is it safe to use?

[saturn c]

hi every1!

Ive got a heq5 pro mount. Im using a 12 volt with a 2.5amp output battery charger to power the mount . Is that ok or unsafe?

It seems to work alright when connected. and is the slewing noise supposed to be noticable?
Would i b better off buying a 12 volt regulated power supply from **** smith?

thanx for any feed back.

[RAJAH235]

What sort of battery charger? Is it a regulated one? ie; 'switchmode' or an unregulated one? If unreg, it may supply more voltage at low loads than required. Some of these units can supply anything up to 17 ~ 20 volts with no load so just be a little careful when buying/using them. Just ask for a 'Switchmode' type. They are a little more expensive but well worth it.
Not sure re; the amount of noise it's supposed to make but it's gotta be quieter than a Meade SCT! :P . :P . :P .HTH. :D L.

[acropolite]

I wouldn't be running anything electronic from an unregulated power source. Battery chargers have absolutely no filtering or regulation and as Laurie points out have quite high no load voltages; go for a switch mode supply.

[Doug]

Hi all,in addition to the foregoing, a sealed 12 battery would be a good investment as well. The battery will act as a rather large smoothing capacitor for the battery charger, which in turn will keep the battery charged. Much kinder to sensitive electronics than (regulated??) unfiltered charger output voltages.


Quieter than a Meade SCT:eyepop: ............at least if y'can hear it you know it is working, or trying to:rolleyes:

cheers,
Doug

[Astroman]

Or go get a 17Ah Jump start pack from Supercheap or whatever, will last quite a few hours with it on. As for the noise, from what I have heard mentioned is that it makes hardly any noise at all, but does tend to sound like a jet engine winding up and down as the motors ramp up and Down. Stepper do tend to make a high pitched sound when tracking but not sure if this is audible on the HEQ5.

Definately about 20db quieter than a Meade :D

[Dujon]

Saturn c,

I'm with the others on this. I would never recommend using a battery charger to run any equipment - they are not designed for that purpose and often have significant amounts of ripple (i.e. varying voltages) on their output. Doug's suggestion of attaching it to a SLA battery is sound, though even then it's possible to measure small amounts of ripple (this is probably not important in your case).

What do the specs for the heq5 say when it comes to current requirements? This is important for two reasons:

A) To run it off a battery you can get a rough idea as to how long any given battery will last before going flat by dividing the battery's amp-hour (Ah) rating by the current used by the unit. If the unit is only used intermittently then, obviously, the life of the battery charge will be extended.

B) If you do decide to use a battery with charger attached it will give you some idea as to battery life, even if the battery charger itself is providing less than the unit is using. This, of course, means that the battery charger will be working at full stretch during the use of the equipment and will also need to be used to 'top up' the battery after your observing session, which means you might need a reasonably robust charger.

Incidentally, allowing a sealed lead acid battery to run completely flat is not a good idea and can result in its demise.

[saturn c]

The manual says u can run the mount with a 11 - 15 volt dc power supply with minimum 2 AMPS.
Thanx for the tips every 1 . I'm heading to a **** smith store to buy a regulated power supply rite now! adios amigos!

[Dujon]

Fine business, saturn c.

If I'm not too late: if your budget will extend to it, purchase a power supply (not a charger) which has a fair bit of leeway over the requirement of your unit. In your case this is something better than a 2 Amp supply - I would suggest that a 4 Amp supply would suffice. Check though that the supply specifications indicate that it is a continuous rating and not just a peak designation. 'Tis important.

[Johno]

saturn c,

I can only echo everyone else's comments. ie. Go regulated power supply with a bit of overhead capacity. You'll probably get away with the battery and charger combination but make sure the battery always stays connected. Best would be to only connect the charger to the battery when it's not connected to the mount.

The main reason I replied to this thread was just to say what a great weather station you have set up.

John.

[ving]

my mount is ubber quiet :P