Power/Electrical Problems?

[leebca]

Hi all,

I'm waiting for my pier to be built, after which it will be put into an observatory I'm leasing. To this will be attached the Meade LX850 mount and the Meade 14" scope I've bought.

So, I thought I might ask some guidance from those of you who have a more or less permanently setup mount and scope regarding power.  Not sure if, in the UK, you have electrical problems like we do here in the USA, or not.  But we here suffer with these kinds of things once every 6 months to a year.

My concern is when setting this up, should there be given any consideration for:
power outages (e.g., is a power backup necessary/useful?)
power surges (e.g., is a surge protector necessary/useful?)
A/C to Direct problems (e.g., do the currently available converters have any issues with providing a steady direct current source, or is it of any concern?)

Have you taken any precautions on the above or don't worry about it? Does your mount suffer any damage or issues with power source problems?

If there is a power disruption, is the alignment 'cancelled' or is the scope no longer aligned? Is the GoTo alignment wiped out or affected?


Thanks!


LEE 

[ronin]

In general the power supply here is fairly good, from speaking with people in the US ours is a lot more stable then yours is.

Cannot recall the last time I lost power at the house, spikes seems almost unknown unless we are in a thunder storm, and even then generally they seem to be handled. Equally if you have a thunder storm then I doubt you will be observing or imaging.

If power is lost the alignment is lost, same as you unplugging the power, not too bad on a pillar as I think it takes less "alignment" to sort one out then on an Alt/Az set up. Whatever non-volitile data is (should be) preserved. Have you gps ?

A UPS is generally costly, also depends on how long the power outage is - 20 to 30 minutes is one thing 6 to 8 hours another. An anti-surge if not excessive would be a good idea - in the simplest form aren't they just a choke/inductor on the DC side ?