Power for my Synscan Dob

[Ainsley]

Ive just put my 12" Dob together last night and realised the power supply is for 12v. It comes with a 12v to car adaptor.

(Its a Skywatcher 12" GoTo)

Since Im going to be using it from home Id like to just use a normal mains to 12v adaptor.

• Can anyone recommend one ?
  
• What current will it need ?
  
• I imagine a normal charger would be no use as the scope probably needs a bit of power to work.
  

Thanks.

[Tribal-Wolf]

I bought this one and it works fine but you will need a 'kettle' lead for it, there are others come with a lead but I didn't need one.

[Ainsley]

That looks like it will do the job - so it does need 5 amps / 60 watts then. That would probably flatten my car battery unless I left the car running.

[Tribal-Wolf]

Yes, car batteries are not designed for a constant drain, you would need something like a mobility scooter battery or leisure battery.

[Ainsley]

FLO suggested this: 13.8V Regulated Mains Power Units : Bench Power Supplies : Maplin Electronics

As its one they use.

[Tribal-Wolf]

They are quite good but I couldn't justify paying that when I could get one for a fiver that worked fine lol. You will need a lead for that too and I think they also buzz a bit, which would do my head in, I remember having one similar as a kid to power a cb radio in the house.

[SionR25]

Would that also work for a supatrak mount as I'm thinking the double a battery pack won't last too long :-)?

Sion

[tjr]

I picked up an adjustable voltage adapter from Maplins for my goto mount. Just a simple 3-pin plug with a slider on it to adjust the output. It was around the £10 mark from memory and works just fine.

[Ainsley]

The cable from the transformer to the scope is one FLO suggested, its really long. So I reckon the transformer will stay in my garage and I wont hear it buzz. I wanted one that was a bit more industrial and gave out at least 3Amps and was fuzed properly. Some of the cheaper ones are not and I dont want to blow the motor on my scope. Your right, it is a few quid, but my Scope was almost 2k, so I dont mind a bit of expense. I also reckon it would flatten a battery pretty fast.

[Cornelius Varley]

I picked up an adjustable voltage adapter from Maplins for my goto mount. Just a simple 3-pin plug with a slider on it to adjust the output. It was around the £10 mark from memory and works just fine.

Hopefully it is has a regulated output, non regulated PSUs can cause problems.

Peter

[Tribal-Wolf]

I always use a surge protector these days after having a pc fry a while ago. Most of these PSUs are designed to power expensive equipment like laptops etc and are internally regulated, if they fail the power is cut to the device by default. Had a few apart to repair them.

I use a £120 battery booster pack for my scope because it's better for my needs, I got the PSU but ended up too lazy to open the garage to plug it in.

I think you are right to buy what you have faith in though.

[Helen]

I'm using a leisure battery in a box for my Goto dob as it means I can run dewheaters for the secondary mirror, eyepiece and finder too, and also means just one cable between battery and scope rather thn having a trailing cable in the dark from a power supply (I've done that and tripped over it!!)

Helen