Keeping your laptop charged

[Shimonu]

Maybe the answer here is just that you don't but I'm curious if anyone uses their power source for the rig to also power their laptop.

I'm trying to figure out how I would solve this and I feel like the trouble is the laptop charger wants AC while everything else works on DC. A little ironic as in the end the laptop still runs on DC. So it feels silly to have DC battery->AC->DC charger. I'm not sure how long my laptop would last on its battery alone with everything running. Maybe a little more than an hour would be possible but it seems short in AP terms.

What do you do? Do you charge it, if yes, then how? How long can you image without charging?

I'm also curious what your power situation is in general, assuming of course you're out in the field and not connected to the mains in your backyard.

[CraigT82]

I only image from home and so always have it plugged in to an extension lead, but am considering buying a Powapacs Atom 78Ah Power Pack which would power everything in the field for a good few hours and would allow me to seek out spots with better local seeing. 

[dannybgoode]

This is one of the reasons I am moving over to an RPi4 with Astroberry.  My laptop's battery is still pretty good but I would hate to be stuck out in the wilderness with a dying laptop and no way of charging it.  At home I just leave it plugged in but with a view to going portable I am making the switch.  An RPi with Astroberry will run off a mobile phone power bank quite happily for hours.  I have a 20000mAh one with a 2.1Ah output and have left the Pi plugging in and running 5 hours and it barely touches the amount of juice available.

One option is some large power banks have a 240v AC inverter so you can plug things into them - something like this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TOPQSC-Portable-Generator-Rechargeable-Emergency/dp/B07G3ZFHTZ/ref=sr_1_30?crid=2A23J4GKO3XS3&dchild=1&keywords=portable+240v+battery+pack&qid=1597420919&sprefix=portable+240v+batter%2Caps%2C134&sr=8-30

Alternatively, there is no reason why you could not cobble up a lead to just power the laptop from a 12v DC supply assuming that's what it needs.  Note some laptops charge at 18-20v and have quite a high current draw so this is not necessarily an option.

[Shimonu]

17 minutes ago, dannybgoode said:

This is one of the reasons I am moving over to an RPi4 with Astroberry.  My laptop's battery is still pretty good but I would hate to be stuck out in the wilderness with a dying laptop and no way of charging it.  At home I just leave it plugged in but with a view to going portable I am making the switch.  An RPi with Astroberry will run off a mobile phone power bank quite happily for hours.  I have a 20000mAh one with a 2.1Ah output and have left the Pi plugging in and running 5 hours and it barely touches the amount of juice available.

One option is some large power banks have a 240v AC inverter so you can plug things into them - something like this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TOPQSC-Portable-Generator-Rechargeable-Emergency/dp/B07G3ZFHTZ/ref=sr_1_30?crid=2A23J4GKO3XS3&dchild=1&keywords=portable+240v+battery+pack&qid=1597420919&sprefix=portable+240v+batter%2Caps%2C134&sr=8-30

Alternatively, there is no reason why you could not cobble up a lead to just power the laptop from a 12v DC supply assuming that's what it needs.  Note some laptops charge at 18-20v and have quite a high current draw so this is not necessarily an option.

You have a point about RPi. I suppose I should consider that. I haven't really looked up how complicated that would be to set up.

[dannybgoode]

3 minutes ago, Shimonu said:

You have a point about RPi. I suppose I should consider that. I haven't really looked up how complicated that would be to set up.

Honestly I am a Windows man through and through - I even quite liked Vista.  Once you get the used to the basic concept an RPi with Astroberry which automatically installs KStars and EKOS is much easier to set up than fiddling around with Ascom, all the drivers, EQMod etc.  Astroberry just installs everything you need and then from the EKOS settings you just select your mount, camera, guiding etc from drop downs and it just works.

[Shimonu]

1 hour ago, dannybgoode said:

Honestly I am a Windows man through and through - I even quite liked Vista.  Once you get the used to the basic concept an RPi with Astroberry which automatically installs KStars and EKOS is much easier to set up than fiddling around with Ascom, all the drivers, EQMod etc.  Astroberry just installs everything you need and then from the EKOS settings you just select your mount, camera, guiding etc from drop downs and it just works.

I haven't done any imaging yet with my mount so I'm not really familiar with the workflow. Is this setup a one time thing that you do at home and then you can just set up the rig in the field? I mean you're obviously using another computer to communicate with it and my understanding was that this is an alternative to a laptop. Or is it more like you just need the laptop for an initial setup and then the RPi is independenet? Like how do you control which target to select, sequencing and so on?

[DaveL59]

if it helps and depending on your laptop DC requirement, some of the LiPo jumpstart/powerbank bricks provide a 19V output for laptops. Might be a simple lightweight solution, could power the mount too perhaps. There's also a number of 12V laptop adaptors that might serve your purpose.

[dannybgoode]

34 minutes ago, Shimonu said:

I haven't done any imaging yet with my mount so I'm not really familiar with the workflow. Is this setup a one time thing that you do at home and then you can just set up the rig in the field? I mean you're obviously using another computer to communicate with it and my understanding was that this is an alternative to a laptop. Or is it more like you just need the laptop for an initial setup and then the RPi is independenet? Like how do you control which target to select, sequencing and so on?

You remote access into the Pi and yes this bit is a one time setup.  You can use anything to log into the Pi though so an iPad or Android tablet is fine and they often have a very long battery life.  The routines are pretty straightforward too and it has all the plate solving built in and pre-set up.  So you program your light sequence and then tell it to go off, find whatever target and image it and it does the whole thing automatically.  Very clever.  Watch some YouTube videos in getting started with Stellarmate - Stellarmate is basically a paid for version of Astroberry but how you use them both to image is pretty much identical.  It'll definitely show you what it can do.

[Steve Clay]

I don't image but I do run a solar quest at 12v and a quark at 5 v normally from home. However, when this bug has gone I'll be taking both solar an night kit touring. Done a bit of research and have found this. Has 12v, 5v and inverts to 240.

https://www.portablepowertech.com/product/ppt-powerpack-100/?gclid=CjwKCAjw97P5BRBQEiwAGflV6bjj8JPk8RPZvo-yDke1UTbUBmOcNUIkcNhllh1NlK31lY1hRoKZlBoCMvgQAvD_BwE. Cheaper and more capacity than something like the celestron lifpo pro.

Steve

[almcl]

You can get car adapters for most laptops. They are designed to plug into a cigarette lighter socket.

I run my (secondhand) Panasonic Toughbook when out in the field for about an hour and a half on its own battery then either plug it in to the car for a recharge or into a spare lead acid accumulator.  It doesn't take too long to acquire a full charge and I don't have to stop imaging.