Heads Up - Bargain power tank at Maplins

[twelly27]

As with everything, what's your budget?

well i suppose what ever needs to be paid for a battery that can do what i need to and alos i dont know what i can use to charge my laptop, im assuming a car charge take the cigarette lighter off and put clips on

[DeepThought]

well i suppose what ever needs to be paid for a battery that can do what i need to and alos i dont know what i can use to charge my laptop, im assuming a car charge take the cigarette lighter off and put clips on

I'd say you need a leisure battery for that sort of setup. Some laptops have car chargers available for them but the majority run at about 15v which is more than you can get out of a leisure battery without stepping it up to 240v with an inverter.

Your laptop will probably draw about 3 amps and your mount about 1, so 4 amp hours for 5-6 hours is up to 24 amp hours.

Based upon this I'd say a 48ah+ deep cycle battery would do the trick so long as you can charge it fully in between (it's advisable never to run them to below 50% of full charge).

On top of this you would need an inverter to run your laptop power supply from and a means of charging it too.

It's a big outlay to start with but it'll see you right for years.

If in doubt then go visit your local caravan or boat shop, they'll be able to advise you well.

[twelly27]

I'd say you need a leisure battery for that sort of setup. Some laptops have car chargers available for them but the majority run at about 15v which is more than you can get out of a leisure battery without stepping it up to 240v with an inverter.

Your laptop will probably draw about 3 amps and your mount about 1, so 4 amp hours for 5-6 hours is up to 24 amp hours.

Based upon this I'd say a 48ah+ deep cycle battery would do the trick so long as you can charge it fully in between (it's advisable never to run them to below 50% of full charge).

On top of this you would need an inverter to run your laptop power supply from and a means of charging it too.

It's a big outlay to start with but it'll see you right for years.

If in doubt then go visit your local caravan or boat shop, they'll be able to advise you well.

to be honest im after something that i can use for years, i will be looking to add other stuff over the years, but will only use the laptop for webcam planets etc while im doing that at home i can charge it home, i think mars and Jupiter will be up too late or early however you look at [removed word] for me to webcam them, which just leaves me my laptop to use during the day to [lay football manager thanks for the info though that's the clearest its been set out to me

thanks

chris