electronics help needed , etx 70 - powerpack

[garethmob]

ok guys after moving all my junk around yesterday i found the cable i bought off astroboot for the meade - powerpack

unfortunatly in my stupidly i spent most of last night plugging it into the charger port of the powerpack

i even went out to buy a universal power plug for different ends untill i releised what i was doing

i have a number of cigeratte plugs so i was thinking of rewireing the cable to fit onto that but im not sure.

i'll post the pics below of what i mean

please help i really want to get this scope working now as it is a slightly better planet scope than the megrez or coulter

thanks guys

gaz

[garethmob]

Here's the cable and plug

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[garethmob]

ok i spent a few days ago wireing up the cable to the cig adapter, and either i wired it up wrong or theres somthing wrong as the fuse blue in the adapter

i unfortunatly dont have any electronic testing (nore can i really afford to buy) but i assume form my bad background knowlage on the cable it was black one side and black with a white stripe the other, so i assumed the white stripe was possitive, and wired it to the positive part of the adapter (the spring) with the negitive going to the outer catches, my bad soldering might be the case but im not sure, did i do somthing wrong? is there a better alternative premade for me?

[Capricorn]

Not sure but are you thinking of running the ETX from a car?

If so then the ETX will take 9v but does not like 12v.

I bought a adaptor some years ago and the voltages indicated were wrong, when it was on 9v the ETX said Overvoltage on the handset, and would not work.

I checked and the voltage supplied was close to 12v, I switched it down to 7.5v indicated and it was fine, supplying a little more then 9v.

I would say purchase one of the set I did but they include a mains-12v transformer unit and this is a large part of the cost.

[dtr42]

think the etx are 12 volt [8 batteries at 1.5volt =12volt] so would imagine the 12 volt is correct

[Capricorn]

The 105 is 12v, the 70 is 9v.

Have 2 70's and a 105. One of each in the living room at the moment.

The 70 has a 6 AA battery holder.

The annoying thing is the 105 has a nice circular power connector, 2mm I think, the 70 only has the old PP3 connector which is a pain.

I converted one ETX 70 to a circular connector one day as I could buy a variable mains adaptor, Maplns, with an assortment of different diameter ends but the PP3 adaptor isn't supplied.

[garethmob]

im hoping to run it from a 12v power pack (jump starter)

i bought a cable from ab and it had a pp3 to plug, but annoyingly i didnt have anything to plug into, id love to have a pp3 to cigar lighter plug,

any ideas how i will use the 70 with a 9V powersupply?

[Capricorn]

Looked for what I have which is exactly what you want.

Car plug, selectable output voltage and a spider of 4 circular plugs and a pp3 socket. Did actually find one bit that I need for about £1.99.

Mine came originally I think from Broadhurst Clarkson and Fuller via Green-Witch.

BCH seem to be part of Meade now and they don't make these accessory type bits any more.

I can find plenty of car adapters to the circular plugs but none have the pp3 fittings. Found this when I looked to run an ETX 70 from a mains adapter, none had the pp3 fitting.

I ended up swapping the pp3 bit on the ETX to a circular socket. Would not advise it as the cable is thin and it takes some patience to do it. If I tried it again I suspect that dismantling the scope from the base would be better and then replace the red/black leads for something heavier. But that is getting a bit much.

You can search for: "dc/dc car adapters"

Several on ebay and a few on Amazon, but none appear to have the pp3 attachment.

You could buy a socket from Maplin, a pp3 and wire the 2 bacl to back. Just check the polarity as 2 pp3 connectors plugged together swap the polarity round.

[garethmob]

i have a feeling im gonna inlist my friend who is an electronics expert see if he can make me somthing

thanks for the help i'll write everything down and see if i can maplin the pars i'll keep you posted!