WADAS forum 2

[astrotyke]

Nice one.  Is it a car battery or a leisure battery

[Mark62]

Looks really good Dec I built one last year out of a golf trolley deep cycle battery. It ran my eq5 mount all day for the mercury transit 

[2STAR]

11 hours ago, Dec said:

Thanks Vicky,

I'm no expert at this sort of stuff, only really had a go after a chat with Soupy at the last meeting.

I'm sure I've overlooked something basic but will hopefully get to test it out next clear night.

Dec

It looks good Dec, nice and neat also.

eric

[Dec]

4 hours ago, astrotyke said:

Nice one.  Is it a car battery or a leisure battery

Hi Chris it's a 70Ah car battery. Don't know if this is the best type but we've an account at work with an autoparts company so got it fairly easily

[Dec]

3 hours ago, Mark62 said:

Looks really good Dec I built one last year out of a golf trolley deep cycle battery. It ran my eq5 mount all day for the mercury transit 

Thanks Mark, that's a good idea, never thought of using a golf trolley battery. Probably quite a bit lighter and easier to manage than a car battery

[Dec]

3 hours ago, 2STAR said:

It looks good Dec, nice and neat also.

eric

Thanks Eric, took a bit of time over it (and had a few cans of beer in the process) ??

[Mark62]

1 hour ago, Dec said:

Thanks Mark, that's a good idea, never thought of using a golf trolley battery. Probably quite a bit lighter and easier to manage than a car battery

It is just a bit 

[astrotyke]

I may try and build something like this in the future, or I may blow myself up doing it lol 

[nicks90]

you can pick up small leisure batteries very cheaply and they are much more suitable for this type of thing than a car battery

this is the one i bought the other week for my goto and its lovely and small - roughly 8"x8"x10"

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111609291041?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

i have a box lined up to convert in to a power pack / eye piece storage case / scope tools case - but as I'm packing up the house for our imminent move next week - building the thing will have to wait for a bit.

[astrotyke]

I was going to use a leisure battery as these designed for more of a constant drain on them I think.  Anyway either would be better than I have now which is nothing.  My scope has its own battery so that's delayed me doing a power pack and I'm on mains when I'm at home

[Dec]

That looks perfect for the job, may have to replace my battery once I get fed up lugging it about 

[Uplooker]

Leisure batteries are by far the best to use for powering all of your kit. Reason being that car batteries are required to provide a huge and I mean huge amount of Amps for a very short period of time. They then have a long time to recover - as you drive along and the alternator charges them again. Leisure batteries are best suited to a lower drain , but for a far longer time.

All the work you guys have put into building your power packs is not wasted, just replace it with a New leisure battery when the car one goes poop. Don't buy second hand, it's just not worth it. Also, make sure to discharge your leisure batteries to at least 70 or 80% every now and again and then fully charge it. Keeps it healthy ?. Don't do that with a car battery - it really doesn't like it?

[Dec]

Cheers uplooker... thanks for the advice. Didn't know the batteries discharged differently. Think I'll switch to a leisure battery first chance I get.

[astrotyke]

Yea, very differently as uplooker said, hence why you tend to use them for caravans etc. 

[astrotyke]

only a small thing this, staggered home from the pub tonight, got the dslr out (as you do after a few pints)  to try and get infinity focus, tried it on the moon and i think i got it, nearly 

[mapstar]

6 hours ago, astrotyke said:

only a small thing this, staggered home from the pub tonight, got the dslr out (as you do after a few pints)  to try and get infinity focus, tried it on the moon and i think i got it, nearly 

Is that Orion 

[mapstar]

6 hours ago, astrotyke said:

only a small thing this, staggered home from the pub tonight, got the dslr out (as you do after a few pints)  to try and get infinity focus, tried it on the moon and i think i got it, nearly 

Looking good Chris. Good shot of Orion 

[astrotyke]

Yes, that is Orion .......

[Mark62]

That's not Orion it's the andromeda galaxy I'm sure ?

[astrotyke]

Your all useless, its the southern cross, i stopped up extra late for the southern sky to rise

[rockystar]

well it's certainly not the moon like he said he was aiming for ? I think you missed

 

[mapstar]

14 hours ago, Uplooker said:

Leisure batteries are by far the best to use for powering all of your kit. Reason being that car batteries are required to provide a huge and I mean huge amount of Amps for a very short period of time. They then have a long time to recover - as you drive along and the alternator charges them again. Leisure batteries are best suited to a lower drain , but for a far longer time.

All the work you guys have put into building your power packs is not wasted, just replace it with a New leisure battery when the car one goes poop. Don't buy second hand, it's just not worth it. Also, make sure to discharge your leisure batteries to at least 70 or 80% every now and again and then fully charge it. Keeps it healthy ?. Don't do that with a car battery - it really doesn't like it?

Excellent advice from Ian there. I use a 50Ah leisure (or deep cycle as their known) battery for my astro needs. It's 5years old now.

The other thing I would upgrade is the connectors. Get rid of the cigarette ones or at least replace woth the ones that lock in. 

[Vicky050373]

Lovely first capture Chris. Looks like you nailed the focus pretty much too. Shame about the bright moon and LP, however it's not bad for a test shot.

Orion nebula looking particularly bright in that one too. Maybe you should try stacking to bring out some of the detail

[mapstar]

14 hours ago, Uplooker said:

Leisure batteries are by far the best to use for powering all of your kit. Reason being that car batteries are required to provide a huge and I mean huge amount of Amps for a very short period of time. They then have a long time to recover - as you drive along and the alternator charges them again. Leisure batteries are best suited to a lower drain , but for a far longer time.

All the work you guys have put into building your power packs is not wasted, just replace it with a New leisure battery when the car one goes poop. Don't buy second hand, it's just not worth it. Also, make sure to discharge your leisure batteries to at least 70 or 80% every now and again and then fully charge it. Keeps it healthy ?. Don't do that with a car battery - it really doesn't like it?

Excellent advice from Ian there. I use a 50Ah leisure (or deep cycle as their known) battery for my astro needs. It's 5years old now.

The other thing I would upgrade is the connectors. Get rid of the cigarette ones or at least replace with the ones that lock in. 

[Vicky050373]

Well, after thinking about this for a few months now, I've decided I'm going to have a go at building my own power pack over the winter. So, if anyone fancies helping me out with a shopping list to begin with, and then their time to help me put the thing together then I'd really appreciate it. Wouldn't try to do it on my own as I'd surely kill myself, but I think I'd really enjoy learning how to put something like that together if anyone has the time to guide me through it.