pragmatist Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 Can anyone recommend something other than those useless 5 in 1 power packs as mine has lasted only around 2 months and I am lucky to get 2 hours out of it just tracking and running a dew heater..Thanks,Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davey-T Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 Chuck out the battery and fit a Lion one, expensive but weighs no more and lasts all night.Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pragmatist Posted December 28, 2013 Author Share Posted December 28, 2013 Interesting bit of kit. Where from and how much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brantuk Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 Interesting post - those 5in1's seem to vary a lot in longevitiy. I've had mine over three years and it can still run a mount all night. However I do put dew control on a separate power pack (or ehu) and I do keep my batteries topped up with charge every month or two when not in use - and after every session when in use - this makes a big difference to how long it lasts.The battery recommended above does look good - and at 40ah it should last all night doing what you want it to do with ease. If it's too dear then an alternative is a leisure/marine battery, or caravan battery (circa 80ah-110ah for £80'ish) - but they are heavy being the older design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pragmatist Posted December 29, 2013 Author Share Posted December 29, 2013 The Sherwood's astro power station looks interesting but that lion battery is incredibly expensive so I am still open to suggestions. Yes I have heard that power packs do vary, you can be lucky or incredibly unlucky and get one which has been sitting in a warehouse for a long time or that's what I heard. I always kept mine topped up, not overcharged and it still died after a very short time indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davey-T Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 Interesting post - those 5in1's seem to vary a lot in longevitiy. I've had mine over three years and it can still run a mount all night. However I do put dew control on a separate power pack (or ehu) and I do keep my batteries topped up with charge every month or two when not in use - and after every session when in use - this makes a big difference to how long it lasts.The battery recommended above does look good - and at 40ah it should last all night doing what you want it to do with ease. If it's too dear then an alternative is a leisure/marine battery, or caravan battery (circa 80ah-110ah for £80'ish) - but they are heavy being the older design. I use mine (40ah Li-ion) with mount, dew heaters, cameras and laptop plugged in and it hardly makes a dent in it, recharges in minutes with supplied 10ah charger (also expensive),and weighs no more than the original 17ah battery.PS I think the 17ah rating was a bit of wishfull thinking by someone in China Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davey-T Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 The Sherwood's astro power station looks interesting but that lion battery is incredibly expensive so I am still open to suggestions.Yes I have heard that power packs do vary, you can be lucky or incredibly unlucky and get one which has been sitting in a warehouse for a long time or that's what I heard. I always kept mine topped up, not overcharged and it still died after a very short time indeed.Have you still got the receipt, you could try taking it back as " not fit for use " Imagine how long it would last if you actually tried to jump start your car Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pragmatist Posted December 29, 2013 Author Share Posted December 29, 2013 I use mine (40ah Li-ion) with mount, dew heaters, cameras and laptop plugged in and it hardly makes a dent in it, recharges in minutes with supplied 10ah charger (also expensive),and weighs no more than the original 17ah battery.PS I think the 17ah rating was a bit of wishfull thinking by someone in China DaveDid you take apart a power pack to fit your battery into. Just looks that way in the photo. I guess that saves having to buy the 12v ports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davey-T Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Did you take apart a power pack to fit your battery into. Just looks that way in the photo. I guess that saves having to buy the 12v ports.Yes, just a Maplin power pack, chucked the original battery and fitted the L-ion one, bit of a squeeze so had to butcher the inside of the case a bit and bin the tyre pump.Also put red foil behind light, swapped out cig sockets and fitted amp volt meter.Pic's of finished article Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bomberbaz Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Good post this. My power pack let me down tonight but if I could get one to run my laptop, mount and dewstrap thats gotto be worth looking into. The 40ah sounds very kmpressive too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bomberbaz Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 The lithiom batteries are very exoensive and lead acid usualky too heavy. But just found these little felas. Going to check out my own power pack case tomorrow, its not 40ah but 20ah is a 30% step up on my 14ah for a rwasonable price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bomberbaz Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Sorry link here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LUCAS-12V-20AH-AGM-GOLF-BATTERY-GREAT-ITEM-/190879814129 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brantuk Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Yup the Lucas golf trolley battery is great - I got one just a month or two ago and so far no probs with it. I'm only using it for dew control on a manual dob. It's much easier to fit on the turntable base being smaller than most powerpacks. I got the 22ah one from Tayna batteries who also do a great charger for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bomberbaz Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Found the 22ah one you mentioned brantuk and after disecting my power psck it seems it will be a perfect fit. Ordered and sorted.Think I will hold onto the other in case needed, hey batteries can get like eyepieces, haha :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pragmatist Posted December 31, 2013 Author Share Posted December 31, 2013 Those Tracer batteries look good but quite expensive and not sure how long they last. Charging not a problem as i have a good intelligent charger which i use for my R/C heli li-po batteries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pragmatist Posted December 31, 2013 Author Share Posted December 31, 2013 So how do i connect this.....http://www.firstligh...er-adaptor.htmlto a leisure battery?Don't mind the extra weight if it will save me ££££ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bomberbaz Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Most good car spare shops will sell a adaptor for this, it is two croc clips on wire to female cigarette socket Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davey-T Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Those Tracer batteries look good but quite expensive and not sure how long they last. Charging not a problem as i have a good intelligent charger which i use for my R/C heli li-po batteries.Do you mean in recharges , years or hours ?Another good thing about LI-ion batteries other than the weight is the discharge curve which means voltage is maintained rather than gradually decreasing. I've got a couple of Li-ion drills which keep going then suddenly stop ( blooming annoying when you're up a ladder and need it to keep going for another thirty seconds)Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pragmatist Posted December 31, 2013 Author Share Posted December 31, 2013 [quote name="Davey-T". I've got a couple of Li-ion drills which keep going then suddenly stop ( blooming annoying when you're up a ladder and need it to keep going for another thirty seconds)Daveha, Yep, been there and done that Davey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathan Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 I got so far in swapping out the battery in my exact same orange 5-in-1 but seemed to be waiting forever for a 'new model' battery to be released by the manufacturer I had pinpointed as the best price and performance, eventually gave up and went for a big leisure battery in a B&Q wheeled tool trolly.Thought about fitting volt and ammeters too, but for some reason failed to find ones suitable. Sadly it still haunts me as an unfinished project, leisure battery is heavy, big, but it works very well and is very simple to hook up - just two croc clips, inline fuse and female auto socket, my dew heater controller plugs into that and everything else plugs into the dew heater (Hi-Tec Astro, it has four dew tape ports and two aux power sockets). I don't use a laptop or camera, only the mount and dew heaters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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