Is it worth the extra £££

[nephilim]

Hi,
I'll shortly be buying a dew controller & i've seen this one which supports a DSLR power supply  https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dew-prevention/lynx-astro-4-port-dew-controller-with-dslr-power-supply.html  . My question is will it be worth the extra £20 over the same controllor without the DSLR option?

I'll only be using 2 dew heater straps but further down the line I will be buying a dedicated camera as the power supply can be plugged into a spare port. My question is, how long does a standard DSLR battery last? I know theres no precise answer so i'm after an approximate really. Realistically a maximum AP session will last 4-5hrs (taking long exposures so obviously it will drain the battery faster). Would a standard battery last round about that length or should I just buy it anyway as £20 isnt an issue if it means piece of mind that the camera wont die nearing the end of a run. Actually make that £55 as i'll also need a dummy battery & cable 🙄

TIA

Steve

 

[rl]

Nothing worse than being out on that perfect moonless night and having the battery fail on you....especially when the weather forecast for the next week is all cloud and rain. And when the rain stops, the moon is back up......

20 quid is the cost of a spare battery, but frankly I 'd take the camera batteries out of the equation altogether and run everything off one massive battery charged up before you go out. Mains is a better option, safety precautions observed. Changing a camera battery risks disturbing the focus and the pointing. Batteries often have less capacity in cold weather, which might well catch you out. 

Money spent ensuring you make the most of the limited AP opportunities in this country is usually a good investment. 

Just my 2p worth from painful experience.

[Seelive]

My Canon battery usually lasts about 2 hours so I use 2, and by the time the second is flat, the first has had time to recharge so I can generally go on for as long as I want using just the 2.

Most of the battery drain occurs when using liveview so I try to keep that to a minimum (mainly just for focusing). And I would guess that the battery drain is higher when processing and storing the images rather than during the exposures, so lots of short exposures may drain the battery quicker than fewer long exposures? The temperature also makes quite a significant difference on battery life. On a cold winters evening I may only get 1 1/2 hrs whereas on a warm summer evening can get 2 1/2 hrs.

[JamesF]

46 minutes ago, rl said:

Mains is a better option

Indeed so.  I don't tend to use DSLRs for much other than star trails and very wide field images these days, but I have a mains PSU feeding a dummy battery for my 450D.  It's just a world less harassment if you have a suitable supply available.

James

[nephilim]

1 hour ago, rl said:

Nothing worse than being out on that perfect moonless night and having the battery fail on you....especially when the weather forecast for the next week is all cloud and rain. And when the rain stops, the moon is back up......

20 quid is the cost of a spare battery, but frankly I 'd take the camera batteries out of the equation altogether and run everything off one massive battery charged up before you go out. Mains is a better option, safety precautions observed. Changing a camera battery risks disturbing the focus and the pointing. Batteries often have less capacity in cold weather, which might well catch you out. 

Money spent ensuring you make the most of the limited AP opportunities in this country is usually a good investment. 

Just my 2p worth from painful experience.

Thanks for the reply.

That makes total sense. I'll be going with the dummy battery option.

I'll be running my whole setup from a Celestron LiFePO4 powerbank although the laptop will have its own, smaller powerbank.

I Msg'd FLO a while back regarding the Powerbanks longevity & a staff member uses a very similar setup to the one I'll be using & gets a whole night out if it. The camera, mount etc will be running off the LiFePO4. As you say, our weather is very much more miss than hit & any wasted time will be similar to wasted money 😁

[nephilim]

54 minutes ago, JamesF said:

Indeed so.  I don't tend to use DSLRs for much other than star trails and very wide field images these days, but I have a mains PSU feeding a dummy battery for my 450D.  It's just a world less harassment if you have a suitable supply available.

James

Thanks for the reply James. 

Ive decided to go with the dummy battery & LiFePO4 option rather than just relying on the DSLR's own battery. I'll be powering the DSLR via a dummy battery & a connection to the 4 port dew controller as i'll only be using 2 dew straps. I spoke to a staff member from FLO who assured me the powerbank i'll be using will easily see me through an evenings imaging.
Although I will have use of the mains supply at home, I'll be doing a fair bit of imaging away from mains power as well. Im in the process of moving house ( I actually move in tomorrow so I should really be getting on with that but yet again SGL has drawn me in 😁) which pretty much sits on the borders of the North Peninnes AONB, Yorkshire Dales NP & Lake District NP & will now have very quick access to a large  number of dark sky sites & i'll be wanting to try out as many as I can 🙂

[nephilim]

1 hour ago, Seelive said:

My Canon battery usually lasts about 2 hours so I use 2, and by the time the second is flat, the first has had time to recharge so I can generally go on for as long as I want using just the 2.

Most of the battery drain occurs when using liveview so I try to keep that to a minimum (mainly just for focusing). And I would guess that the battery drain is higher when processing and storing the images rather than during the exposures, so lots of short exposures may drain the battery quicker than fewer long exposures? The temperature also makes quite a significant difference on battery life. On a cold winters evening I may only get 1 1/2 hrs whereas on a warm summer evening can get 2 1/2 hrs.

Thanks for the reply Seelive,

I had a feeling it'd only be for a few hours, Im going for the powerbank option as that'll last me the full session.

I'm hopefully looking at long exposures (180"-300") rather than many short ones but that will more than likely also be a big drain. Plus changing the battery has the potential to affect the framing & focus so i'd rather not have that added worry 🙂