Advice needed on an external power bank for remote imaging

[Catanonia]

Hi all,

For years I have imaged from home in my Bortle 6 skies with constant AC power from the mains.

But, about 1 hour drive I can get to some Bortle 3 and 4 sites, but will of course need some power for my kit.

Can you recommend one of the Jackery's or EcoPower units that would work ?

Basically I need to guess the watt / hours I would need for a good 12 hour session.

 

My kit is

• EQ8R Pro mount
• ZWO ASI Air Pro
• 2x dew heaters
• ZWO 2600 MC Pro cooled to -10
• ZWO 120 guide
• EAF (will take zero power once imaging)

 

Thank you

[rockinrome]

Hello, I would recommend the Jackery units (I have the 250). Have used one for around a year now with no issues. Similar power requirements to yourself, lasts about 3 hours.

All the best.

 

[Andy_L]

Your rough power requirements:  mount 55W, asiair 15W, dew heaters 10W each, cooled camera at -10C 30W, for a total of 120W.  To run for 12 hours you need 1440 Watt-hours.  To give yourself a safety margin to ensure no problems you really need a 200Ah 12V battery (2400 Watt-hours).

The power usage for my kit is only 30-40W.  I bought an Ultramax 50Ah LiFePO4 Battery to supply all night power and have been very happy with it.  Ultramax also do a 200Ah version for around £820 (from batterymasters).

Andy

[ONIKKINEN]

Previously i have been very happy with my Ecoflow River 300 (discontinued model) and would have recommended one or one like it. But last night it failed on me after about 7 hours. I checked the power level at around 1am and it was around 40% which was plenty for the 2-3 hours i was planning to stay for longer. At around 02:30 it had shut off and claimed 0% charge + low temperature discharge warning so it must have drained a lot of power in the final moments.

Reading online the longevity of the River 300 was a big issue and probably why it was discontinued. Also probably why mine failed last night at -15 when i have used it for a similar amount of time in -25. Newer models may be better, at least would hope so.

Newer models of the river advertise down to -10 discharge temperature where as mine is -20. Maybe they just realized -20 is too much and it kills the battery and so just changed it.

Its still been a good purchase but after 2 years of mostly sub zero use its starting to show cracks. Maybe i shouldnt complain actually given its been kind of tortured for so long.