Power in your observatories

[andyo]

On the subject of insurance I have made a couple of enquiries with my household insurance provider,once when taking out the cover and the second time when receiving the documents.They informed me that the equipment would be covered up to a maximum of £5000 in outbuildings including sheds.Most being under the category of photographic equipment

[wxsatuser]

If you run power to a shed etc you must comply with Part P.

[DrRobin]

Underground power cable, 600mm down, steel wired amoured and for preference in a duct.  I get about 300mm down and hit hard stone, but a hammer and chisel or a masonry drill sorts it out.  Run it from a small consumer unit with an RCD.  I would recommend float charging a 12V battery, that way you can still shut it down if you get a mains failure.  Float charging a battery is also very smooth and will give you 13.8V, more than enough for even the most [voltage] sensitive cameras.

Robin

[Fordos Moon]

Thanks all for a plethora of responses and I have taken onboard the security considerations! I am very excited about not having to sit outside in thermals and tights for another winter. I tell the wife its because its cold but they do feel nice ;-)

[stoffe]

A cable that is digged down to the observatory and then a stationary computer, take all the 12V and 5V needed for mount, equipment from the computer. That must be the easiest way to do it, it is also possible to run network over 230V power cables with homeplugs/powerline adapters.

[r3i]

 I would recommend float charging a 12V battery, that way you can still shut it down if you get a mains failure. 

Robin

I invested in a UPS (an APC UPS ES 550) for the observatory as the electricity supply around here is prone to dropping out at inopportune moments.

[DrRobin]

Mike, I am considering a UPS for my obs, in parallel with float charging a battery.  The 12V battery will supply the mount, camera, etc and the UPS a back up for the PC.  The advantage of a UPS is that they are now quite cheap and often have a USB connection to a computer to initiate a shutdown.  The downside is reliability and the rather poor waveform, which might interfere with some sensitive electronics.

I also need to look at software to control the scope, up to now I have just used the handset, but that won't be ideal.  I think I will need to look at the threads, but how does EQMOD (& EQTour) stack up against the other packages?

Robin

[r3i]

Mike, I am considering a UPS for my obs, in parallel with float charging a battery.  The 12V battery will supply the mount, camera, etc and the UPS a back up for the PC.  The advantage of a UPS is that they are now quite cheap and often have a USB connection to a computer to initiate a shutdown.  The downside is reliability and the rather poor waveform, which might interfere with some sensitive electronics.

I also need to look at software to control the scope, up to now I have just used the handset, but that won't be ideal.  I think I will need to look at the threads, but how does EQMOD (& EQTour) stack up against the other packages?

Robin

My UPS powers both my 12V bench supply and the laptop - I need the laptop on the UPS because its own battery is goosed.  I haven't experienced any issues with reliability  I have another one in the house to protect the desktop PC & NAS - that one has been in use for a few years and has been great.

The use of EQMOD is a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned. Tina Turner summed it up nicely 'Simply the Best'

[DrRobin]

I have three small UPS in a rack in my office at work.  We run regular tests on them and after about 2 years two of them had batteries that lasted about 30 seconds instead of 15 minutes.  UPS have a reputation of failing, sometimes going bang and if not checked regularly boiling the batteries.  I have to say, since we replaced the batteries with Yuasa, they have been good as gold and that must be all of two years ago now.

I will have to look at EQMOD, I had intended in having a go, but up til now I have always set near the scope so the handset has been okay.

Robin

[SnakeyJ]

UPS battery life will depend to a large extent on load, operating temp and how often they get drained (like most batteries they don't like being run flat) - we generally see 3 years plus for battery life for the lower end 1-3KVA UPS.    With the APC BACKUPS and Smart UPS we tend to replace battery packs at 3 years as a routine as the batteries are prone to leakage and can expand on failure making them difficult to extract from the UPS.     Though with cautious use they can give 4-5 years.    For internal use we buy CSB replacement batteries as these are generally used for the genuine APC replacement battery packs but are significantly cheaper.

[dmahon]

If you run power to a shed etc you must comply with Part P.

You always have to comply with part P - however outdoor installations are no longer notifiable (unless it is a new circuit).

[dmahon]

Mike, I am considering a UPS for my obs, in parallel with float charging a battery.  The 12V battery will supply the mount, camera, etc and the UPS a back up for the PC.  The advantage of a UPS is that they are now quite cheap and often have a USB connection to a computer to initiate a shutdown.  The downside is reliability and the rather poor waveform, which might interfere with some sensitive electronics.

I have a couple of APC Smart UPS - these put out a true sinusoidal waveform.

[Paul M]

If you run power to a shed etc you must comply with Part P.

That can be circumvented by connecting at the house end using a plug and socket   

Perfectly safe and acceptable but best to use an RCD protected socket. 

The cable can still be buried in a duct for a proper looking job.

Best not get involved in the finer points of exporting TNCS outside of the equipotential zone!! The 10mm bonds to the pier and OTA might be a trip hazard :D

[fondofchips]

That can be circumvented by connecting at the house end using a plug and socket   

Perfectly safe and acceptable but best to use an RCD protected socket. 

The cable can still be buried in a duct for a proper looking job.

Best not get involved in the finer points of exporting TNCS outside of the equipotential zone!! The 10mm bonds to the pier and OTA might be a trip hazard :D

This is how I connected up my existing shed & the Obsy when it's finished. 

Best to keep power cables seperate from computer/signal cables to avoid the chance of interference, so I'm running 3 seperate cable runs from warm room to observing room, 240 mains, 12v DC from a fixed battery & computer/signal cables.

[jimao22]

I have an underground power line from inside the house and the observatory computer along with all astro-stuff is powered via an external UPS with a 12V/55Ah gel battery.

The lights and the wi-fi hub are connected to the main power source.

About the security - yes, is an important issue. I have 3 big dogs surveying the area, an alarm system connected as a different zone with the house alarm system (monitored by  a security company) and the observatory and all the things from inside are insured for 10,000 euro, as a supplementary security measurement. I don't want a no-brain villain to ruin my work and my dream.     

[tekkydave]

When I brought my French farm house, the mains electric for the lighting was bare wire strung beam to beam around the ceilings and fixed with little ceramic insulators - rather like electric fence, but 220V AC!   Most of the bulbs were red, leading to much speculation about the maison previously being a house of ill repute - but on reflection, perhaps the previous owners were astronomers?   I can recall how how all the lights dimmed as you turned the kettle on.  The mains supply to the house came from two 8mm tails that appeared to be crocodile clipped on to the overhead power lines - though these had to be uprated to give an 80A supply after I rewired and installed the electric shower.

I believe standards may have improved over the last 30 years, but you could always try a few low pylons

Sounds similar to the "knob and tube" system used in early American/Canadian domestic wiring. From watching episodes of "Holmes on Holmes" it seems there are still quite a few homes that still have it. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knob_and_tube_wiring

[SnakeyJ]

Sounds similar to the "knob and tube" system used in early American/Canadian domestic wiring. From watching episodes of "Holmes on Holmes" it seems there are still quite a few homes that still have it. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knob_and_tube_wiring

Scarey stuff isn't it - very similar layout, but no insulating tubes on mine.

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