last night I done a test run, with the mount sitting beside the laptop I put it on Polaris in Stellarium and left it running all night. This morning, switching all off I checked the battery and found it had run down to 50%, next job was to recharge the battery.

A solar panel is attached and so far all has gone well, half of what was used is already back, hopefully this will be used for the DSLR as well.

Just took the Canon power lead and cut the cig plug off, put a marine plug on and held my breath whilst I threw the power switches, the camera lit up in all the right places and no smoke, success :), a little more for the battery but don't seem a problem.