Power station, blinking EQ6 led

[philming]

Hi all !

So I built myself a power station with an 88Ah slow discharge battery, bought at amazon.

http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASI...im/webastro-21

It's all packed in a toolbox with 5 12V outlets, a main on/off switch and a digital voltmeter.

This is what's plugged in :

• an EQ6 Goto

• 2 kendrick dew heaters (one for an ST80, another for my secondary mirror on my GSO RC8

• A 450D external power module

• a Lacerta Mgen

When the battery is fully loaded (with a Ctek XS3600) I get 12,9 et 13v reading on my digital voltmeter.

This value is confirmed with a multimeter.

I get the same value when measured on the EQ6 side of the EQ6 power cable when it's plugged into the 12V outlet.

On my first test, everything was OK to start with. I did a couple gotos, did my alignment, and shot for a couple of hours.

Time going by, I see the V value of my voltmeter decreasing slowly, I tell myself this is probably normal.

So When I finaly decide to call it a day and before switching everything off, I try a few extra gotos. And there, the EQ6's led starts to blink.

I check the battery, the status thingy still tells me it's green, so almost fully charged.

So I dont understand what's wrong. I thought such a battery would give a rather stable tension till it was allmost out.

Where's the problem coming from ?

Some here say using a 12> 15v module helped clear their problem. I it a good idea ?

Thanx for your help !

[celkins]

Hi all !

So I built myself a power station with an 88Ah slow discharge battery, bought at amazon.

http://www.amazon.fr....im/webastro-21

It's all packed in a toolbox with 5 12V outlets, a main on/off switch and a digital voltmeter.

This is what's plugged in :

• an EQ6 Goto

• 2 kendrick dew heaters (one for an ST80, another for my secondary mirror on my GSO RC8

• A 450D external power module

• a Lacerta Mgen

When the battery is fully loaded (with a Ctek XS3600) I get 12,9 et 13v reading on my digital voltmeter.

This value is confirmed with a multimeter.

I get the same value when measured on the EQ6 side of the EQ6 power cable when it's plugged into the 12V outlet.

On my first test, everything was OK to start with. I did a couple gotos, did my alignment, and shot for a couple of hours.

Time going by, I see the V value of my voltmeter decreasing slowly, I tell myself this is probably normal.

So When I finaly decide to call it a day and before switching everything off, I try a few extra gotos. And there, the EQ6's led starts to blink.

I check the battery, the status thingy still tells me it's green, so almost fully charged.

So I dont understand what's wrong. I thought such a battery would give a rather stable tension till it was allmost out.

Where's the problem coming from ?

Some here say using a 12> 15v module helped clear their problem. I it a good idea ?

Thanx for your help !

You don't say what your voltmeter was reporting when you tried these final slews...

As you assume, yes, it will drop gradually during use, but some mounts appear to be quite sensitive to the lower-end f the voltage range: your battery *will* still be capable of supplying a very high current at this point, but it appears that the terminal PD (voltage) has fallen toward the mount's lower threshold.

Given that you likely have capacity to spare (need that voltage reading...), you may well find that a voltage converter module helps, but it shouldn't really be required for this - a fully charged lead-acid battery typically has a 13.5-13.8V terminal PD; you've already run it down a fair way when this drops to 12V.

[philming]

When fully charger, I get a 12.9 - 13v reading. The battery is new. This is the value I've measured on most new batteries nowadays....

[dph1nm]

What does the mount handset claim the voltage is? There is a setting under utilities somewhere to show the voltage.

NigelM

[philming]

Hi, and sorry for the late answer.

I realized that with the cable I had, the one that came with the mount, I was losing 0.2v between the battery read and the HC's.

So I made myself a new cable, not with a standard 12v car plug but with a Neutrik Speakon jack.

The new cable itself + the speakon gave me my 0.2v back.