Celestron Power Tank 17 Not Charging Any Ideas Why ? *Sorted* :-)

[MikeP]

Thanks chaps.

Just finishing off a new storage shed - don't want to run power to it but do want to have some lighting and an alarm. It occurred to me that if I bought a leisure battery it would be OK for the shed and could double up as a power source for remote observing (obviously the alarm would need an alternative source of power at those times).

Mike

[Greg]

Mike..

What you could do is just buy a 110ah caravan battery or Marine battery and run everything from that and just keep it regularly topped up..

Basically it's huge car battery!

Greg

[MikeP]

Woud it run a laptop too?

Mike

[Greg]

Woud it run a laptop too?

Through an inverter Mike, yes it would..

Mike,

If I have room, i'll pack my small leisure battery 70ah and inverter for Kelling..Have a play and see what you you think.

Greg

[MikeP]

Greg,

PM sent to avoid any further hijacking of this thread.

Mike

[Timelord]

Well my efforts payed off after reading this thread and purchasing the Optimate 3, I've saved my powertanks battery and it does not trip out anymore. I've also been rather clever with installing a push button switch to cut off the large crocodile jump leads from the power tanks main circuitry. The reason for this is so I don't have to take the unit apart again to charge the battery direct from the Optimate in the future.

All I do now is turn this switch off, connect the large crocodile clips to the Optimate charger and hey presto the battery can be maintained and charged when not in use. The result is that I will always be ready for that clear night with my scope safe in the knowledge that my power tank will be in top condition and the batery fully maintained.

[Doc]

Well done TL.

My mate done that as well.

[Timelord]

Well done TL.

My mate done that as well.

Thanks Doc now all I need is the British weather to sort it's life out and clear up those skies..

[Doc]

Well if you can bring clear skies at a press of a button you will be the next Bill Gates

[Timelord]

If only I could Doc LOL!! I have a crazy theory that it was the Chinese Olympics with their cloud seeding causing all our nasty weather

[splowe]

Hi

Whilst opening up the power tank to get at the battery to re-charge in extrnally in the hope of bringing it back to life one of the speaker wires became detached from the pcb - please does anyone have a photo of the pcb so I can re-solder it.

Regards and clear skies

Steve Lowe

Shrewsbury,

England.

[marineBLU28]

Hi

I have a couple of questions with regards to the portable batteries we use for our telescopes, I'm not very knowledgeable about these so please forgive me.

I have two the skywatcher tank and a halfords one I bought a few months ago as a backup but from reading all the posts about them Im a bit confused :-)

The Halfords one I did the full charge on when I got it and it has just been siting in the kitchen cupboard I haven't used it yet the skywatcher however has been outside in my SkyShed for the last few months my questions are.

Have I ruined the Skywatcher one I like many others didn't realise you are supposed to charge them every time after you've used it for a session I thought if the green light said fully charged then it was fine, also how long do you charge them for after a viewing session?

With regards to the Halfords one in the Kitchen cupboard will that be ok as I,ve never used it or do I need to charge that one as well before use.

Should I invest in one of the more expensive chargers to charge these batteries as opposed to the charger plug they supply with them if so which one would you recommend sorry for all the questions but I'm a bit confused about it all!

Cheers

[marineBLU28]

Oops sorry I meant to post this as a separate thread I didn't meant to hijack you're thread! I'm obviously rubbish at posting as well

[rawhead]

The thread is also nearly three years old!

I don't think anyone will take offence .....