Power Cables

[petejw]

Hi
I'm moving from a battery to a mains supply for my HEQ5 mount and foucsser, Ive just ordered a 12v 5a regulated power supply from Maplins which comes with a 5.5mm/2.1mm socket.Now have a few choices as to what to do about the cables.

On ebay and Amazon I have come accross various lengths of splitter and extension cables with 5.5mm/2.1mm plug/socket mainly used for CCTV camera systems. These come in various lengths and I was wondering if anyone has any experience of these and their suitibility. Most state up to 12volts but few give the amps/watts. Like those in the attached picture.

The other option is just to get a Cigarette to 5.5/2.1mm adapter cable and use the existing cables with the cigarette plugs/sockets.

Any thoughts/suggestions greatly appreciated

Pete

 

 

[Mered]

I'm just about to order 2x 6 metre cigarette socket extension cables for mine. I plan to keep the power supply in the garage and then trail these outside to my usual spot, finishing with the existing cable to plug into the mount.

I don't know whether the above cables would be better or not? I think in either case it would be best to wrap the joins in waterproof tape, if only to stop them pulling apart.

[petejw]

Hi Mered

Thanks for the reply

We moved to a new house with great dark skies about 18 months ago so I wont need portable power. I just unpacked the
scope last week, got it colimated, polar aligned  (took a while to remeber how to do it) then the battery died.
Second night was a bit more sucessfull though but power still didnt last long I only have a 7ah battery at the moment. I've got a modest set up, but I've just added a DIY autofocusser which I must admit is brilliant but its another thing that needs power to run and with plans to add some sort of dew control I think mains is a must.
I am trying to get to the point where I have just two wires running to the mount, one for power and the other
for USB control for the various components then usb hub/power splitters tucked under the tripod where I cant trip over them.
The cigarette lighter type socket does seem to be the preferred solution, so I think I will to follow your lead (no pun intended)
and get a long cigarette extension. Might try and make some rubber waterproof collars to keep the damp out of the connectors rather than waterproof tape as I want to be able to dismantle the rig quickly and easily, perhaps a bit of bicycle innertube might work.

Pete