Skywatcher RA Motor - two questions

[Samop]

Hi

I've just got myself an RA motor for my Skywatcher EQ3-2 mount and intend - if we ever get clear skys - to initially have a go at photographing the Moon and planets.

So I have two questions (actually I have loads, but we'll stick with the two for now).

The cost of D-cell batteries will undoubtable mount so I'm looking at getting a 6V power supply, but does anyone have any idea what the current drain would be? I've seen two from reputable suppliers, one that's "300 → 600mA" and the other 1.5A, both similarly priced. Thoughts please?

2nd question... now that I've attached my motor I assume I've lost the ability to manually adjust the RA position.. yes? or is there a clutch somewhere

Cheers

 

[Franklin]

The SW RA motor set comes with a clutch usually, it fits over the end of the worm shaft and it secured with a grub screw and the gear, which connects to the motor gear runs free when the screw-down clutch is loosened and engages when it's tightened up, so you can still use your slo-mo control.

The 6vDC motors will run fine from a 5vDC USB powerbank, 10,000mAh works well and lasts all through the night. You'll have to get a USB to 5.5x2.1 DC plug lead though, they are on Ebay for a couple of quid.

[malc-c]

I agree with the post above, invest in a powerbank and suitable lead.  With a 10 a/h capacity that would keep you going for the night and is much safer than running mains outside to use a suitable wall block power adapter 

[Owmuchonomy]

If you've got a cordless drill you can get an adaptor from Fleabay to run it from that.  I run my AZ-Gti mount all night from my De Walt drill battery.

[Cosmic Geoff]

When I had one of those motors, I used a small 6v lead-acid battery, along with a charger from ebay which apparently was intended for use with model R/C systems using this kind of battery.  As you can see above there are other solutions.  With future proofing in mind, you could also go for a +12v system and a 12v to 6v step-down converter.

[Samop]

Sorry for the delay in responding.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions. In general I wouldn't buy any batteries or chargers from an auction site - you never know what you're getting although you guys have done alright.

The powerbank option seems the cheapest (I already have one) so I'll go with that.