Maplin 5 in 1 Power Tank

[Questions]

I like that it has two 12V outputs on it, saves messing around with adaptors. Talking of which, could anyone confirm for me if this is what I need in order to hook it up to my Celestron 8SE?

Cables, Leads and Controllers - SkyTron Power Supply Cable for Skywatcher & Celestron Mounts

I got a carlighter adapter with my celestron cpc800 that fit directly into the charger, I would have thought you should of got one with the 8se (however I maybe wrong), ask the shop you brought it from if you should have recieved it (save you having to buy one).

[jonathan]

That will work. It's expensive but five meters long is pretty handy.

Thanks for that, I'll see what else there is but at least now I know what I need.

[HappySachs]

For buying online from the Maplin store use one of these vouchers at the checkout to save money:

secret1 - £1 Discount when you spend over £10 (Ends December 31st 2010)

secret3 - £3 Discount when you spend over £30 (Ends December 31st 2010)

MVC4 - £4 Discount when you spend over £50 (Ends December 24th 2010)

secret5 - £5 Discount when you spend over £65 (Ends December 31st 2010)

MVCXMAS - £8 Discount when you spend over £100 (Ends December 24th 2010)

secret10 - £10 Discount when you spend over £130 (Ends December 31st 2010)

secret15 - £15 Discount when you spend over £200 (Ends December 31st 2010)

secret20 - £20 Discount when you spend over £250 (Ends December 31st 2010)

secret25 - £25 Discount when you spend over £300 (Ends December 31st 2010)

VCCOM - £6 off any purchase over £70 (Ends December 24th 2010)

FREESURGETOWER -Free Mini 10-Socket Surge Protected Tower worth £24.99 with Purchases Over £50 (ongoing, no end date?)

PD25 - Free Voice changing Toy when you spend over £25 at Maplins (Ends December 24th 2010)

FREEGIFT - Free LCD Radio Controlled Travel Alarm Clock with Nap Timer, worth £14.99, with purchases over £55 with our code (Ends December 24th 2010)

MVCGIFT - Exclusive Free Talking Apple Alarm Clock with all orders over £30 at Maplin (Ends December 5th 2010)

FREETOOLKIT - While Stocks last /// receive 26-Piece Tri-fold Tool Kit FREE* with all orders over the threshold of £39.

You can only use one voucher per order (as far as I know), they were taken from this site. There are other voucher sites out there, I've not checked them but they might have additional codes, simply google 'maplin vouchers' to find them.

Cheers

EDIT: added a few more codes

[dlp]

I bought one of these a couple of days ago and tried it out on my HEQ5 last night. Unfortunately, I thought it was fully charged but it died very quickly. Can anyone tell me what the battery test lights show when it is fully charged? Mine shows red yellow green green all on, which I thought meant fully charged, but it clearly wasn't!

David

[MikeWilson]

I bought one of these a couple of days ago and tried it out on my HEQ5 last night. Unfortunately, I thought it was fully charged but it died very quickly. Can anyone tell me what the battery test lights show when it is fully charged? Mine shows red yellow green green all on, which I thought meant fully charged, but it clearly wasn't!

David

17Ah battery? 500mA charger?

(from flat to full at 100% efficiency)

Time to charge (hours) = 17Ah/0.5A = 34h.

Hope this helps!

Mike

[HappySachs]

The maplin blurb states that it's a sealed lead acid battery, probably worth having a scan through this electropaedia entry on the characteristics of lead acid batteries.

Highlights

• Typical coulombic charge efficiency only 70% but can be as high as 85% to 90% for special designs.

  So with the 0.5 Amp charger that's 34/0.7 = 48.6 hours to charge
  

• Must be stored in a charged state once the electrolyte has been introduced to avoid deterioration of the active chemicals.

  Perhaps maplin have not been storing the batteries in a charged state, hence the failures?
  

• Charging
  Charge immediately after use.
  Lasts longer with partial discharges.
  Charging method: constant voltage followed by float charge.
  Fast charge not possible but charging time can be reduced using the V Taper charge control method.
  

• Completely discharging the battery may cause irreparable damage.
  

I don't see any information on exactly what type of lead acid battery is in the charger, but it's worth noting that the gel cell should not be charged with an automotive charger.

edit: spelling

[MikeWilson]

It takes a long, long time to charge these batteries. I usually put mine on for ~24 hours and that gives me about 4.5-5.5 hours of HEQ5 driving time.

[dlp]

Thanks guys. When I bought the unit it clearly had some charge, in fact all the charge lights came on. I must've given it 12hrs charge before I used it and the lights remained the same. I've had it on charge most of the day and just tested using a 25W halogen bedside light for 1.5hrs. It wasn't as bright at the end of 1.5hrs, so still can't be fully charged. The light theoretically would draw about 2.5A.

The HEQ5 draws about 0.5A on tracking, and about 0.75A on slew, according to my ammeter.

I think you'd have to be desperate to try and start a car with one of these Mr Maplin

David

[MikeWilson]

Thanks guys. When I bought the unit it clearly had some charge, in fact all the charge lights came on. I must've given it 12hrs charge before I used it and the lights remained the same. I've had it on charge most of the day and just tested using a 25W halogen bedside light for 1.5hrs. It wasn't as bright at the end of 1.5hrs, so still can't be fully charged. The light theoretically would draw about 2.5A.

The HEQ5 draws about 0.5A on tracking, and about 0.75A on slew, according to my ammeter.

I think you'd have to be desperate to try and start a car with one of these Mr Maplin

David

Those are very interesting stats, David. And yes, I agree - I don't expect these would be all that useful in trying to start a car!

[jonstarrysky]

Just used my 5in1 for >3 hours heating 5 dew heater strips, with controller knobs all at 70% and a fan. End of night all the charge indicator lights were still lit fully. So happy so far. And hey, easier to justify the purchase with the boss (yes we do need protection in case the car breaksdown...).

I have a question about the charger. Is it essential to use the one provided in the pack ? I just spent £75 on a serious charger for lead acid batteries up to 150 AHr, which automatically stops charging when appropriate. Would is be OK (or better) to use this on the 5in1 in place of the poxy maplin charger ?

There were some superficial issues with my 5in1 - the manual had a big tear and the unit its self had a sticky mess on the top (as if someone had removed a sticker). And the adhesive paper on the front panel is peeling at the top. Hey ho.

[itchy]

These units all use generic sealed lead-acids (probably 17ah capacity).

I've got a Power-Mart equivalent and all i do is connect my automatic car/leisure battery charger to the jump leads of the unit. Seems to work with no problems.

Do you know what rate your car charger kicks out? Mine charges at 4amps and to be honest i wouldn't fancy anything above that as it's not doing the battery much good.

From practical experience i know that you definately cannot start a flat 2 litre diesel Mondeo with one of these!

[Celeste]

Hi guys, I was looking at buying the 5 in 1 powerpack/battery to power my eq 3.2 mount, will this power it ok? Where do I get the cable to connect the 12v socket to my handset?

[MikeWilson]

Hi guys, I was looking at buying the 5 in 1 powerpack/battery to power my eq 3.2 mount, will this power it ok? Where do I get the cable to connect the 12v socket to my handset?

Hi Celeste,

eBay is good for standard size ones if you keep the battery close to the mount, FLO sell a 5m one if you want a longer one.

I also don't think that the 12v connector doesn't go into the handset unless you're connecting the handset to your PC (to upgrade the firmware). The power for the handset comes down the connecting cable and you plug the power into the mount. Your mount might have the power going into the handset for use when connected to the mount, but I think that's unlikely?

[Celeste]

Yes DOH moment Mike lol ....the power goes to the box on my tripod legs handset plugs into that and so on. Forgive me i'm still new to all this

[Nexus 6]

Thanks for sharing,

am in need of a new one as it happens.

Alan

[Nexus 6]

Just read all the posts to this thread. I will be getting the black one for £19.99 phew!

Alan

[Damien]

looks a bargain to me

[Adrian Condon]

Hi,

I have just joined the Maplin 5 in 1 Power Tank Club...........

I was advised by the shop assistant that I should charge the battery for 40 hours on the first charge. The battery is currently charging at home.

Secondly, Red Dwalf says that you can speed up the recharging by attaching to a car battery charger. My question may sound stupid, but how do you do it, as I have a Halfords battery charger that has black and red leads with crocodile clips. I appreciate that I can charge the 5-in-1 via the cigarette holder in the car, but if the engine was not running would the battery actually charge or worst still drain the car battery? Answers and suggestions are welcome.

By the way, you can use the air compressor to revitalise your flat beer!!!

Thanks

Adrian

[red dwalf]

the battery charger that comes with the power unit only charges at 1/2 amp per hour so to fully charge a 17 amp battery it will take 34 hours, too long when you need it, so i use my car charger, it charges at something like 2 amps per hour so reducing the the charge time,

as for charging just connect the crocadile clips on the charger to the red and black clips on the power unit.

as for charging via the cr i suppose you could do it that way but the engine would need to be running so would cost you petrol.

[Astronutjob]

Iv had the 5 in 1 battery pack going on 9 months iv had no problems with it, i have looked after it mind, charged it regulary.

it will power an 10" lx90 easily for 4 hours and more slewing all over the place.

Also the cases are good value for money my HEQ5 Pro mount fits in it snugly, although i did see B&Q were doing the same cases for 14.99 bargin!

[bish789]

Hi guys

Bought the Maplins £19.99 unit and it will need a lot of charging.

I also bought a solar charging unit ages ago from Maplin to keep the battery charged on my car which is on the drive indefinitely and it keeps the battery topped up nicely as the alarm drains it. Only about £12.00 and comes with a cigarette lighter connection so you can plug it straight into the powerpack during the day after its charged normally.

By the way, the B+Q case at £14.99 didn't have the foam when I looked at it the other night, so Maplins is better.

[MikeWilson]

Hi bish789,

Do those actually work? Is it possible to charge a car's battery via a solar panel through the cigarette lighter socket to any degree of usefulness?

Best,

Mike

[jonathan]

Hi bish789,

Do those actually work? Is it possible to charge a car's battery via a solar panel through the cigarette lighter socket to any degree of usefulness?

Best,

Mike

I had one of those but it did nothing for my car, turned out the battery was knackered.

I'm now of the opinion that if you're thinking of having one of these in your car to keep the battery working then you probably should consider sorting out what ever is wrong with your car or battery instead, as the car should recover any power lost from the battery from starting it up or running with lights on after a few miles at cruising speed. A good new battery costs up to £50, last time I looked a solar charger was about £25 (and was a waste of money and space in my case).

[MikeWilson]

Hi Jonathan,

That's kinda what I thought. However these devices seem to be popular and have good reviews. I wonder if they do more than a placebo when used to charge a car battery.

Maplin is currently selling them together in a bundle with a solar suitcase. It might suit some travellers, but now that I've seen the joys of electric hook up at campsites I don't think I'm going back to batteries again if I can help it!

Mike

[bish789]

Hi Mike

These things will never recover a battery that is either knackered or discharged.

They should only be used to keep an already charged battery topped up.

As stated, I have one on my car which is parked up semi permanently to counter the drain the alarm gives, and the other one I have is on my caravan which keeps the already charged battery topped up so the motor mover still works.

They are not a battery charger as such, but a topper up. I'm quire pleased with mine, and it was £15 or thereabouts.