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Jump Starter Advice

Armsoft

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Armsoft

Armsoft

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Hello all,

Could someone give me some advice on the following Jump Starter please.

I have a Nexstar6 SE and am need of some mobile power and saw this one advertised on offer -

Heavy-Duty 6-in-1 Jump Starter with Air Compressor and 140W Invertor - Free Delivery : Caravan & Camping : Maplin

I assume if I went for this I would need to get a further cable from Celestron to connect to the scope?

Any help/advice appreciated

Mark

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brantuk

brantuk

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I have the same model as this only without the usb socket. It came with a 17ah battery inside and has been no problem at all so far, and lasts for several complete sessions of 4hrs or so. It does have a connector with it for a telescope - but you'll find it is a bit too short. So a proper longer connector will be needed.

Cheers :D

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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If you are only running the mount then you won't need as much power as someone running two CCD cameras and a dewheater. However, far more reliable long term are caravan deep discharge (AKA Leisure) Batteries. I do have a couple of power tanks but one has conked after about a year. They are handy, I know, but a friend in the tyres/batteries trade stopped selling them because of the frequent returns. On a similar thread several others, too, had switched to Leisure batteries.

Olly

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Armsoft

Armsoft

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Demon

Looking at the one you have, it would seem better than the one I was looking at as its 17AH.

How long a sessions are you able to run yours for?

Thanks

Mark

I have its baby brother for my 6SE/102SLT Portable Jump Starter and Air Compressor - Free Delivery : In-Car Battery Chargers and Compressors : Maplin

You would need a standard cigarette plug to power tip cable - probably included (one was with mine)

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red dwalf

red dwalf

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i have the same one as demon performer, bought from maplin when they where on offer for £25, they have 17amp battery which i`ve had no problems running on my cg5 gt mount with, keep charging them up every month even if you haven`t used it and it should last a long time, good value for the money, but the leisure batterys are better as they are deep cycle batterys made for being drained and recharged lots of times but they can be more expensive and not as easy to lug around

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Armsoft

Armsoft

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Ok,

Been down to my local Maplin and brought the same one as Demon Performer, it came with a `short` cable to connect it to the scope.

I`ve ordered a 3mtr one from the site suggested by Brett (thanks), so will charge the unit up and see how it goes.

Thanks again for all the advice, much appreciated.

Mark

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sn00p

sn00p

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i bought and converted 1 of these...

3-in-1 Portable Jumpstarter : Caravan & Camping : Maplin £19.99 just removed the jump leads, cut the sides off and then some extra 12v terminals for banana plugs, has 12v cigerete socket already. I then used rear light repair tape red to cover the white light. Comes with inbuilt volt tester and charge pack..... pictures to come :-)

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Demonperformer

Demonperformer

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Demon

Looking at the one you have, it would seem better than the one I was looking at as its 17AH.

How long a sessions are you able to run yours for?

Thanks

Mark

Mark

A bit late, I guess, as you have already purchased, but FYI an average (for me) 2.5 - 3hr session leaves it still 'in the green' showing over 12V. I tend to charge it up before each session, so cannot really say how long it would carry on working if I didn't.

Thanks

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Armsoft

Armsoft

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Deamonperformer,

2.5 - 3hr sessions are far longer than I have had so far as I tend to lose patiance with the fact that I still can`t seem to be able to view planets (despite the fact that I now have a bigger scope and the right eyepieces), so my sesions currently seem to last around an hour max.

I`ve set my 6SE up correctly (as far as I can tell) checked collomation (defocus star and get perfect round douhnut) I`ve alligned the scope using 3 star alignment and get `Success` message onscreen, but when I ask the scope to go to say Saturn it moves to it, but when I look through the scope I don`t seem to be able to see it (even if I change the eyepice to a 12mmor 9mm).

I`ve tried it with Standard Time & Daylight Saving Time, both without success.

I think I need to join a local Astro Club to see if I can get some `hands on` help to point me in the right direction.

Mark

Mark

A bit late, I guess, as you have already purchased, but FYI an average (for me) 2.5 - 3hr session leaves it still 'in the green' showing over 12V. I tend to charge it up before each session, so cannot really say how long it would carry on working if I didn't.

Thanks

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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Slightly Off topic but hopefully might help you cant find planets frustrations...

Are you centering alignment satrs in the finder or the main OTA.. if its just int he finder how well is it co-aligned with the OTA - although you can setup on a distant terestrial target I always tweak it after on a celestial one to take out the parallax...

Start with the longest FL EP that you have to find objects and then work down and possibly barlow them up.. I used to find a cheap zoom EP a real boon for finding planets with my ETX105... especially when I was tryign to put it on the chip of a webcam...

I have a starter charger which is about 10 years old and as its kept charged its still working fine... dont leave them sitting around after a night out put them satright on charge when you get in...

Peter...

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Demonperformer

Demonperformer

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Mark

If you cannot see the planet when you move to it, that would suggest to me that there is a problem with your initial alignment (not that I'm any great expert). The following are thoughts that immediately spring to mind ... please don't think I am being patronizing or anything like that ... just listing them so you can 'tick the boxes'

Is the scope properly levelled? Always make sure the bubble is exactly in the middle on the tripod before attaching the mount/scope.

Are your latitude and longitude correct?

Have you entered the date in MM/DD/YY format?

Are you entering the time to the second? Set your timepiece (I used the laptop clock) to the second by GMT site. One of the best buys I made was a GPS USB dongle from Maplins for £20. Now I just enter the details from that and tell the system I am not using DST, as the time the signal produces is GMT.

When I used the 3-star align I always found it helped not to use solar system objects (moon/planets), presumably because they move and the system has to adjust for that movement.

Are the stars you use to align on either side of the planet you are trying to view?

When you initially slew to the object, use a low-powered eyepiece (I would use the 32mm) to make sure the object is in fov and can be centred if necessary - only move to a more powerful eyepiece when centred.

TBH, I no longer use the skyalign feature. I tell the system I am going to do a one-star align (you need to know which star is which to do this, but learning the sky if you can't do that is a good thing) and align on that star. I then use the GOTO to find a second star, not too far away and use the ALIGN to replace the unspecified object. This gives me a second reference point. I then work my way towards the object I want to observe, replacing the nearest star at each alignment. By the time I get where I am going, I have two widely spaced objects as alignment points and find the planet or whatever in the eyepiece without too much difficulty.

HTH

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Armsoft

Armsoft

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Demonperformer,

Thanks again.

Is the scope properly levelled? - I`ve been leveling with the scope etc attached, so will try without next time.

Are your latitude and longitude correct? - I`m in Maidenhead, and have been using London as home City (do I need to be more accurate than that?)

Have you entered the date in MM/DD/YY format? - Date format entered correctly

Are you entering the time to the second?- not to the second, just to the minute, but will try exact next time.

I`ve just downloaded `Distant Suns` for the IPhone, I`m hoping that this will help identify the stars, I will then try the single star align as suggested.

Thanks once again

Mark

Mark

If you cannot see the planet when you move to it, that would suggest to me that there is a problem with your initial alignment (not that I'm any great expert). The following are thoughts that immediately spring to mind ... please don't think I am being patronizing or anything like that ... just listing them so you can 'tick the boxes'

Is the scope properly levelled? Always make sure the bubble is exactly in the middle on the tripod before attaching the mount/scope.

Are your latitude and longitude correct?

Have you entered the date in MM/DD/YY format?

Are you entering the time to the second? Set your timepiece (I used the laptop clock) to the second by GMT site. One of the best buys I made was a GPS USB dongle from Maplins for £20. Now I just enter the details from that and tell the system I am not using DST, as the time the signal produces is GMT.

When I used the 3-star align I always found it helped not to use solar system objects (moon/planets), presumably because they move and the system has to adjust for that movement.

Are the stars you use to align on either side of the planet you are trying to view?

When you initially slew to the object, use a low-powered eyepiece (I would use the 32mm) to make sure the object is in fov and can be centred if necessary - only move to a more powerful eyepiece when centred.

TBH, I no longer use the skyalign feature. I tell the system I am going to do a one-star align (you need to know which star is which to do this, but learning the sky if you can't do that is a good thing) and align on that star. I then use the GOTO to find a second star, not too far away and use the ALIGN to replace the unspecified object. This gives me a second reference point. I then work my way towards the object I want to observe, replacing the nearest star at each alignment. By the time I get where I am going, I have two widely spaced objects as alignment points and find the planet or whatever in the eyepiece without too much difficulty.

HTH

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brantuk

brantuk

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First and most important is level tripod/base and pointing north (use a compass). Next get it polar aligned (eq mounts). Then with the goto set up correctly do an alignment.

If you can't find stars/planets etc when the scope arrives, then you're probably using too high a magnification. Start with long focal lengths (around 30mm ep) and you should find the object no problem :D

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Cornelius Varley

Cornelius Varley

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Is your finderscope aligned to the OTA ?. You should always check that they are aligned before doing a star alignment (point the telescope at a distant aerial / building and adjust the finderscope). When you do a star alignment using the finderscope do you then check that the star is centred in the eyepiece in the telescope ? You may get the star centred in your finder but it may still be outside the FOV of the eyepiece.

Peter

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Armsoft

Armsoft

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My clearest field of view points South, so is pointing North critical?

I`ll use the 32mm eyepiece when I`m next out.

Thanks

Mark

First and most important is level tripod/base and pointing north (use a compass). Next get it polar aligned (eq mounts). Then with the goto set up correctly do an alignment.

If you can't find stars/planets etc when the scope arrives, then you're probably using too high a magnification. Start with long focal lengths (around 30mm ep) and you should find the object no problem :D

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Demonperformer

Demonperformer

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If you are using the mount that came with the scope, it is an alt-az mount (moves right-left, up-down) so polar alignment not applicable. This only comes into play if you are using an equatorial mount, which follows the path of stars on one axis only.

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Armsoft

Armsoft

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Phew! Thanks Demonperformer,

I had visions of having to knock the house down then! (the wife would not have been impressed)

I`ll certainly take more time ensuring the tripod is level before putting the scope etc on, and will also give the one star alignment a try.

I`m fairly confident that the finderscope (red dot) is aligned ok, but will also check this again.

I`ll change from my 25mm EP to a 32mm EP also to see if that helps.

Thanks once again for everyones support on this, I just hope I get a successful viewing soon..

Mark

If you are using the mount that came with the scope, it is an alt-az mount (moves right-left, up-down) so polar alignment not applicable. This only comes into play if you are using an equatorial mount, which follows the path of stars on one axis only.
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