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Skywatcher HEQ5 PRO Synscan Power Supply Query

KJ Dalley

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KJ Dalley

KJ Dalley

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Okay this is going to sound like a pretty dumb question but I cannot find the answer anywhere. How do you supply power to an HEQ5? If ordered from FLO would it come with a power supply or do you have to buy something additional? Can it be off the shelf or does it have to be product specific? Any owners out there care to comment?

Much obliged.

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Stephen

Stephen

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It will come with a standard DC power adaptor (car cig light plug) that you would need to run from a power pack/bench unit or leisure battery.

Modern Astronomy sell an AC power supply if you are able to run an extension from inside the house.

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devilgas

devilgas

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i got sick and tired of running extension cables into the garden for the mains adaptor, so i now only ever use a 12v 30Ah car battery to power the scope. has been mod'd so there are power take offs for 3 cigar lighter plugs & 3 'other' 12v supplies from choccy block connector. single in-line fuse (13A) and also has a battery monitor wired into it (lidl iirc). in between use, it's on permanent charge through another LIDL purchase, an intelligent car / bike battery charger. once charged, it drops to trickle charge, so the battery is always ready to go.

went for a car battery as i had a portable power cube (~7Ah) prior to that. it'd only run for about 2hrs max though, dropping to 30 mins (turns out the battery was naffed) before the one axis would stop responding. never had any problems with the car battery since swapping - most i've done was a 6hr stint and it was still showing good charge.

total cost, (battery = £33, charger = £15) was about £55, but allows complete mains independence.

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Astrosurf

Astrosurf

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I have your mount and have run it in the field on one of these most of the night and it has never run down. Don't let it sit unused or, we've been advised on here, it'll go flat and you won't be able to charge it again (I may be wrong there but someone will comment I'm sure!) I set a reminder on Outlook at work to charge it every few weeks, or after it's been used of course!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Am-Tech-Portable-Compressor-Improved-Battery/dp/B0036N8Y8I

Alexxx

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  • 1 month later...
Joe Kearns

Joe Kearns

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Sorry for disturbing the dust on this thread, but I'm looking for a power supply for my SynTrek alt-az mount, while at the same time considering lashing out for a HEQ5 Syntrek in the near future. I'm interested in the PSU Brown Dwarf linked to above because it looks like great bang for buck. But it gets terrible reviews on Amazon. Is yours really holding up that well?

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Astrosurf

Astrosurf

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Hi Joe. Do you mean my link? My pack is really good, but then, as I said, I only run my mount from it. It's lasted for hours. I've not yet added anything else. That would test it more. A friend has a similar one but with a USB port and extra car lighter socket which he swears by. I don't know what the make is so just have a look around. I should think they'd run down much more quickly with more added. I don't fully understand electricity but I'm sure someone will be along with numbers!

I want to get another for for when my laptop battery runs out, but I'll research it first.

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billw

billw

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A 17 amp hour battery running something that is drawing 2 amps is going to go flat after 8.5 hours, but that is under ideal conditions. From what I understand you don't want to run a battery like this empty as it seriously degrades the life span. It also will not likely hold more than 90% of the stated maximum charge. So lets say 15 amp hours stored, and then halve it so you aren't discharging below 50% (extending the life time of the battery greatly) that would mean your 2 amp draw would last 3 hours 15 minutes. Although from what I understand the HEQ5 draws 2 amps only during fast slew, during tracking it draws 1 amp so you can up this a bit. But you wouldn't want to try and power anything else from this unit (e.g. a lap top which could draw 2-3 amps) at the same time.

If you look at something like this http://www.advancedbatterysupplies.co.uk/abslp60ampleisurebattery.html, you can see straight away it has more than 3 times the charge of the jump starter, i.e. it will definitely last the entire night. Now I am trying to work out how I can use this to power my DSLR and laptop as well, or at least boost their battery charges.

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Astrosurf

Astrosurf

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Astrosurf - pardon me calling you Brown Dwarf. I hadn't got the measure of this forum's post formatting. Thanks again.

No worries. I worked it out after a few false starts! :grin:

As I thought, the power pack would run down quite a bit with other stuff drawing on it. That's why I want another for my Laptop. I'm sure there are other, better set-ups but I'm not technical and find these packs familiar and easy to use. If you're more technical it'd be best to pick these guys brains!

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leelee970

leelee970

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If you're looking to invest in a long term PSU the RS has really decent ones (although price is high).

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/bench-power-supplies/3848158/

I've used mine to power everything in my obsy.

on a second note - be careful of the d.c. plug - mine snapped off the other night leaving half of it still in the mount - GRRRRR

lucky I had long nose pliers to pull it out.

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