Dew Hairdryer / Battery Pack

[Stardaze]

I use a 12v SLA battery plugged into my dew controller for dew bands but want to add something (all encompassing maybe) that I can plug a hairdryer into too. Was thinking of the basic Celestron 7ah pack but might stretch to a lithium option. The Celestron has the lighter socket so is good to go but lithium options seem to mostly be usb? Has anyone a recommendation. Haven’t a hairdryer at the moment either.

 

[Zermelo]

I can't advise on the Celestron, but if you haven't yet bought the hairdryer, I would suggest you get one with "low" and "high" settings, and be sure to find out the current drawn in each case. I found that many travel dryers had a single setting that drew too much current for the battery I had.

[Dr_Ju_ju]

I take it this will be for intermittent use ? but even so the drain on the battery of the combined heating element and fan motor can be quite high....  Is it just to quickly clean up condensation ?  do you acclimatise the gear before use ? 

[Stardaze]

1 hour ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

I take it this will be for intermittent use ? but even so the drain on the battery of the combined heating element and fan motor can be quite high....  Is it just to quickly clean up condensation ?  do you acclimatise the gear before use ? 

Yes, it would be intermittent. Whilst the dew bands look after most elements I have been caught out needing a quick blast on occasion. It’s not so bad at home as I can run an extension cable out, but I really don’t want to make the effort of heading out to a dark site and being caught out. I do acclimatise at home.

A separate issue was that I had two instances at home where I wheeled the dob into the shed with a slight layer of frost on it. By morning the primary had dewed up. It was advised that it’s best to use the hairdryer to dry off before packing away. That would of course need more power. 

Edited December 14, 2021 by Stardaze

[SteveWolves]

I have just bought a 12v hairdryer from Towsure in Halesowen and will use it with a separate jump start battery 17Ah

[powerlord]

Look into car heaters. They are all 12v, cheap as chips and tend to be around 120w. Or fan only.