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Old 30-06-2011, 10:56 AM
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niko
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Portable power set up

I confess to being a complete novice in the world of electricity so any advice gratefully sought.

I have an ED80 on a HEQPro5 mount, laptop, guidescope, dew heater and Canon battery pack.

I'd like to run all this under dark skies where there's no power so looking for reasonably portable battery solution. I currently run a few lights in my shack using a small solar panel and a 33AH battery.

Wondering what people think I might need in terms of AH battery and what regulation for both recharging battery via the panel (or 240 volts back at home) and regulation of power to the equipment.

Might I be better to run the low draw stuff (mount and heater) off one battery and the other stuff off another...? Someone also mentioned I should remove the laptop battery when running from an inverter hooked up to the 12v - does that sound right?

Oh, and sadly the budget is not unlimited!

Any help appreciated

thanks guys

niko
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Old 30-06-2011, 11:11 AM
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DavidTrap (David)
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Lots of threads on this if you search.

Basically, you need to work out how many amps your rig is drawing and multiply that by the number of hours you want to run for. Ideally, your battery shouldn't be discharged beyond 50% of it stated capacity to prevent damaging the battery. (I've never worked out why they call it a 100amp/hr battery and then tell you can only use half that????)

On average, your mount is probably drawing 0.5-1 amp, the dew heaters 2-3amps, and the laptop anywhere from 5-10amps depending on size and whether it's trying to recharge the internal battery at the same time. People recommend removing the internal battery so it doesn't try to charge that at the same time, but I'd rather leave it in so if a cable is bumped your laptop doesn't shut down.

My guess is your going to need 30-50amp/hrs per night - so you're probably looking at a 60-75amp/hr battery. Do your sums and your homework.

DT
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Old 30-06-2011, 03:52 PM
mikerr (Michael)
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Used 4WD and tractor batteries can supply plenty of power cheaply...

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ad.php?t=76643

Michael
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Old 30-06-2011, 06:17 PM
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multiweb (Marc)
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An AGM Cell Deep Cycle battery 75AH will cost you approx $250.00 and get you two nights of power for your mount, camera, laptop, dew heater etc..
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Old 01-07-2011, 09:03 AM
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thanks guys

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