What do people use to power their Power box/hubs ?

[Newforestgimp]

Hi all,

I'm considering buying some form of power distribution box (Pegasus, other... not decided yet) and wondering what power supply do people use to take power to the power box ?

1) From mains to power box
2) From in the field battery solutions to power box

on another point, I'm new to this hobby and something that continually frustrates me is the acceptance that electrical hardware is supplied without the appropriate power supply leaving electrophobes like me questioning everytime what is needed and where to buy....

Regards

Andy H

[dannybgoode]

The power supply bit is interesting and it works both ways.  Many people already have a suitable 12v power supply and USB hubs so paying for supplies you don't need is a waste of money and resources.  As to your requirements, given your equipment list I assume you are wanting to go mobile?  If not then a mains extension (with a suitable RCD if outside) and a nice fat 12v PSU will do the trick and you can just run wires from that.  I run a full imaging set up just from mains and a PSU, no PowerBox or anything - just a big 30A liner PSU with cables plugged into that, a USB plug for my Raspberry Pi and my main camera did actually come with a power supply.

If you are wanting to go battery powered then something like the PowerBox is very useful as you just need one cable from a suitably spec'd battery and away you go.  Or you can rig up your own power tank and plop a 12V to 240V inverter on it and plug PSU's etc into that :) . 

Agree though if you are a bit cautious of elctrics (as is sensible if you do not 100% know what you are doing) it can seem daunting and Pegasus do an 'official' 10A psu for the PowerBox although any high power 12V psu would do.

https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/pegasus-12v-mains-10ah-power-supplies.html

 

[teoria_del_big_bang]

From the mains to the box you need a good reliable 12V supply at least 5A I would say and with the correct plug.

Form my PPBA box its a 2.1 / 5.5 mm plug, but I think the ultimate box has its own connector which is different altogether, and some of the Pegasus boxes use a 2.5 / 5.5 mm plug I think so be careful.
If paying the money for the box, as they are not exactly cheap, maybe best to buy the Pegasus supply as well at same time then the supplier will ensure you have the correct connector on it.

In the field there are a myriad of devices people use that of course all have some form of battery and really depends on how long you want your sessions to be and how much gear you need the 12V for as long sessions with current hungry gear can require pretty big batteries.
The box will come with a lead that has a cigarette lighter plug on the other end so there are many available power sources with batteries that have a suitable socket in them

Steve 

[Newforestgimp]

Thank you both,

The main objective for me is to minimise the cables from the ground to the mount, one for power and one Data USB for laptop, so the power dist box will be used at home connected to mains and away connected to leisure battery of some description (when i get that supply organised). I was thinking of using the power supply I purchased for the Skywatcher mount to supply the power to the powerbox i think its a 12v 5a supply, does this sound reasonable ?

28 minutes ago, dannybgoode said:

I run a full imaging set up just from mains and a PSU, no PowerBox or anything - just a big 30A liner PSU with cables plugged into that, a USB plug for my Raspberry Pi and my main camera did actually come with a power supply.

I'll confess i really do not understand electrics fully so apologies, I'm not sure what you mean by 'just a big 30A liner ?
Currently I mounted a 4 way mains extension lead onto the tripod leg and that is connected to an extension reel connected to the house mains, i then have the various DSLR, Mount, USB Hub supplies into the 4 way.

[dave_tucker]

23 minutes ago, Newforestgimp said:

I'll confess i really do not understand electrics fully so apologies, I'm not sure what you mean by 'just a big 30A liner ?

One of these:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/batteries-powerpacks/nevada-psw-30-25-30a-switch-mode-power-supply.html

29 minutes ago, Newforestgimp said:

I was thinking of using the power supply I purchased for the Skywatcher mount to supply the power to the powerbox i think its a 12v 5a supply, does this sound reasonable ?

It depends what you are hoping to connect to it. Take a look at all your equipment and see what the current draw is. If it's more than 5A you'll need a bigger power brick. Above 10A you'll be looking at the ham radio type of power supplies linked above.

[dave_tucker]

Oh also worth checking what the PowerBox is rated for. Once you've added up to see what your draw is you might still need to power the mount separately.

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Probably for what I see you have in your signature then 12V 5A should be fine, like I say without changing plugs and things yourself it will depend what Pegasus power box you are thinking of getting.
I bought the Pocket Power Box Advance and that uses a 2.1 / 5.5 mm connector which I think will be the same as your mount supply.
Looking on the Pegasus website below shows the 3 plug types and I think the SW supply you have will be a 2.1 / 5.5 mm plug as in the middle picture.

If you want to power the mount and power box from the same supply then you will need a suitable Splitter Cable and then probably an Extension Cable to get power to the box from the splitter.

But if you go this route make sure your total draw is no more than 5A.
Not only is that limit on your supply but the cables are not really recommended for anything above 5A.

Steve

Edited March 15, 2021 by teoria_del_big_bang

[Newforestgimp]

This will probably be a silly question but ill ask anyway 🙂
If I were to buy say a 10A supply and the mount recommended supply is a 5A, does the Mount draw what it needs (5A) or does the mount accept what its given ?

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Just now, Newforestgimp said:

This will probably be a silly question but ill ask anyway 🙂
If I were to buy say a 10A supply and the mount recommended supply is a 5A, does the Mount draw what it needs (5A) or does the mount accept what its given ?

It will take what it needs and no more.

Generally when tracking most mounts like yours will draw less than 0.5A but that draw will go up to maybe 2A when slewing at maximum speed, so to e safe a supplier will state to use a 3A supply minimum.

In actual use it will rarely use above 2A max, and that only when slewing to target, but we always have to err on the worst case scenario and if the mount stalled then current can peak higher than that 2A.

Steve

[Cornelius Varley]

3 minutes ago, Newforestgimp said:

This will probably be a silly question but ill ask anyway 🙂
If I were to buy say a 10A supply and the mount recommended supply is a 5A, does the Mount draw what it needs (5A) or does the mount accept what its given ?

The mount will only draw what it needs from the psu. The 5amp recommendation is the minimum required.

[Newforestgimp]

Ok understood, I think the current supply for the mount should be enough for current set up, I'm pretty sure the DSLR will use next to nothing and similar for the USB hub. But I'm still a little confused with regard to cabling, Am i wrong to think of taking power to the distribution box and from the dist box to the Mount ? If im understanding it would appear the suggestion is to split the power prior to the Dist box one leg to the mount the other leg to the power box.
I assumed that the mount and all other ancillaries would be supplied via the distribution box?

[teoria_del_big_bang]

20 minutes ago, Newforestgimp said:

Ok understood, I think the current supply for the mount should be enough for current set up, I'm pretty sure the DSLR will use next to nothing and similar for the USB hub. But I'm still a little confused with regard to cabling, Am i wrong to think of taking power to the distribution box and from the dist box to the Mount ? If im understanding it would appear the suggestion is to split the power prior to the Dist box one leg to the mount the other leg to the power box.
I assumed that the mount and all other ancillaries would be supplied via the distribution box?

The suggestion of splitting it at ground level, for want of a better description, is just what I would do.

I am assuming here that you plan to mount the power box on the scope so you can easily connect your equipment on the saddle to the power box.

And my reasoning for that it that the other method means a trailing power cable to the power box that has to have a loop to allow movement of scope and then another trailing power cable following the same route back to the mount (I assume that the power socket on the mount is on the non moving part of the mount and not the saddle that the scope and power box will be mounted on. 

So my method means you have only one trailing cable with the loop whilst powering the box then taking mount power from the box means using 2 cables.

But either method will work. The one trailing cable rather than 2 just seems more logical to me but other opinions may differ 🙂 

Steve
 

Edited March 15, 2021 by teoria_del_big_bang

[Newforestgimp]

2 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

The suggestion of splitting it at ground level, for want of a better description, is just what I would do.

I am assuming here that you plan to mount the power box on the scope so you can easily connect your equipment on the saddle to the power box.

And my reasoning for that it that the other method means a trailing power cable to the power box that has to have a loop to allow movement of scope and then another trailing power cable following the same route back to the mount (I assume that the power socket on the mount is on the non moving part of the mount and not the saddle that the scope and power box will be mounted on. 

So my method means you have only one trailing cable with the loop whilst powering the box then taking mount power from the box whilst the other means using 2 cables.

But either method will work. The one trailing cable rather than 2 just seems more logical to me but other opinions may differ 🙂 

Steve
 

I'm with you now, that makes perfect sense and where experience shows.