Sorry to start what might seem like a stupid thread...

[steveangel]

Basically i was able to do some on and off observing last night through the clouds using my equipment for the first time.

I use a 17ah power tank / air compressor from Maplins as a cheap alternative to the official celestron power tank.

Every thing worked fine, except the air compressor / power tank made one hell of a noise, and was quite distracting!!! Is this noise limited to the cheap power tank i bought and would the extremly more expensive official one be silent, or am i just asking to much of a giant battery???

[GazOC]

Are you sure theres no on/off switch for the compressor?

[Midpoint]

I've got the Skywatcher branded version of the Celestron power tank (as it's exactly the same but nearly half the price) and it's silent even if the Nexstar mount isn't.

[brantuk]

Errmmm...... the compressor can be switched off - I have the Maplins one and it's silent - but the compressor does make a racket when turned on lol

[acey]

I have the identical (I think) Woolworths version. On one side (the back) there's a pressure gauge and a black switch for the air compressor.

[brantuk]

Hmmm.... mines the left hand one of the two buttons on the front lol. The right hand one on the front is a 5 gazillion candle light

[acey]

Ah, not identical then. I do have the mega-bright lamp and do my best never to go near the button for it. Maybe ought to red-filter it sometime. Or just cover the darn thing up.

[steveangel]

lol it was just me being stupid! id turned the air compressor on thinking it was needed to power the telescope. hopefully the next time i go out i wont come back with bleeding ears

[Sparrow]

I think you might find the battery lasts a bit longer as well between charges:)

It may be a stupid mistake but we all make them from time to time.

[brantuk]

Lol Steve - we've all been there - I puzzled for half an hour once wondering why I couldn't see anything in the lens - till I realised the scope cover was still on. Then there's the time I was doing an impromtu viewing demo for sundry public campers and the whole scope fell on me cos i'd got the tripod legs the wrong way round lol

Make sure you give it a good charge b4 you use it again