Powering a PC in an observatory

[AstroJOE]

My dad has just offered me his old PC to use in my observatory. I currently use a laptop which I connect to a 100ah leisure buttery using a suitable cable. The idea of having a permanent PC set up does appeal to me...

My question is can I connect a PC to the leisure battery or would it drain too much power? The laptop uses hardly any power and Id prefer not to have to run a mains source outside if possible.

James

[GuillermoBarrancos]

I don't think that is going to work.  As PC's run on full 220V and Draw a lot more Power than a Laptop.  A Leisure battery is 12V. Hence, why you could make it work for a Laptop, but not for a PC.

[tekkydave]

One option would be to try an inverter. This will convert your 12V to 220V for the PC. You will need to check what the power consumption of the PC (+ monitor etc) and buy an inverter of a higher power. I haven't tried this myself but I would not recommend it. It will likely run your battery down quite quickly. You would be better paying for an electrician to run a cable to your obsy. Make sure the circuit is RCD protected.

[GuillermoBarrancos]

One option would be to try an inverter. This will convert your 12V to 220V for the PC. You will need to check what the power consumption of the PC (+ monitor etc) and buy an inverter of a higher power. I haven't tried this myself but I would not recommend it. It will likely run your battery down quite quickly. You would be better paying for an electrician to run a cable to your obsy. Make sure the circuit is RCD protected.

A respectable PC + Monitor will easily Draw 600-800 watts minimum these days. If it has a dedicated Graphics card in it, you can easily add another 200-300 watts on top of that.

[tekkydave]

Exactly. For the same money you could pay for the electrician and permanent cable. The inverter will waste a proportion of the battery's juice in heat too!

[dtokez]

either mains or a few more batteries, inverter and some solar panels!

[kev]

Given the computing power of laptops these days, it probably makes more sense to grab a cheap but decent secondhand laptop from ebay. As folk have said, the PC will take a lot of power, I treid that route once myself in the early days. the other beauty is that if the power ever goes off...and its a clear night you can take advantage of it instead of cursing the lack of power for the PC.

[dmahon]

Morgans do decent and cheap second user PCs too. That's where my observatory laptop came from.

[Gina]

Same here - I've bought several computers from Morgans and been very satisfied

[kirkster501]

My Dell latitude laptop with XP, 4 gig of ram and core 2 duo cost the princely sum of £140 of the bay. Get a sparky to run a cable in. Do the donkey work yourself by digging the trench for the cable etc ( and run a cat6e Ethernet data cable in whilst you're at it). He will prob only charge you £50 or so. Job done and a permanent setup.

Steve

[AstroJOE]

Many thanks for all your replies. It was kind of what I was hoping you wouldn't say but the overwhelming opinion in one direction clearly shows it's good advice...   

A mains supply will be the route I go down.... at least that way I'll be able to run some of the other equipment off it as well which will prolong the life of the trusty leisure battery in the long run as well!

Right, all that's left to do now is convince SWMBO........

[Bizibilder]

I use a caravan cable from the house to the observatory:  http://www.towsure.com/product/Camping_Site_Mains_Supply_Unit_3_Outlet  Just cut the plug off and use a conventional 13A plug.  Don't forget to use an RCD socket at the house end! (If you have a modern house there will be one specifically for the lawnmower/ outside supply etc.  The three socket end can be installed in the observatory and the cable run to the house when setting up.

[dmahon]

Make sure not to use a regular caravan socket at the observatory end, or you have a live plug ("widow maker"). Use an "inlet socket", so you have a live socket which you can't accidentally touch rather than a live plug.

[kev]

RCD as suggested is a must! I can personnaly vouch for this (ouch! A&E afterwards).  Yes indeed Morgans - but make sure plenty of memory.

I just got an AMD 3800+ 4Gb ram, 250Gb disk, Xp for £95 off my local pc shop for a freind.

I run a dell e5510 i4 4gb lappy which I spotted a second hand one of the other day for the dad in law for £240 (XP or Win7)

Whatever you do, do ensure the PC / laptop stays *dry*, enclose it (but not airtight as it wil overheat) in something that will stop dew if you leave it outside.

In the early days I had a Pentium that was biult rather over the top that each weekend I drained c1/4 inch of water out of its case!!!

(Also ouch when I forgot).

kev.    (who has *Not* as you may gather anything to do with health and safety!)