Trying to sort power for the star party

[anthony]

Hi Guys,

I am trying to decide how I might power things at the star party without having a hook up and would really appreciate some advice - I don't know too much about this electricity stuff. I have had a bit of a think and a read around. So, in this post I am thinking out loud so to speak. If I am missing something, need correcting or someone has a good tip then I am all ears

Hopefully, other forum members will find this answers some of their questions too.

I have a few problems to overcome in that I would like to do some imaging given the luxury of a dark site, but all the extras needed make the situation a bit power hungry. The plan that is forming is to get a leisure battery. Nothing too heavy and so maybe in the region of 12v/85Ah or so. I would connect a cigarette lighter socket thingy to this, maybe one with a few outputs. I already have a couple of little power stations - 2 x 7Ah/12v and 1 x 17Ah/12.

I need to run

SXV H9 camera - 12v and 700mA

Lap top - 15v and 5A

USB2 pmcia card - 5v and 3A

Mount - 18v and 3A

Dew remover - 12v and 7A

This all adds up a bit, doesn't it?

First off I would connect the 85Ah battery to the multiple ciggie plug adapter. For this I'd have to cut the end off and put on a couple of ring or spade crimp terminals

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ITAG=SPEC&ModuleNo=1063&doy=24m4#spec

1) Does anyone know the internal diameter to go for so as to fit the terminlas on a leisure battery?

2) Can I solder these to the wires from the ciggie socket adapter or can I crimp them with a pair of pliers?

Each cable from any battery to device would have an individual fuse.

How do I decide which fuse to go for?

My camera - SXV H9 wants 12V/700mA. Do I make sure it has a 1amp fuse, or is that a little close? Go for 2 Amps?

The laptop wants 15v/5A. Now how does this work? If 12v, I'd expect to get 5 hours of a 5Ah battery. Does the 15V make a difference in how long the battery will supply me for?

What will happen if I attach 2 x 12v devices to a 12v battery? Will it affect how they work?

Well, cheers for sticking with these questions to the end. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

All the best

Anthony

[Kai]

Hi

When you say you laptop has a 5AH battery,that means it will give 5 amps for 1 hour not it will last 5 hours @ 5 amps.

Just quickly adding up your power requirments and the battery you are thinking of getting i recon if its fully charger then you will get about 4 hrs out of it.

Personally i would use the 17amp pack to power the mount / camera (as the mount only pulls alot of power when slewing but when tracking its minimal and the camera takes little)

I would take the battery out of the laptop and power it directly from the leisure battery so you are not recharging the battery as well as powering the mount.

How many dew bands do you use ?? and what system do you have ?

I have the Kendrick system and can adjust the amount of power to each band (again they only pull power when first warming up then the demand drops)

HTH

[anthony]

Hi Kai,

Thanks for the info.

When you say you laptop has a 5AH battery,that means it will give 5 amps for 1 hour not it will last 5 hours @ 5 amps.

Sorry, I wasn't clear there. (not helped by my error error - 1 hour not 5!) I was wondering how the 15v affects the time in which the power station drains. So say, a 12v device at 5A off an 5Ah battery will give 1 hour. (I don't have a 5Ah battery - it is just an easy number!)

What about a device that wants 15 volts. I have a little laptop adapter that will get 15v for the laptop from my 12v supply. I presume that the 15v will drain the battery quicker. Also has relevance to the usb2 card at 5v

I would take the battery out of the laptop and power it directly from the leisure battery so you are not recharging the battery as well as powering the mount.

Good idea.

I have the Kendrick system and can adjust the amount of power to each band (again they only pull power when first warming up then the demand drops)

Kendrick also. I can change the settings - so will depend on the conditions and what scopes I use. 7A was the worst case.

Thank you very much Kai - this is really useful. Might consider a bigger Ah battery - can be a bit on the heavy side though!

Anthony

[Kai]

Before we booked a leccy pitch i had considered a 120a battery as well as 2 power packs

Depending on where i set the scope up i might use 240v or 12v i will wait as see how the campsite is.

I am sure there will be lots of power points availble for recharging though (remember a charger for the battery !)

[anthony]

A 'leccy pitch would be great but I also want to be in the thick of it and it seemed the statics and tents were seperate.

Sorry for another Q but....... How does charging the leisure battery work?

Anthony

[Kai]

If you have a towbar set up for your car and have the charging circuit fitted then you can charge on the move so to speak (like the caravanners do) if not then a normal battery charger will do running from 240v

All the electric pitches (touring pitches) are booked up im afraid , i think there is/was only 5 or so.

I think the statics are away from the camping field,but not to far,If i was bringing the tent then i would be having the same problems as you but i/we are bringing our trailer tent up for its first outing this year.

[Greg]

Anthony,

I have 2 17ah power packs and the big yellow one will run my lappy and HEQ5 Pro for about 5/6 hours..

There will be quite a few recharge points at the Starparty..Aldi or Lidls are a good source for these power packs if they are not doing them then have a look in your local Halfords, they were doing a selection a few weeks ago..

Greg

[daz]

Is it the laptop power adapter INPUT or OUTPUT amperes that we should take into account???

Anyone?

[daz]

Well, I have three power packs, 2x 17Ah and 1 x 20 (I think!).

I think if I spread the load around, I should be OK :?

[SteveL]

I have 2 17ah power packs and the big yellow one will run my lappy and HEQ5 Pro for about 5/6 hours..

What spec is your laptop? Only just got a working laptop running again (my old one went pop, so I havent been able to do any imaging for a while) and am interested in how long I could run it on a 17Ah at the SGL SP

[daz]

I'll check tonight Steve

[Jamie]

I have 2 x 17ah powerpacks and a 90ah 12v deep cycle marine battery so i should be

sorted too...