Telescope power supply?

[Willock1977]

maybe another daft question but... I recently bought telescope from first light optics, celestron nexstar 127 and the will probably want a power supply for it, they sell 2 kinds, one is a cigarette plug and the other is ring Tongue connectors, not what I was expecting, why can't it just be plugged in to a socket? An what do you do with ring Tongues :-) thanks!!!!

[starnut]

The reason for the cigarette lighter plug is most people use a power pack like this when out doors

You could also use a 12 V “leisure battery” but do not use a car battery as you will ruin it.

[Willock1977]

Thanks very much!

[Bobby1970]

i Bought a 12v 7ah sealed lead acid battery off ebay for about £13 and a charger for about £5. Also got a cable with a tip positive connector on and soldered it to the battery. Total cost was less than £20. The battery lasts for ages on my Synscan Goto mount.

[OliverP]

You might want to try a power cord from the mains e.g.

Revelation 12v Mains Power Supply

Oliver

[LukeSkywatcher]

Ring tongue connection?

I'll have to google that. Never heard of it.

I have a couple of 7AH Celestron battery packs which use the cigarette type plug. They need charging now as i find the slewing speed of my scope is slowing down.

[mallorcasaint]

I use a Maplins 17aH Jump Starter for my mount. Works great. You can use a 12v power supply but then you need mains!

[LukeSkywatcher]

I use a Maplins 17aH Jump Starter for my mount. Works great. You can use a 12v power supply but then you need mains!

My packs are 12V and the only time i need a mains is to charge them.

[Herbig]

I've got the Maplin unit, one thing to be aware of is the charger that comes with it will not charge the unit up fully as it needs 13.8v not 12. I use a car batt charger now.

I've also got a 15A bench power supply I got from an electical supplier TLC for 25 quid.

[Tribal-Wolf]

I have one of THESE though mine was 4.99, and I have one of THESE It holds it's charge forever after turning the the heavyish dob night after night and it is actually a 'proper' jump starter too, heavy though. I also have one of THESE which if someone wants to come and collect it they can gladly have for free.

[mallorcasaint]

My packs are 12V and the only time i need a mains is to charge them.

I was referring to a 12v mains power supply such as this Celestron - SkyWatcher Compatible 12v Mains Power Supply not a pack.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I was referring to a 12v mains power supply such as this Celestron - SkyWatcher Compatible 12v Mains Power Supply not a pack.

My mistake.

[MarsG76]

I use a 900A car jumpstarter with a car plug on the side.. it has never ran out of power while out on the field yet... not even when powered up all night.

 

[SonnyE]

On 3/10/2012 at 06:47, Willock1977 said:

maybe another daft question but... I recently bought telescope from first light optics, celestron nexstar 127 and the will probably want a power supply for it, they sell 2 kinds, one is a cigarette plug and the other is ring Tongue connectors, not what I was expecting, why can't it just be plugged in to a socket? An what do you do with ring Tongues :-) thanks!!!!

I don't know about your side of the pond, but ours has various deep cycle, and AGM types that have threaded posts besides the tapered posts for connections.

And they usually come with nuts or wing nuts supplied so they can be easily connected.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Ring+tongue+connectors&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

I use a Group 24 AGM battery for my mount.

[cletrac1922]

Will

 

Use a 12V car jump start pack

One I have has 2 X 12 Volt cigarette lighter socket, along with USB socket

Get around 8 hours running time with jump pack

Can also get male/female extension lead if want to use socket in your car

My SUV also has a 12Volt socket inside rear tailgate

 

[barkis]

This is a Ring Tongue  They are used to connect cables to Battery terminals. They can be colour coded to
facilitate polarity, Red +ve, and Blue -ve.  They should be Ideally left permanently 
connected to the battery, otherwise, accidental wrong connection may damage the mount.
I'm still not certain whether mounts are polarity protected in order to protect the mount in the event of wrong connection.
A cigarette lighter plug is preferable to most, it eliminates potential mistakes.

 

[noah4x4]

One word of caution about batteries.

New regulations now apply if you want to carry lithium batteries on aircraft.

Anything over 100WH is possibly prohibited (the rules are complicated). For example, I have a 12V x 8ah = 96 WH battery which is only permitted in carry on luggage in certain conditions (and not permitted in the hold). But it is the smallest in its range. The longer lasting often quite expensive monster lithium  batteries so favoured by our community (10ah, 12ah, 16ah etc) might be confiscated.

 

[Galen Gilmore]

Not to barge in on this thread, but I was wondering what I need to power an EQ-5 with single axis drive? 

[barkis]

@Galen GilmoreYou could buy yourself a small capacity Power Tank. It will come with a Charger and a Cigarette Lighter socket,
into which, you connect your RA motor cable, being careful to observe the correct polarity.
You can see examples of these devices on Flo's website.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/batteries-powerpacks.html

 

[Dave In Vermont]

13 hours ago, Galen Gilmore said:

Not to barge in on this thread, but I was wondering what I need to power an EQ-5 with single axis drive? 

Galen:

As you are in the St. Louis area, you might find something like this to fit the bill:

http://agenaastro.com/celestron-powertank-12v-power-supply-18774.html

I have it's big-brother - same thing but a 17aH model - and it's quite simple to operate and re-charge.

Now back to the show.....

There was just a news-story over here in the US about a passenger's laptop-computer catching fire on an airliner. It stated that these cannot be stored in luggage in the hold due to fire-risk - though it said that without being in use, it's not likely the lithium-batteries could do such. But having them in carry-on may well be stopped as well.

I read it caused quite a panic, and the pilot landed the plane right away.

Dave

 

[Cornelius Varley]

37 minutes ago, barkis said:

@Galen GilmoreYou could buy yourself a small capacity Power Tank. It will come with a Charger and a Cigarette Lighter socket,
into which, you connect your RA motor cable, being careful to observe the correct polarity.
You can see examples of these devices on Flo's website.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/batteries-powerpacks.html

 

The basic dual and single axis motors are 6v, using a 12v powertank will be fatal. A 6v motorcycle / scooter battery will be suitable.

[barkis]

1 hour ago, Cornelius Varley said:

The basic dual and single axis motors are 6v, using a 12v powertank will be fatal. A 6v motorcycle / scooter battery will be suitable.

So the Retro Fit Motors are 6volt? 
I shouldn't have just assumed, I though they were as the EQ6 Mounts.
Good job you intervened, I could have been responsible for a disaster .

[Dave In Vermont]

Me thinks this warning should be put on a list of things it SHOULDN'T be used for. And this posted on any site selling same.

Glad I haven't blown-up any of my (expensive) toys!

Thanks!

Dave

[Cornelius Varley]

53 minutes ago, barkis said:

So the Retro Fit Motors are 6volt? 
I shouldn't have just assumed, I though they were as the EQ6 Mounts.
Good job you intervened, I could have been responsible for a disaster .

Yes. The basic non goto single and dual axis motors for the EQ5 and EQ3 are 6v.

[Galen Gilmore]

Thanks a lot guys. I was thinking 12v seemed a bit much for a simple motor drive! 

Thats also a lot better for my comparatively empty pockets!