Lynx Astro Power Cable

[Toxophilus]

My Lynx Astro power cable arrived today and the skies were clear so I thought I would grab the chance to try it out. Unfortunately it clouded over before I got a real chance of getting any decent data. However I thought I would get something useful out of the evening and do a quick review of the cable.

As with many items, the packaging is usually a good indicator of the quality of what lies within. For the Lynx power cable there was no zip seal plastic bag, but a sealed padded bubble wrap bag with the Lynx Astro logo on it. OK, its only a bag but it shows that Lynx seem to be taking great pride in their products.

Opening the bag revealed a 5m long cable with a standard 12v, 5A fused plug and a 5.5 x 2.1 centre positive jack on the other end. Although this is intended, and sold for use with a SkyWatcher HEQ5 and similar mount. However I wanted to use this for powering my Atik 314L+ and knew the jack was compatible. 

Comparing the cable with the original power cable the difference is significant to say the least. You can see that this is a seriously beefed up cable compared to the OEM one. 

The plugs have plenty of strong strain relief and are very snug and secure, certainly no fear of the cable wearing at the plug and causing a weak connection.

Fitting the cable into the camera was a very reassuringly tight (but not too tight) fit and with the strange angles the camera can get into I certainly did not feel like it would come loose of its own accord. Later measuring the dimensions of the plug it showed that is at the upper end of the tolerance for the socket (at around 5.7mm). Something that I think Lynx Astro have done deliberately to reduce the chance of cables coming loose on mounts which is often a problem with that type of socket.

The silicone cable is soft and very pliable (unlike the original cable that I had) and it hung in smooth curves with no signs of kinks etc. With a few slews of the telescope you could see that the cable easily rolled over the legs of the tripod, reducing cable drag. The temperatures did not get below zero so no frost etc. But its obvious that this cable is going to remain very flexible down to silly temperatures.

Out of curiosity I did actually measure the resistance of the cable to compare it to the original one that I was using. With my cheap multi-meter (so it's not the most scientific or accurate analysis), it turned out to have around 0.1Ω resistance,  0.5Ω less resistance than the OEM cable. OK, its not a lot but when you are running on battery and want the strongest, cleanest power to your mount or in my case camera, every little bit helps.

The only criticism that I can really point to the cable is that the orange cable might not be to everyone's 'cup of tea', but in the pitch black (light pollution aside) it doesn't really matter what colour it is. The orange does help you spot it more easily compared to black cables in the dim red light of your head torch, hopefully helping in reducing any trip accidents if you do need to trail your power lead away from the mount.

I do hope that they launch a version that is compatible with the SkyWatcher AZ-EQ6 GT. Whilst the connector is not subject to the accidental power disconnection issues, the quality of the OEM cable is not the best, especially when compared to the Lynx Astro power cable.

Hope you find this interesting/helpful, let me know your thoughts, especially if you have use this cable too.

[Knighty2112]

Good review. Went to pick my cable up this morning from the Royal Mail depot, but they've not processed it back in their system from been returned by the postie yesterday, so will have to wait until tomorrow now to collect it. This cable should beat the pants off the original cable I got with my Celestron Powertank. Hopefully won't have to worry about any cable snagging on the legs of my Goto mount as it goes round.  

[alanjgreen]

I also received a free Lynx astro power cable as part of FLO's offer.

Here are the pics that I have taken of the Celestron version of the power lead.

Pic1: First here is the lead as it arrived (after unpacking).

As you can see, it is a high quality, well insulated lead. I was impressed by the strain refief added to the connectors which should ensure that it lasts a long time. Secondly, I was impressed by the flexibility in the lead - I do not see this lead being affected at all by night time below freezing temperatures (unlike the standard leads that become stiff in there shape and very easy to tangle/snag in use.

Pic2: Here is the lead next to the standard Celestron power cable which clearly shows the larger diameter of the cable and better strain refief at the scope connection.

Pic3: Cigarette end connected in my power box to my multi-port connector & Tracer battery

Pic4: Connection at the scope end. I have looped the power cable around the scope handle and secured with tape for further strain refief and to keep the cables in a single bundle that I then pass together into my battery box. I use some velcro wrap to further protect the cables along the floor.

Pic5: wider angle showing the whole setup. CPC1100 with Borg89 mounted on top. I need the power for (1) CPC1100 (2) 2x 11inch dew tapes for CPC (3) 1x 4 inch dew tape for the Borg89.

 

Hope this is helpful, please ask any questions?

Thanks,

Alan

 

[Starlight 1]

how good is this cable mount end,  do it hold well without to much turning in the mount holder . I like my mount but it do eat cables this end is were I allways lose power and its a pain I do have a SW GPS and that save time setting up again . So 3 week on updates please on your Lynx Astro power cables.

 

[alanjgreen]

No issues here. As you can see on the picture of the CPC (below), I loop my power cords around the handle of the scope to take the strain off the cable at the mount end. I started doing this couple of years ago after have mount end issues as you say. 

I can say the Lynx end connectors have plenty of built in strain relief (under the black lynx logo tape you can see on the picture) making them very difficult to bend near the connectors so the issues you suffer should be much less likely.

You can also see how the black section of the cable is held stiff by the strain relief.

 

[Toxophilus]

On 1/15/2017 at 21:53, Starlight 1 said:

how good is this cable mount end,  do it hold well without to much turning in the mount holder . I like my mount but it do eat cables this end is were I allways lose power and its a pain I do have a SW GPS and that save time setting up again . So 3 week on updates please on your Lynx Astro power cables.

 

OK Up until now I had only had chance to try this power cable on my scope using it to power the camera. I recently did a belt drive upgrade for a friend on their HEQ5 and so had the opportunity to try it on the type of Skywatcher mount that the cable was intended for. 

Needless to say it behaved perfectly. It was a nice snug fit into the socket and with multiple test slews at all kinds of angles it showed no signs of slipping. 

So far, the cable has now has quite a bit of use and has not misbehaved or let me down once.

[Starlight 1]

7 hours ago, Toxophilus said:

OK Up until now I had only had chance to try this power cable on my scope using it to power the camera. I recently did a belt drive upgrade for a friend on their HEQ5 and so had the opportunity to try it on the type of Skywatcher mount that the cable was intended for. 

Needless to say it behaved perfectly. It was a nice snug fit into the socket and with multiple test slews at all kinds of angles it showed no signs of slipping. 

So far, the cable has now has quite a bit of use and has not misbehaved or let me down once.

I give up imaging and made a skycam  so the cable is out side 24/7 running a dew heater on full  . the only down side is only 5m  so it be nice to get 10m  for cameras up poles,  save making a wet box to put plugs in.