DIY Telescope Power Supply

[MnB Deano]

Hello Everyone!

This is my first post to SGL, but it's certainly not my first visit. I've been a reguar leech to the wealth of information on here and have amassed a plethora of equipment for exploring the night sky that evolved from an 8" 200P Dobsonian, and finally up to its current "Mark IV" as the 8" Newtonian Equitorial you can see in the photo. I'm aware of the ettuiqette here, and this isn't a "hello" post, no.

This is me sharing my write-up for the 12v Power Supply that I made myself in the eventual journey to my fully remote observatory (hopefully opening 2018) at the end of my garden. Hoping to maybe give something back to the community that i've taken so much knowledge and tips/tricks from over the last 18months; because 19months ago, I'd never even put my eye to a telescope eyepiece and now I'm flocked, guided, and powered. So thank you everyone for that.

I've written half of the write up for it last night, pt 2 to follow soon  I hope it's ok to share an external link to my personal Blog: http://milkandbourbons.tech/telescope-power

Finally, its not in the Blog just yet, but here's the picture of the final, finished powersupply. It's a little rough looking 'cos I didn't order as much wire as I should have, but it does the job amazingly!

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Deano
 

 

Edited February 4, 2017 by MnB Deano
typo in the web address

[JemC]

Welcome to SGL

you have certainly been busy while lurking in the background

 

[MnB Deano]

Thank you, indeed I have!
 

Its been a fun journey so far, sometimes I think I enjoy tinkering with the setup more than I enjoy actually using it for its primary function. The only worry is the day my significant other learns to count how many scopes are on there now, vs how many were on there at the time of first purchase. I've already had the "..so.. was there always that smaller telescope mounted on the top of the bigger one?" 

"Can't hear you, love! I'm too busy taking the rubbish out and fixin' that light you reminded me about 6 months ago"

Deano

[steppenwolf]

I assume from your first image that you have been trying to get to grips with Fleming's Left and Right Hand Rules in preparation for building your power supply?

[MnB Deano]

Actually, no! (Off to Google what that is)

That's my best attempt at visualising the phrase "nerding hard or hardly nerding". 

Deano

[furrysocks2]

Very impressive setup - I'm sure you'll enjoy, well done!

Matt.

[MnB Deano]

Thank you! Maybe one day I'll actually learn how it all works

Deano

[barkis]

Who supplied all the Components for your Power Supply.
RS Components, Farnell, or another I know not of?

[MnB Deano]

6 minutes ago, barkis said:

Who supplied all the Components for your Power Supply.
RS Components, Farnell, or another I know not of?

After some intensive googling, I selected RS Online [not affiliated link]  as my chosen supplier, they had most of the components that I needed in stock for 3 day delivery, so that’s what I did. eBay, Amazon and a couple of trips to my local Maplin filled in the blanks of things that I forgot, or didn’t even know I needed for the project. (KFC on the way back was mandatory, really.)

You can read the full write-up I did for it HERE (just a personal blog)

Deano

[michaelmorris]

Welcome to SGL

That's a nice project, thanks for sharing. I'm looking forward to part two.

[MnB Deano]

2 minutes ago, michaelmorris said:

Welcome to SGL

That's a nice project, thanks for sharing. I'm looking forward to part two.

Thank you very much.

[Gina]

Welcome to SGL from me too   Good to see another DIYer

[SilverAstro]

11 hours ago, steppenwolf said:

I assume from your first image that you have been trying to get to grips with Fleming's Left and Right Hand Rules in preparation for building your power supply?

no, he is just showing surprise that Maxwell's divs and curls seem to have been replaced by up-side-down triangles (in   the   my intervening 5 decades) and that it (the symbolism) has all become too abbreviated

 

Edited February 5, 2017 by SilverAstro

[MnB Deano]

3 hours ago, SilverAstro said:

no, he is just showing surprise that Maxwell's divs and curls seem to have been replaced by up-side-down triangles (in   the   my intervening 5 decades) and that it (the symbolism) has all become too abbreviated

 

So I went off to my favourite search engine to try and find out what this is, but after about 4 paragraphs satan said, "Lets put the alphabet in math. The Greek one". So I subsequently gave up.

[MnB Deano]

Hello again everyone. My narcissim requires that I post to say that Pt. 2 has been posted and is ready to be adored. :')

https://milkandbourbons.tech/telescope-power-2

Here's a little excerpt:

OOOPS!

All that that I wrote just then was for naught. When assembling the system, I accidentally pushed down too hard on the terminal screws and shorted the solder-blob’d underside to the metal mounting plate. Popped the 10A main fuse and fried the RGB Dimmer. Yeh. I’m that stupid.

Back to Amazon and placed an order for x3 purpose-made Drok PWM Board. Grand total £9.90/board so £29.70 + £14.99 for the one I fired and its £44.69. Still way under a retail Dew Controller, but an unexpected cost nonetheless. Handily they come with built-in fuse protection (just visable in the photo behind the heat-sink).  It is intended for DC motor control, so the supplied fuse was rated for 5A. I swapped this out for a 3A one, just to guarantee I dont accidentally go over the 20A limit on the main supply. And it comes with a tiny little display that gives you a visual read out of the duty cycle, displayed in %. Now I can have the mental stress of it not being on an even number! I could’ve spent less on it, but I really wanted that little display!  Additionally, the boards are all now raised off of the metal plate on purpose-made plastic sticky-backed feet. You know, to counteract my stupidity.

Deano

Edited February 5, 2017 by MnB Deano