portable power stations help

[MGB]

Hi there

i have a sky-watch 1145 synscan goto telescope and want to use it on north devon it came with a battery compartment which holds 8 aa batterys but within a few hours of trying to figure out how it all works the batterys lost there power and they where durrecell ultra which are pretty expensive so i thought about getting a power lead from my car to the telescope but cables at night in dark places sounds like a accident waiting to happen then i thought about a portable power stations with a cigarette lighter 12v going to telescope so there would be less wires but can this be done as some i seen say can be charged from a cigarette lighter so im now thinking it wont work the way i anticpated any more info on this topic would be appreciated thanks for your help

[Hitesh]

I use the 14ah tracer power pack, they are really really light and don't need charging for days. Downside is they are expensive but worth every penny. Although a lot of people on here use a napkin power pack which is much cheaper and does the trick but can be quite a heavy beast to take out every time you want to take the scope out.

Flo and widescreen centre both stock the tracer power packs check them out or the maplin power packs

[Hitesh]

Damn predictive text ment maplin not napkin

[sbj]

You can get the leads that have a 12v car cigarette type to your goto mount, and run from a 12v powertank.  That's exactly the system I use - loads of different powertanks available.  I use a maplin's one which just needs charging from the mains every 3/4 weeks.  Lasts ages with my 127 mak and az goto. 

plenty celestron / skywatcher 12v leads on fleabay as well.

[Clockwork_Orange]

Hi MGB

You could get one of these :-

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/power/tracer-12v-8ah-lithium-polymer-battery-pack.html

or these

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/power/skywatcher-powertank-7ah.html

Regards

John

[hobsey]

I have recently purchased one of these.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/390657386329?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

A lot of people go for the cheaper Maplins one but I never had a problem with Sealey products so this is the cheapest I could find this model.

[MGB]

thanks all for the info appreciated

[impactcrater]

always get a set of 'eneloop' rechargeables which I learnt about from my photography interest. these are both powerful and reliably rechargeable....save you heaps...about 24 aussie dollars.....

[breezy]

Maplins works for my simple needs. Might need a leisure battery tho if you want to run laptops etc in future .

[M4lcs67]

I used to use the Maplin 2 in 1 powertank. Worked a treat for my 127 SLT which also has the battery compartment. My first time out the batteries died within half an hour. Thats when I was pointed in the direction of the powertank.