Power supply?

[MikeP]

Kermit,

I'm surprised that you have it on order from Halfords - I got the following response from them:

Thank you for your recent email.

Unfortunately the item is now obsolete and neither our Internet store or local stores are due to receive any more.

The deputy/store Manager at your local store could do an area search for the item to see if one would be available nearby.

Thank you for taking the time to contact us.

Kind Regards

Halfords Customer Services

I bought one from Maplins (as suggested by Jamie) - delivered in two days. See

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?detail=full&ModuleNo=49038&doy=16m2#more_info

If Halfords let you down, then you could try that one.

Mike

[Greg]

Sorry guys....

Jamie is quite correct....The 17ah packs will run down real quick running a mount and or anything else so get at least two!

I have 3 power packs one for the mount one for the lappy and another which will run the dew heaters when I get them....

Or go and buy youselves a caravan which has a 240-12v output......Suckers 8)

[Kai]

.

Or go and buy youselves a caravan which has a 240-12v output......Suckers 8)

A bit OTT for the garden though i just use a extension lead

[Greg]

Naa Steve..You can make a nice cuppa watch a bit of telly and keep your tinnies cold without waking the wife and sproglets...

[Kermit]

MikeP - perhaps Halfords are out of stock as they've shipped them all to Kendal? - the Halfords here has 4 of the 17AH & a few others of different kinds. The Maplins link does however save me £20 - so good call.

[MikeP]

Kermit,

You could be right. Shelves here are full of Mint Cake - no room for power supplies.

Mike

[Kai]

Just had some Halfords 100/200 power tanks in today with my stock delivery so they are very much not discontinued lol

[MikeP]

Last time I bother with Halfords Customer Services -

By the way Kai, I believe you have quite a beefy transformer. Its beginning to look like I might need one. Where can I get one?

Please don't tell me Halfords - they are from a different universe in West Sussex.

Mike

[Kai]

PSML :)

I dont bother with Halfords Customer Services.

My transformer come from a display that we used in the shop which was redundant so we were told to scrap it , It wanted a new home to go to so i hitched a lift with me.

Its branded Astron and is model no SS-30 ( i dont think its cheap) i can only find prices in the States

Ps if your ever down in east kent give me a ring and i will reserve a power pack for you

[MikeP]

Thanks Kai - if the hyperdrive is invented in my lifetime, I'll warp across and take you up on your offer.

By the way, I can't guess what PSML stands for. I tried Googling and found the following:

http://www.breakwind.co.uk/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?viewmode=flat&topic_id=109&forum=2&type=

I suspect it isn't connected.

Mike

[Kai]

PSML = Pi55ing myself laughing

[Whippy]

I picked up one of those jump start units off of Ebay for £20 and it's got two ciggy lighter sockets. So I thought 'Sweet, one for the mount and one for my laptop for Cartes du Ceil' until I discovered that as my laptop is a bit beefy. I can't use a 12V adapter, I have to use one of those 240v power inverters which I imagine is going to suck the juice in about 20 minutes flat. Please tell me I'm wrong, This could totally [removed word] up the Wales gig for me!

[Kai]

how many watts does the invertor draw ??

[Jamie]

The other way to do it is get your self a deep cycle marine battery.

This will handle your inverter and will power just about anything you need. (depending on your inverter size)

I use an 800w inverter and this lets me power what ever i like for how ever long.....

[Kermit]

I thought I was just effectivly buying a big battery for the motors.

This thread has made me realise they're could be a lot more to it.

At some stage in the future I'd like to get into Astro Photo. As I understand it there seems to be 2 ways to do this -

1. - Attach my 350D, take several long exposure photo's & play around in Photoshop.

2. - Attach webcam (FWOBP) & laptop & take loads of pics & stack.

If I went down route 2 would I need bigger / 2nd power pack - or could I run laptop insode house with connection to webcam outside (dist =/- 3m). I'd assume webcam draws from laptop which could be on mains?

Was intending to order 2morrow - but can feel lastest astronoy based headache starting.

[Whippy]

I'd only need a 150w inverter as the AC adapter for my laptop is rated at 135w. Just reading the instructions on the jump starter tells me that it'll last 27 minutes at a constant draw of 10 amps. Obviously my HEQ5 isn't going to make much of a dent but an inverter would need to draw a fair bit just to ramp it up to 240V. Frankly I'm not too optimistic about it lasting for more than a couple of hours or so. By the way, if anyone's wondering, my laptop only lasts about 30 minutes on the battery!

[Jamie]

Hi Outlash

Don't think in the "now" think in the "future".

"Now" all you need is 150w but later you WILL need more so i would recommend at least 300w

so as to facilitate "future" needs... Trust me...

[Kai]

I thought I was just effectivly buying a big battery for the motors.

This thread has made me realise they're could be a lot more to it.

At some stage in the future I'd like to get into Astro Photo. As I understand it there seems to be 2 ways to do this -

1. - Attach my 350D, take several long exposure photo's & play around in Photoshop.

2. - Attach webcam (FWOBP) & laptop & take loads of pics & stack.

If I went down route 2 would I need bigger / 2nd power pack - or could I run laptop insode house with connection to webcam outside (dist =/- 3m). I'd assume webcam draws from laptop which could be on mains?

Was intending to order 2morrow - but can feel lastest astronoy based headache starting.

If your set up is close to the house (mine is) then why not get a 12v mains transformer to power the lot and forget about a large battery ??

[dogfish]

I wasn't keen on paying the £70 that Halfords were asking for the power supply that had two outlets (figuring I'd be adding a dew heater/laptop later) so I bought this one:

http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=11357

It just looks like a huge car battery. I've also bought a splt trickle charger so I can charge it up whilst driving around. I think I've been smart but I'm not technically minded so may find out I've screwed up somewhere along the way. Opinions?

Cheers, Martin

[Jamie]

Nice one Martin.

That IMHO is the best way to go (deep cycle/leisure battery) (Duracell eat yer heart out)