skywatcher dual axis eq5 motors

[sparkyjon]

I've not purchased yet but will be in the very near future , i see it advertised everywhere and all i see is battery powered ,

does any one know what batteries it takes and what voltage supply it takes, as i have a 12v powerpack , if it's not 12v can it be run on one of these selectable voltage cigarette lighter power supplies has anyone else done this..

thanks

jon

[nephilim]

The motor pack runs from 4 D cell batteries if my memory is right, not sure if u can run it from a powerpack though.

Steve

[sparkyjon]

ok 4 d's should be 6v , i'm sure if i have a voltage selector cable which changes 12v-6v it should work..

like this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/230513564107?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

i'll have to check it out when i get it and let you all know. i can'tsee an issue with it though.

[JamesF]

My EQ3-2 system runs from a 6V battery back. I'm pretty certain that the EQ5 version is the same. I power mine from a 6V "wall wart" transformer rather than using batteries. The hand controllers won't tolerate over-voltage supplies, so you need to be careful with your choice if you're doing it that way. They won't work reliably if they can't draw enough current either, but at least in that situation they won't die, just fail to work properly.

James

[Bizibilder]

The EQ5 dual axis motors are 6v. I bought a 6v rechargable battery (lead acid type http://www.amazon.co...07&sr=1-1-fkmr0) and a charger http://www.amazon.co...ref=pd_sim_ce_1 for it for under £20. This will power the mount for a good three or four hours tracking and is considerably cheaper than having to constantly replace 4 "D" cells at around £5 a time! I bought the plugs/sockets and wire needed from: http://www.bitsbox.co.uk/index.html (Usal disclaimer).

The trouble with those selectable voltage supplies is that if you select the wrong voltage you will fry the motor controller instantly!

[Mike73]

ok 4 d's should be 6v , i'm sure if i have a voltage selector cable which changes 12v-6v it should work..

like this:

http://www.ebay.co.u...984.m1438.l2649

I use something very similar and yep it works great!

Just set it to 6v plug it into your jump starter and your away, I havent had any problems and having the jump starter there also means that the other cigarette adapter can be used to run a dew heater tape.

[sparkyjon]

Cool mike that's what i wanted to hear. I can always glue the selector to 6v to stop any mishaps.

And i like the thought of having it there for phibe charging or dew straps.

[WaveSoarer]

Has anyone had any experience in using rechargeable batteries? I was thinking of:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Duracell-Rechargeable-HR20-2200-Batteries/dp/B0002FQWQY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358078493&sr=8-1

Dave

[JamesF]

Rechargeable batteries don't give out quite enough voltage in my experience, and seem to disagree more with cold weather than non-rechargeables. I've not tried the larger sizes, but for things that need AAA or AA batteries I've started using Procells. As I understand it they're basically Duracell's "trade" brand of their standard battery, but nowhere near as expensive. I bought 100 AAs and 100 AAAs from ebay recently for £40.

James

[sparkyjon]

Yeah James is right recharge are lower in some sizes.

1.5v usually comes as 1.2v.

Procell Is duracell and they are pretty good but i bought my 12v power pack for 25 squid its 17ah battery one of those 12v converters is about a fiver. Although i think might purchase a better quality one I've found for £10 so for £30 you can have years of power and a secondry port for other 12v systems.

[WaveSoarer]

Thanks for this.

[WaveSoarer]

Actually, I've just tried the rechargeable batteries (Energizers) and they appear to work fine and the motors seem appear to drive happily etc. It'll be interesting to see how they perform during a session, rather than in the house, but I expect that they'll be fine. The rating is 1.2 V but if you look at how drycells (non-rechargable batteries) perform then they drop voltage fairly rapidly (if they ever do achieve 1.5 V with any decent curret drain on them) to 1.2 V, or below, fairly quickly. My set of drycells were running low the other evening but the scope was still tracking reasonably well up to the point when the handset started complaining.