home made power box finished

[Epicyclus Dave]

Hullo , I have recently been building a power box for my new EQ6 syntrek , after a lot of studying other designs on the web i decided to go for Absorbant glass mat AGM golf batteries , deep cycle 12V 22Ah about £40 each , one battery for the scope mount and the other battery for my pwm controlled DIY heaters.

I have insulated the batteries with foil back foam mat 2 layers thick underneath & round the sides for frosty Scottish nights .

Electrical side , i have a blade fuse carrier , main on / off switch (20A MK D/P switch module) , also a 15A double pole/ double throw with center off toggle switch for ... heaters on / off / parallel connect the two batteries, 12V 44Ah , (disconnecting the heaters) .

The heaters are home made resistor bands for my 120mm achro refractor , i have the Velleman PWM control pcb in there with a heat amount pot / dial on the front panel .

I horsed together a quick vero-board circuit with 2 battery low indicator LED op-amp circuits , the AGM batteries are happiest with a 50% discharge , i set the trimmers for 12.25 volt LED light up , enough to finish the night , unless frostbite sets in , heh .

LM741 OpAmp Voltage Indicator - Electronics

Oh , and a bit of pallet strap for a handle

here are some pics ....

just need some insulator boots / electrical tape for the battery terminals then good to go , magic .

Dave

[asteria]

Clever stuff - great project. Ed

[mikeyscope]

.....and that's just one of your simple knock together jobs!

Impressive stuff Dave and do understand your design as I can relate to it but your 'other' projects do leave me...well...

Good to see you & Keith last Thursday and fingers crossed for clear skies next meeting on the 19th Jan 7.30pm. George sent me the link on google Earth so I do know the location.

Mike

[perfrej]

Nice!

On a side note... Here in Sweden, when I grew up (60's), we always thought that the electrical installations in British cars was really ****. Positive grounding (albeit good from a corrosion stand-point) made for all sorts of trouble and it was just a mess to deal with. Mostly, those systems were of Lucas origin, which lead to Lucas being dubbed "The inventor of Darkness". I don't know if the term is more widely used, but none the less

Please don't be offended...

All the best,

Per

[Epicyclus Dave]

Clever stuff - great project. Ed

Thanx , i've been getting about 4, 3hr observing & piggyback photo sessions with the box , i've got two 3.8 Amp chargers and they take about 6hrs to charge up , working well so far

[Epicyclus Dave]

.....and that's just one of your simple knock together jobs!

Impressive stuff Dave and do understand your design as I can relate to it but your 'other' projects do leave me...well...

Good to see you & Keith last Thursday and fingers crossed for clear skies next meeting on the 19th Jan 7.30pm. George sent me the link on google Earth so I do know the location.

Mike

Hi Mike , this box did not take quite as long to build as my giant DIY modular synthesizer has , heh .

I've been to the carpark a few times now , plenty space to set up , room for 8 cars , and not long to get home if the pesky clouds pounce (via the pizza/ chip shop in Selkirk, heh, yum ).

Looking forward to the next observing session , the approach side from Gala is a nightmare when icey with those hills , in the recent snow, i went via the golf course onto the Selkirk to St Boswells road, less farm track grade road to travel

See you soon

Dave's Synth........ electro-music.com :: View topic - MFOS Dual VCO's

[Epicyclus Dave]

Nice!

On a side note... Here in Sweden, when I grew up (60's), we always thought that the electrical installations in British cars was really ****. Positive grounding (albeit good from a corrosion stand-point) made for all sorts of trouble and it was just a mess to deal with. Mostly, those systems were of Lucas origin, which lead to Lucas being dubbed "The inventor of Darkness". I don't know if the term is more widely used, but none the less

Please don't be offended...

All the best,

Per

Heh , i like that , i grew up listening to Swedish Deathmetal ( 1988 - 1993) , it sounds like a familiar song title .. inventor of darkness ...

GREAT

Dave