What makes Celestron's power supplies justify charging 89.00 (usd)?

[Trippelforge]

I ordered an AVX (which I posted about) and need to buy an AC adapter for it. I don't own a power station of any kind and I don't want to spend anymore right now. The cigarette lighter adapter is ANNOYING in my opinion... I imagine they do that so you have to buy their other options, or their power banks. But not everyone runs mounts outside of their backyards. 

Anyways I need to get one ordered today. And obviously Celestron's branded one is the top result, but I have never seen an AC adapter for that price before. Sure it screws in, but I attach the bricks to the legs anyways. I noticed highpoint had one for 40 bucks (USD) or so, but they are back ordered (not shocking). 

So what makes these SO GREAT that they can charge so much for them? Is it simply branding? I have a hard time believing that they are made outside of same plant as the ones for 1/4 of the price.

That brings me to the question also if you guys could point me to a reliable cheaper option.

Thanks!!!!

 

[Elp]

It's usually just greed and higher profit margins. But saying that not all electronic equipment is built equal. Have you looked on FLO, they ship international.

[Shimrod]

55 minutes ago, Trippelforge said:

I ordered an AVX (which I posted about) and need to buy an AC adapter for it. I don't own a power station of any kind and I don't want to spend anymore right now. The cigarette lighter adapter is ANNOYING in my opinion... I imagine they do that so you have to buy their other options, or their power banks. But not everyone runs mounts outside of their backyards. 

Anyways I need to get one ordered today. And obviously Celestron's branded one is the top result, but I have never seen an AC adapter for that price before. Sure it screws in, but I attach the bricks to the legs anyways. I noticed highpoint had one for 40 bucks (USD) or so, but they are back ordered (not shocking). 

So what makes these SO GREAT that they can charge so much for them? Is it simply branding? I have a hard time believing that they are made outside of same plant as the ones for 1/4 of the price.

That brings me to the question also if you guys could point me to a reliable cheaper option.

Thanks!!!!

 

The Celestron 5amp power supply is £39 - approx $47 before shipping costs at Picstop but they don't ship to the USA - try looking at a few UK or European websites that ship internationally. Might not come with a US plug though.

[Dr_Ju_ju]

Yep, its just greed (it costs soooo much to have their brand name plastered all over it, especially for a common Chines made product....)   bearing that in mind, have a look around (eBay\Amazon et al) for a supply that provides the voltage\current\connector(s) for your locale, and you should be ok.

[Elp]

£30-40 seems to be the going rate. The last one I got was a Lynx astro but it's not their brand, it's made by another company (as they all are).

[Franklin]

4 hours ago, Trippelforge said:

So what makes these SO GREAT that they can charge so much for them?

You think that's a rip-off? Vixen charge £125 for theirs!!! A 12vDC mains transformer, £25 in Maplins.

[Trippelforge]

50 minutes ago, Franklin said:

You think that's a rip-off? Vixen charge £125 for theirs!!! A 12vDC mains transformer, £25 in Maplins.

Wth... I mean it's obvious as to WHY these companies do it ($$$). But it seems so sketchy as you need to be able to run their equipment. What makes it even worse is how expensive things are... it wouldn't kill them to simply give you a way to power it. 

[Franklin]

47 minutes ago, Trippelforge said:

it wouldn't kill them to simply give you a way to power it. 

Exactly, if buying an outfit then a power supply should be part of that outfit.

[bwj]

https://www.adorama.com/cnacn.html

This is what I have for my Nexstar 8SE. 

[Trippelforge]

9 minutes ago, bwj said:

https://www.adorama.com/cnacn.html

This is what I have for my Nexstar 8SE. 

Why does the 89.00 one say it's 5 amp (that one is 2.5)? It does list the AVX on the compatibility list though. Hmm... does it not matter?

EDIT: OK so at the bottom it suggests the 5amp version they have. Which is expensive... 

Edited October 25, 2023 by Trippelforge

[Louis D]

You could search on ebay for a cheaper alternative.  Just make sure it supplies at least 5 Amps at 12 V.  The 12 V connector is pretty standardized by voltage with a positive tip.

Celestron lists 3.5 Amps minimum for their AVX mount with positive tip.

Edited October 25, 2023 by Louis D

[bwj]

I actually called Celestron and asked them. They said this one was plenty for my mount. I suspect the 5amp comes into play when you add dew heaters and other accessories (Skyfi, Starsense, etc). Give them a call and double check.

You might also look at this thread 

I'm guessing you're also on Cloudy Nights. They might have more info over there

Good luck and clear skies!

[Shimrod]

11 minutes ago, Trippelforge said:

Why does the 89.00 one say it's 5 amp (that one is 2.5)? It does list the AVX on the compatibility list though. Hmm... does it not matter?

On the Celestron website it recommends the 5a power supply if imaging, but says for visual the 2 .5a supply is sufficient .

[Trippelforge]

8 minutes ago, Shimrod said:

On the Celestron website it recommends the 5a power supply if imaging, but says for visual the 2 .5a supply is sufficient .

I guess due to tracking? I purely do imaging, so I guess maybe I need to simply suck it up and pay the money. The one thing though is it's so expensive I am wondering if it would be best to just pay double and pickup a power station and use the supplied cable. That's an entirely new issue for though. 

[Trippelforge]

10 minutes ago, bwj said:

I actually called Celestron and asked them. They said this one was plenty for my mount. I suspect the 5amp comes into play when you add dew heaters and other accessories (Skyfi, Starsense, etc). Give them a call and double check.

You might also look at this thread 

I'm guessing you're also on Cloudy Nights. They might have more info over there

Good luck and clear skies!

How do dew heaters pull more power? Can you hook them up directly to the AVX or are you talking about certain other mounts? Thanks for the link, I will read through it shortly. And ya I am also on Cloudy Nights., I posted a question over there and I pretty much got pages of how to build your own battery... lol.  That seems to be a common thing though, you can ask one very basic question and no one usually just answers it (lol). This forum seems more helpful. 😃

 

[teoria_del_big_bang]

29 minutes ago, Trippelforge said:

How do dew heaters pull more power? Can you hook them up directly to the AVX or are you talking about certain other mounts? Thanks for the link, I will read through it shortly. And ya I am also on Cloudy Nights., I posted a question over there and I pretty much got pages of how to build your own battery... lol.  That seems to be a common thing though, you can ask one very basic question and no one usually just answers it (lol). This forum seems more helpful. 😃

 

As a very broad rule most mounts of this sort of size will draw about 2 A max when slewing and this will reduce to less than 0.5A when tracking, obviously bigger and heavier the mount then more current it is likely to take.
Dew bands can generally take anything from 0.5A to 2A depending on the size and the bigger diameter then usually the more current it will take, as a very general statement ones on my Esprit will take about 0.8 A if running on direct 12V and not reduced via a controller.
So if you were not using dew bands then 2.5A supply would be fine just for the mount but with a dew band you would be better off with the 5A and that will have some reserve for extra equipment in the future such as a guidescope dew band or a cooled CCD so always worth to but a bit bigger than you need at the immediate time of purchase to future proof it somewhat.

Steve

[Shimrod]

2 hours ago, Trippelforge said:

I guess due to tracking? I purely do imaging, so I guess maybe I need to simply suck it up and pay the money. The one thing though is it's so expensive I am wondering if it would be best to just pay double and pickup a power station and use the supplied cable. That's an entirely new issue for though. 

There is a compatible one on Amazon for $17 that seems to have a reasonable number of positive reviews - https://www.amazon.com/Compatible-Celestron-Telescope-Replacement-switching/dp/B00DILJCZM

[Naughty Neal]

The jack plug is a common one used 5.5mm x 2.1mm so any power supply of the correct voltage and amperage  will work. 

Brand name pricing = kerching , it isn't only Celestron but all brands in any type of market does it.

[Louis D]

21 hours ago, Shimrod said:

There is a compatible one on Amazon for $17 that seems to have a reasonable number of positive reviews - https://www.amazon.com/Compatible-Celestron-Telescope-Replacement-switching/dp/B00DILJCZM

Looks a lot like the ebay ones I was referencing.

 

2 hours ago, Naughty Neal said:

The jack plug is a common one used 5.5mm x 2.1mm so any power supply of the correct voltage and amperage  will work. 

Brand name pricing = kerching , it isn't only Celestron but all brands in any type of market does it.

My point exactly.

I've found power supplies are much simpler to replace than obsolete laptop batteries.  Most of the generic replacement batteries don't have the necessary electronics built into to them to take a charge.