6 volt power supplies

[Grierson]

Good morning folks, I'm looking for a recommendation! I recently bought a set of motors and controller for my EQ5 from FLO which I've fitted and are working fine. The kit came with a holder for four 1.5v cells and again these do the job but don't last very long. I realized too late that the kit was 6 volt, ( although in fairness to FLO that was stated in the Ad.), and therefore my 12volt PSU is a bit superfluous. I'm therefore looking for a 12 to 6 volt converter or a 250 AC to 6 volt PSU. There are of course a variety of units on offer on the web, some as cheap as chips others less so. I wonder if there is anyone who faced a similar dilemma and if so what reliable solution was arrived at. Any links to decent kit would be appreciated. (p.s. I appreciate that I could run the kit from a  6 volt leisure battery) Many thanks - John       

[Davey-T]

Something like this unless you want to build your own, only 3amp if that's enough ?

Dave

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DEOK-12V-5V-Buck-Converter-Step-Down-SR-Adjustable-Module-DC-8-22V-to-1-15V-3A-/201448651411?hash=item2ee7467a93:g:x9UAAOSwFNZW0fVb

[Tinker1947]

Like DT's post there are various types cheaper from China, but the same thing in the UK a bit dearer but 2-3 days instead of 2-3weeks postage time, i tend to go for the type with a voltage display...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LED-LM2596-Voltage-Regulator-buck-converter-module-4-40V-in-1-35V-out-UK-Seller-/181665790100?hash=item2a4c1ff894:g:80UAAOSwrklU3Pxe

[triton1]

I bought one for my cg5 from eBay about £6 I think just a standard adapter that plugs in to the mains.

[Grierson]

Yes thanks to all for the responses. What worries me is that, as many of these devices come from China, they may or may not do what the spec. suggests. There does not appear to be any over volts protection and it is difficult to judge what the performance is likely to be under various load conditions. JONN has prompted me to think that a simple mains adapter will do the trick. Before doing much more I think I need to measure the current drawn by the motors and see if such an adapter can provide it. Although I have no problem with building something round the modules suggested I was hoping someone may be using something like the Nevada 12 volt PSU that FLO currently advertise. 

[DHEB]

4 hours ago, Grierson said:

Good morning folks, I'm looking for a recommendation! I recently bought a set of motors and controller for my EQ5 from FLO which I've fitted and are working fine. The kit came with a holder for four 1.5v cells and again these do the job but don't last very long. I realized too late that the kit was 6 volt, ( although in fairness to FLO that was stated in the Ad.), and therefore my 12volt PSU is a bit superfluous. I'm therefore looking for a 12 to 6 volt converter or a 250 AC to 6 volt PSU. There are of course a variety of units on offer on the web, some as cheap as chips others less so. I wonder if there is anyone who faced a similar dilemma and if so what reliable solution was arrived at. Any links to decent kit would be appreciated. (p.s. I appreciate that I could run the kit from a  6 volt leisure battery) Many thanks - John       

Hi! I would suggest buying a commercial sealed lead-acid battery, it is cheaper and you won't loose power converting voltages. When I bought my EQ5 I immediately realized that the pack of 4 D-size batteries would have troubles keeping up with the cold in my place. I therefore bought a 6 V 12 Ah battery for about 30 EUR. I even made an study of the different consumption levels at different modes, which together with the usage demonstrated that buying such a battery was a good idea. If you are interested in this you can check the following post in my astro site: Battery consumption by EQ5 equatorial mount with dual axis motors: results of a simple experiment

By the way, did we discuss this topic before? Hope this helps!

[triton1]

The adapter I bought is rated at 6 v 2amp which should be ample

[DHEB]

16 minutes ago, triton1 said:

The adapter I bought is rated at 6 v 2amp which should be ample

Yes, according to my experiments, explained in the link above, power consumption can be up to 0.90 A, at 6 V.

[Bizibilder]

I also went for a 6v rechargeable battery and 6v charger - both from fleabay as I recall - I built a box for it with a voltmeter and on/off switch.  It will run my EQ5 for two or three hours easily enough (maybe more but I've not tried it).  The only downside to a voltage adapter is that you may find yourself running a mains lead outside - NOT a good idea if it is at all damp.  Additionally you are not limited by the length of the wires or power cuts.

[Grierson]

1 hour ago, Cinco Sauces said:

Hi! I would suggest buying a commercial sealed lead-acid battery, it is cheaper and you won't loose power converting voltages. When I bought my EQ5 I immediately realized that the pack of 4 D-size batteries would have troubles keeping up with the cold in my place. I therefore bought a 6 V 12 Ah battery for about 30 EUR. I even made an study of the different consumption levels at different modes, which together with the usage demonstrated that buying such a battery was a good idea. If you are interested in this you can check the following post in my astro site: Battery consumption by EQ5 equatorial mount with dual axis motors: results of a simple experiment

By the way, did we discuss this topic before? Hope this helps!

Thanks, I'm sure that it will have been discussed before but not by this newbie.  I did a quick search but did not find exactly what I needed. The data produced by your experiment is helpful and saves me a job of checking my setup. Clearly the motors are consuming less than an amp. I wonder if there is any significant surge current on start up. Clearly from what Roger and yourself have said battery is the best option and that is the what I will probably end up with but I will also invest a few ponds and buy one of the adapters as I still have the vision of running everything from single power source in the garage.   

[ronin]

For mains to whatever volts I use the Maplin L06BR can be set to a range of voltage options, I use 9v an 12v off it.

For rechargeable I have use a Tracer and another Maplins item L17AR

The L17AR also allows me to run direct from the rear of the car if I wish, which means the boot open for storage and access of assorted bits.

Have one of these also for rechargeable works fine for the purpose of giving about 12v so you would have to step it down somehow for 6v. I will need to do the same if I get round to addin motoer to EQ5 or if I power up the HEQ5.

 

 

[Alien 13]

The EQ3/5 6V motors run fine on 5V I use a phone power bank rated at 11000 mAH last for ages and cost £6 fron a local discount store. 

Alan

[DHEB]

3 hours ago, Grierson said:

Thanks, I'm sure that it will have been discussed before but not by this newbie.  I did a quick search but did not find exactly what I needed. The data produced by your experiment is helpful and saves me a job of checking my setup. Clearly the motors are consuming less than an amp. I wonder if there is any significant surge current on start up. Clearly from what Roger and yourself have said battery is the best option and that is the what I will probably end up with but I will also invest a few ponds and buy one of the adapters as I still have the vision of running everything from single power source in the garage.   

Hi again, I did not observe any significant surge current at the start. However, and regarding your plan of feeding everything from the same source of power, I guess that you might need something different after all, like a larger source with different voltages. This might be specially true if you are planning to have cameras, computer, etc. running at the same time. The single battery approach is good for me inasmuch I only have to feed the two stepper motors. When I did astrophoto, the camera had an internal battery and I did not use guiding telescope and camera. May be you need something different? Good luck!