ZWO ASI294mc - pro power supply

[Astro Noodles]

I'm trying to run my 294mc from a Celestron power tank.

It should be enough shouldn't it?

Celestron Lithium 7.2 Ah LiFePO4 Powertank | First Light Optics

 

[Clarkey]

It will depend on how long you want to run it and how cold. It is listed as drawing up to 3A at 12V so at 'full power' it will use up the battery fairly quickly - just over 2 hours. However, if you run it at a higher temp it won't use that much power. If you are running the RPI and any dew bands you will probably want more than this. I have an 85 Ah lead acid for my imaging rig for use away from home. However, this is overkill. Typically my single rig uses 1.5 amps whilst tracking and imaging.

[ONIKKINEN]

35 minutes ago, Astro Noodles said:

I'm trying to run my 294mc from a Celestron power tank.

It should be enough shouldn't it?

Celestron Lithium 7.2 Ah LiFePO4 Powertank | First Light Optics

 

I had a terrible experience with this powertank so wouldnt recommend it. I see that some others have not so terrible experiences so mine might be from a monday morning batch of units but anyways.

This powertank has a DC port and 2 USB ports, but only one of these can be used at any one time, so you dont really have 3 ports to use if you planned to use the USB ports while the DC port is running too. The DC port is also a "smart" port so you cannot choose to supply power or not, the powertank will choose for you. If the power consumption is too low the powertank goes to sleep and you lose power, also if its too large, and by too large i mean anything that is greater than 3A by even a little bit for 1/10th of a second, the powertank shuts power off. For instance using this to power an equatorial mount will mean that during every go-to the powertank shuts power off because probably for a fraction of a second there is a current spike. Terrible design and not one i cant not recommend when given the chance!

That being said, i doubt there are many current spikes when powering a camera as its more or less constant power required rather than 1 moment no power and another moment full power with 2 motors.

[Hans Joakim]

Section 5.2 in this document shows the power consumption for the ZWO 294 MC for different cooling temperatures (assuming 25.5 dC ambient temperature). Under these conditions, you should be able to keep the sensor below 0 dC with no more than 0.4 A per hour. I expect a power tank of this capacity should be plenty sufficient.

[Astro Noodles]

25 minutes ago, ONIKKINEN said:

I had a terrible experience with this powertank so wouldnt recommend it. I see that some others have not so terrible experiences so mine might be from a monday morning batch of units but anyways.

This powertank has a DC port and 2 USB ports, but only one of these can be used at any one time, so you dont really have 3 ports to use if you planned to use the USB ports while the DC port is running too. The DC port is also a "smart" port so you cannot choose to supply power or not, the powertank will choose for you. If the power consumption is too low the powertank goes to sleep and you lose power, also if its too large, and by too large i mean anything that is greater than 3A by even a little bit for 1/10th of a second, the powertank shuts power off. For instance using this to power an equatorial mount will mean that during every go-to the powertank shuts power off because probably for a fraction of a second there is a current spike. Terrible design and not one i cant not recommend when given the chance!

That being said, i doubt there are many current spikes when powering a camera as its more or less constant power required rather than 1 moment no power and another moment full power with 2 motors.

It is a strange battery. I thought it would solve a lot of issues for me but it has just created extra ones. It is great for powering a dew heater strap, but seems pretty useless for anything else. I have a feeling that the camera draws too little charge for it.

[Elp]

I don't have the one you have I have the lower capacity lithium LT.

The 12v out connects to the asiair, the 12v out of the asiair powers my azgti/gem28, plus one 12v out for the 183 cooling, the usb outs of the asiair power the 183, 224 and the lynx astro rj12 cable (for azgti). No issues. With the azgti setup get around 3-4 hours of continuous use.

Can't use the usb out of the LT at the same time as the 12v but I don't have a need to.