Power tank, no clue, need help please.

[Flash2Bang]

Apparently after a while of rejecting the idea of a portable power tank, now I can see its value since I have decided to go imaging away from my back garden.

OK, the Skywatcher small tank seems like a common choice. How long will it last if connected to the mount, laptop, focuser and perhaps an air con...nah, not the last one, 3 pieces only?

I dont like all these accessories like torch and radio. I'd be more intetested in a plain power tank. Just a box that runs my gear, if I can find one. Thoughts?

Good Question and some really useful responses, I'm in the same dilemma and got all my answers. Many Thanks.

Andy

[faulksy]

heres some pics of my power tank

the first pic is it doubles up as storage space, the sec pic is all the cells, and the last pic is the front with temperature display on the top and volts on the bottom. 10 cells in total 8a/h each, obviously 80 amp/hour.total weight including my bits 52lbs

[MikeMc]

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I keep looking at getting a power tank, but I really can't convince myself it'll be of any use for me. Then again, I'm a backyard observer and chances of being away from home on astro missions are slim since I don't drive. But I can see that the tank reduces clutter in wiring...

Hi emadmoussa, what do you currently use to power from your house mains?

[emadmoussa]

Hi emadmoussa, what do you currently use to power from your house mains?

Yes, that's what I do.

[MikeMc]

Sorry, what I meant was 'how do you power your scope from your house mains', what do you use to drop the voltage and provide any protection from surges etc?

[emadmoussa]

I might've missed what's been said above..

Just wondering what the Skywatcher 17Ah power tank can run simultaneously and for how long?

[Carbon Brush]

+1 for your own chosen leisure battery.

In ANY powertank type of product you are buying a chinese battery, built down to the last penny. And you don't know the maker. Unless of course you pull it to pieces to replace by a reputable battery from Sonnenshein, Yuasa, etc. Just talk to anyone who uses a lot of lead acid batteries. For example commercial alarm install/repair people. They all have their favourite and 'barge pole' brands.

If a 75Ah leisure battery degrades to only 20% of it's capacity, it is still just about as good as a new 17Ah battery.

[Davey-T]

I use a Maplin one but find it doesn't last all night with three dew heaters running.

Dave

[Scott]

i Think if you want to image in the field running mount, laptop, dew heaters for say... six hrs using 17Ah packs then I'd be looking at taking 3 of them.

I drained mine using neq6, lappy running bye,cdc in just under 3 hrs. get 100Ah or you'll regret it I do

[emadmoussa]

i Think if you want to image in the field running mount, laptop, dew heaters for say... six hrs using 17Ah packs then I'd be looking at taking 3 of them.

I drained mine using neq6, lappy running bye,cdc in just under 3 hrs. get 100Ah or you'll regret it I do

Where do you get such a thing? Or, you build it yourself?

[Scott]

I haven't as yet. As I said I'm still in the regretting stage. However from what I can gather you need to get a leisure battery (the type used in caravans). You will also need a good charger. I'm sure there are threads in the diy section. It's not as cheap as a maplins pack but you are running £££`s worth of equipment worth it. Nothings cheap in astro hey .

[emadmoussa]

Mmm...I guess if other members built their own batteries, I can build mine. Any step-by-step guide out there...including what I need to buy to put together??

[jonathan]

Halfords or just about any motorist shop should be able to sell you a leisure battery of a small, medium, or large size (we are talking flipping huge! Wouldn't want to carry a large one very far, like a few feet). Pop said battery in a plastic tool chest with wheels like the ones B&Q sell (there are two that spring to mind - one is a large low one, another is smaller with a storage box on top), Bob's your uncle - easy to transport, protected from the cold (a bit) and probably has a beefy handle too for lifting over steps or into the boot of a car. From the same motorist shop you can buy a battery clip that has a cigarette lighter socket on the end, usually incorporating a fuse to prevent any nasty melt-downs; add a multi-socket adaptor to this if required. I now have a dew heater controller that has additional power ports that I can use to drive my NEQ6, so only actually need one socket to the battery.

I did mess about trying to build a cut-down power control panel out of one of the orange Maplin power tanks (the battery had died from over-discharging, or possibly just because it was cheap rubbish), but for some reason the battery indicator doesn't work so as it turns out it's just a glorified on/off switch with two power sockets, which I no longer need. Oh, it has a bright white LED light too (which does work), but I have an LED torch anyway.

[emadmoussa]

I am not worried about the size as I can always build a wooden box with handles and wheels for the battery. Now I know which battery to get, but what else do I need? How do you connect the batteries to plugs? Does it come with the clips? Sorry, I dont know much about that...just a list of required accessories and steps is all I need. Google is not giving me enough answers

[Scott]

From the same motorist shop you can buy a battery clip that has a cigarette lighter socket on the end, usually incorporating a fuse to prevent any nasty melt-downs; add a multi-socket adaptor to this if required. I now have a dew heater controller that has additional power ports that I can use to drive my NEQ6, so only actually need one socket to the battery.

[emadmoussa]

Unfortunately I live far away from any of these shops and don't really drive

I'll order everything online and then put them together.

Thanks!!

[Joanna Sue]

I would say the first questions that need to be answered are:

How much power do I need to operate my scope and any other accessories I plan to be using? ( you should be able to see that in the specs)

How much is my time worth as opposed just buying a commercial unit?

How handy am I with building things that are electrical?

How much weight you wish to haul around?

As far as building a power tank there is no real mystery there if you have a basic understanding of electronics. A deep cycle marine battery, plastic battery box or small tote, a few clamps, a few feet of wire, a few eyelets for the wire, a few brass bolts and nuts and some red and black paint to show the polarity of said connections, and if you really wished to get advanced, a lighter outlet, a trickle charger, an inverter, and perhaps even a red lens light could all be added. If a fair sized deep cycle or even a somewhat functional car battery were used I would think a few nights of operation could be had out of such a home made unit between charges. (depending on how big the battery and the size of the inverter mostly ) The capacity of such a home made unit would just be limited by how large the battery you would wish to haul around and how large the inverter you wished to use. I would say a 300 watt inverter would be plenty for most any laptop, and a smallish car battery would be enough for a few nights on most scopes. If you wished to power several scopes and a lot of AC power, a 30H truck battery with top stud mounts would work pretty nicely and about a 500 watt inverter would likely run a few scopes and laptops for a few nights.

[DMA]

Hello

Sorry but I thought laptops had their own batteries that could run for a good few hours

so why are you adding them into the equation.

Also how much of your observing time are you going to be using the mount motors,surley

most of it would be fine low speed for tracking which won't use lots of juice.

The main thing using juice would be the dew heaters.

Just my 2p worth I was an electrician in a former life, I will shut up now.

Dave :-)

[Ant]

My laptop will run for a couple of hours in the warm, take it out into the cold and it's a different story.

[Scott]

Hello

Sorry but I thought laptops had their own batteries that could run for a good few hours

so why are you adding them into the equation.

Also how much of your observing time are you going to be using the mount motors,surley

most of it would be fine low speed for tracking which won't use lots of juice.

The main thing using juice would be the dew heaters.

Just my 2p worth I was an electrician in a former life, I will shut up now.

Dave :-)

I might get 1.5 hrs out of my laptop in the cold if I'm really lucky, mount motor are used 100% of the time even if it is only for tracking. If you want to use your imaging setup for less than 1.5 hrs then you are right ... you don't need to add the laptop into the equation. although half of this time will be taken up with polar alignment, drift alignment framing your target etc so you might get 40 mins imaging. Honestly... there is a reason people say a 17Ah battery is not enough for imaging.... it's because it's not enough

think of what you're running

1. laptop 3-5 Ah

2. mount 1-2 Ah

3. Dew Heaters X2 or 3? Ah

4 Guide camera

4. Camera if you don't wish to be changing batteries all night ? Ah