arad85

Aye.. that's it

Amazing, given I bought mine from them in 2009 and they were in stock for a good 6 months+ after that....

TH are the revelation importers and only available through them as far as I know. Perhaps give them a ring and see when they may be having more in stock...

Nice job....

It doesn't really as most equipment comes with 12V car sockets attached - you'd have to get a soldering iron out. Just that you could use these (amperages allowing).

First thing then : make sure you're confident of what you're doing. If you connect the thing up the wrong way around, or short the battery in any way, you have a lump of lead capable of discharging several hundred amps in a very short period of time. Broken kit and possibly damage to yourself may happen. Warning over.Actually, wiring these things up is incredibly easy. All the connections in my box were crimp connectors (no soldering needed) and the only hard parts were deciding which connectors were needed for the battery. My completed box is shown here: http://stargazerslounge.com/diy-astronomer/95646-105ah-powertank.html I ended up buying: 6 marine 12V sockets for mounting on the lid about 6m of twin core 1.25mm2 DC power cable (15A capable) a load of female spade crimp connectors of the right cable diameter (I used 4 per 12V socket and they have red insulation - the insulation colour determines the cable thickness they will use) some crimp washer style terminals (to connect to the battery - you need 2 of the appropriate size per socket - I think mine were 8mm but it is better to buy ) 6 way auto fuse box 6 blade type 10A fuses (for above fuse box). Plan exactly how the box works. You have a 25kg lump of battery and the box needs to be: Sturdy enough to carry it about (this is particularly important for the handle). I used 9mm thick ply with a sandwiched base of 2 x 9mm ply so I could put some foam insulation in to protect the bottom of the battery from the cold ground. Small enough to be compact but still able to fit the battery Big enough to fit the lid on with the connectors and wiring in place and when it is in place you have to make sure the wires don't foul the battery Easy maintenance. You need to be able to charge the battery (I was eventually going to do it through one of the 12V connectors) AND you need to be able to get to the battery just in case you need to replace it. In my case, the 25mm dowelling handle can be pulled out completely so the battery could be removed. Also, note the finger hole in the top of my box to enable you to lift the lid easily when fitted. It also acts as an escape hole should any fumes escape. Drilling large holes in ply (for handle and 12v mounting points) can be awkward. It might be good to have a decent workbench to work on for this I would order the components you are going to use for the electrics BEFORE building the box so you can see their dimensions. Start off by building your box and lid (all holes drilled) and varnish the lid with 2-3 coats of yacht varnish. I did at least 3 coats on the outside of my box, paying extra attention to the joins where the end grain is showing. Once dry, you then need to mount the 12V sockets, and fusebox on the lid. Wiring is now pretty easy, although you do need to plan the cable runs. Assuming you get twin DC cable (one sheathed red, the other sheathed black), start off by carefully splitting it with a knife into a red coil and a black coil. Use the red for all things positive, the black for all things negative. The wiring is now very simple. The centre point of the 12V socket needs to be wired to one side of the fusebox and the other side of the fusebox to the + connector of the battery. The side contact of the 12V socket needs to be wired to the - connector of the battery. Crimping is easy with a crimp tool (about £5 from a DIY store) and they normally include a wire stripper between the handles to allow you to strip the wire back. If you've never crimped, or not seen it done, take a look here: How to use an Electrical Crimping Tool | eHow.com and probably on youtube. Then you just methodically connect up centre 12V socket to one side of fuse, other side of fuse to + battery. Side contact to - battery. As I said in the other post, I bought from towzatronics off e-bay. They had everything apart from the fuse box (again, search for auto fuse box and you can't go wrong). Cost was about £40-£45 all in (I bought some cable ties etc to help keep the cable tidy). I've subscribed to this thread, so if anyone wants any more help, I should get notified.

Umm... Maybe tomorrow peeps... Still have this on my list of things to do...

You don't need an invertor for the macbook, just google "macbook car adapter" and you'll find a cigarette lighter version for £20-£30. I'll reply later about parts (gotta have tea now...)

LOL... I'll see if I get it working first!

Oooh.. not seen that before... Will have a look. Thanks.

Thanks. Umm.. when I say once, I mean infrequently...

Hi all, I have 60 images, taken on a tripod, which show the usual orange glow. I want to stream them into a movie (I know how to do that) but I'd like to get rid of the background glow which I can do quite easily with pixinsight le on a single frame. I can't find any way of automating it though. I guess gradxterminator would do the trick in some Photoshop action, but I'm too stingy to pay $50 for something I may only use once. I have PS5 and the usual freebie astro software. Anyone with any bright ideas how I might automate the process? TIA

Thank you sir... Just happened to see it on the way home in the car. If I'd have been 2 minutes earlier, the sky was sooo much redder..

I'm getting more and more into wide shots (hey, no 'scopes so...) The fist one is from 11/9 - with Venus in tow - or is it the moon in tow with Venus. Taken with a 450D, 24-105 @ 105 f4 L and the second one from 21/9 showing a completely different view taken with a 450D 70-200 @ 200 F4 L

Crikey... that's put the cat amongst the pigeons. Any news on performance? Andy (who just sold all EQ/imaging related things )