new battery and connectors for new HEQ5 mount - help

[silv]

Hey,

I am about to order the Sky-Watcher HEQ5 mount.
It will be my first astronomy device purchase and I'm keen to get to play with it as soon as it arrives.

What's in the box?
After research I concluded that the mount will be dead upon arrival...
Hopefully, the mount comes with some form of power cable - but who knows...
So I need a battery and connect both things to get into the game.

"Deep cycle" battery pops up in forum threads . ... but "Jumpstart battery pack" is also mentioned as working solution. hmm.
Both models are basically magic boxes containing the witchcraft stuff that usually comes out of wall sockets.

12 V is what the mount wants -more would be harmful.
2 amp is what it needs - more amp in the battery would not be harmful. In fact, the more amp, the longer and more devices I can run with the battery.
Wattage is not mentioned anywhere - so I'm off the hook.

(This is all Clingonian to me.)

Well, but how would the magic stuff get from A to B? The pictures of batteries I saw did not show any holes that would fit a plug of a sort I have already seen on my various kitchen devices ...

Would anyone care to shed some light into their camera chip and take a picture of their power setup: the cables, the plugs, the holes?
And the battery model they use with the Clingonian values I need to look out for?

In the not too distant future I will possibly also run cooling from the battery, a laptop (12426 mV it says in the system info - which is more than my mount wants. so ... ), possibly a camera. The AP stuff, like. You know what I mean.
And since batteries are environmentally mental I'd like to buy one now and use it like for ever, like.

Ah, speaking of for ever - how do I charge it?

Car batteries are bad because they expect different usage and charging environments - they're not meant for the constant little drainage a mount and AP gear produces. Sounds cool. Still no clue.

Which one? What cables? Where are the holes? :shrug:

Thanks a million for your input!!! :thanx:

[brian nordstrom]

:hi: Hi and Woaw! , you are in a twist ??
Any way I have the same mount in NZ and it came with a 240v - 12 volt wall transformer that plugs into the wall and a 12 volt ( about 3 metres long ) cable plugs into the top of the RA drive housing , its all in the instructions , easy as pie .:thumbsup:
Mine also came with a 5+ metre long ciggerette lighter cable that plugs into you cars ciggerette lighter ,( or jump start battery unit ) and the other end plugs into the RA housing as well , not at the same time as the transformer of course ;) .
Dont worry about over powering your mount from a battery as they will handle the 13.7 volts of a fully charged battery with ease , amps wont hurt it as well .
The wall reansformer is regulated at about 12.7 volts so dont worry there as well.
But I have heard a 12 volt battery is the best as the power is very smooth , you wont get spikes like a wall socket will supply at times :question: maybe some one will conferm this ? .
Most of all enjoy the new mount and photos in the EQ section are always welcome , as you are mate . :welcome:.
Brian.

[whzzz28]

My HEQ5 from Bintel only came with a cigarette lighter plug.

As you have already seen, you can use deep cycle batteries (last a long time) or jump starter packs.
Deep cycle batteries come as just that - a battery. You need to figure out how to connect the cables yourself. If anyone knows of a deep cycle battery with pre-soldered/connected wiring, id like to know ;)

Jump starter packs are easy and require no work from you. Plug in the cigarette lighter plug to it and away it goes.

I get 8hrs~ out of my 900amp jump starter pack. So depending on your imaging time, that may be enough.

http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/products/SCA-Jumpstart-900-Amp-Heavy-Duty.aspx?pid=283446#Description

[bmitchell82]

Hey fellas

here (http://brendanmitchell.net/?p=465) is my solution to the issue you have raised about power distribution off a battery.

Do be aware though that the price i quote on there is parts only but if you want to contact Grahame about it im sure he can sort something out.

BM

[silv]

Aw, thank you guys! Your help was soo useful!
Went ahead and bought a 900amp jumpstarter from supercheapcar for $89 - the one in your link, whzzz28.
they even had some red see through tape to stick on the "super bright LED work light".

bmitchell - I had come across your solution during my research, too. For someone who has a little electronics knowledge it must be very enlightening! But for me, it was Clingonian. :thanx:


:confused2: I won't say anything without my lawyer... What does that mean?

Now, let the thingy come and the storms clear up :D

[brian nordstrom]

Ha ha :) glad you liked it .
Anyway is this the one you got ? ,
Mine lasts for night after night before the 1/2 charge amber light comes on , and thats using quite a lot of GOTO .
Enjoy .
Brian.

[bmitchell82]

:) I have little knowledge in electronics. :) thats my mates field! what i do know it tells me how many amps im drawing every hour (so i can keep a watch on my discharge) it puts one connection out from the battery and splits it 6 ways, 5 to a normal cigarette lighter plug and 1 to a set of terminals. Every one is Fused (short circut protection).

:) hope that clears things up for you

[silv]

yes, it does, bmitchell ;)
and yes, brian, that's the one.

funny, though, that there's no official info of "what's in the box" for the Heq5 on any site.
I'm gonna take pics and put it in a separate thread. Possibly other beginners like me quietly suffer from the same Christmas-toy-without-battery-anxiety-trauma...

[brian nordstrom]

;) your old boilermaker mates thank you for this , over the years its save'd many blow'n up mounts , :question: .
Its not as scarey as it seem's , just dont over power them :thumbsup: , I read the other day that the new Celestron mounts will happily run on 12 and 24 volts without a problem , :screwy: ( its a throw over from the old Meade 18 volt day's ) the extra voltage allows the fast slew speeds to go twice as fast ,, eg. 1052x ? sidereal , Cool .
Brian.

[brian nordstrom]

:thumbsup: Enyoy Silv as my "Chicken's " do , a good power source , easy to use and recharge . Photos ?? Here is a photo of my 'Chickens' wiating for darkness .. :) '
Brian.

[brian nordstrom]

;) 'Chickens ' here waiting for night .
Brian .

[MattT]

Wizz28,
I'm an electronics simpleton:)... does the more amps mean an ability to run longer or being able to hook up more things to it , dew heaters etc.
Supercheap auto has the 900amp for $65 which seems really cheap! The 1900amp is $129... even better???? Good thread this one makes it simple.
Hey Brian, just added a 4" ED bought off the classifides:D (thanks Lucas)Off course it's cloudy here but a quick try on trees no false colour...can't wait for the real stuff.

Cheers Matt

[whzzz28]

In simple terms; a 1900amp pack will last longer than a 900amp.

A good read is here:
http://overlandresource.com/what-is-an-amp-hour-and-how-to-calculate-battery-capacity

I have a 900amp unit and with the scope + powered USB hub i get ~8hrs out of it.
I havn't had my 1900amp unit for long, but i didn't even get to half usage in one night (start at 6pm, finished at 4:30am) with scope + usb hub.

Mind you, these batteries take a while to recharge. If you almost deplete your 900amp, it will take a good 12 hours to get it back up to full or close to.

The 1900amp though...
Mine has been charging for 2 days now and still isn't complete.

So;
900amp is fine unless you plan on going to star parties and spending literally the entire night up and active. They recharge decently fast so you can get back out there the next night and are small/light.

The 1900 amp unit will probably last two nights but takes much longer to recharge and is larger/heavier.

I am still waiting on my dew heater (Bintel don't have stock) so i can't comment on load with a dew heater.

If you have the money, then the 1900amp on sale unit is probably a good idea.
Oh and the 1900amp unit has a USB charging port, so if your out away from a power point you can use it for your phone or whatever.

[bmitchell82]

Okay lets clear some things up.

1900 amps is not 1900 amps at all, its 1900 milli amp hour. Its a engineering made unit of Amps per Hour (A-h).

Here is a quick formula V=A*I

V is Volts
A is Ampers
I is Resistance

think of it like a river, Volts is the flow, Amps is the size of the river, Resistance is the beaver who has put is bloody Damn in the way.

Thats why when you look at your power pack for an electrical device, it will show 12Volts at say 0.5amps aka it has a low draw on your supply.

you could have 12 Volts but 3 amp draw, the river is still flowing at the same speed, but its 6 times larger. more water will pass the point.


So your 1900 amp battery packs are only 19 amp hours (quite small).

depth of discharge will determin life of the battery pack. as a rule of thumb 50% is what you should be aiming for. so your 19 amp hour pack just became 8.5 amp hour.... a eq6 has a rating of 12Volt at 2amp, but thats during full load and slew. on average it will pull about 0.5amp.

Theoretically at 0.5 amp it will consume 0.5 amps every hour of use.

8/0.5=16 hours and hence why they are fine for just your mount. add anything else onto the system and you will be dissapointed.

On the other side of the coin, your paying 130 dollars for 19 AH, for a 105 AH battery im paying 230 dollars. it runs everything i own for a compleat night eg from 6pm to 5am cameras (2x) mount, laptop, dew heaters if required, I only use 40% of the battery.

So my advice to you. look at your battery packs of everything you are going to be using, a simple addition of those amp draws. double that number and add 15%

Capacity required= the sum of all device amp draw * 1.15 * 2

then go out and find the battery that is suited for your situation.

That is what you need to know in a nut shell.

BM

[silv]

Just adding something that I understood ;) :
on the back of the 900AMP box it says:

Battery Power: 12V , 17AH.
AH= Ampere hour.

The HEQ5 uses 2.5 ampere per hour.

The battery will last 17/2.5 = 6.8 hours if only the mount runs from it.
Each additional device will suck it dry faster.

(Here is a tiny question mark! --> ? )

[silv]

ah, bmitchell just posted, too. :)

[silv]

Here's a question:
Because I really don't like the environmental impact of the battery I want it to last forever.

how would I go about making it last?

(from laptop and cell phone batteries I know that they require different depleting/charging methods (calibration) to prolong their full charge capacity.
just so you know: the newest laptop and cell phone batteries don't require any calibration. but the older laptop models had to be drained once a month in a certain way.)

Should I be cautious of never letting it run dry? Should I let it run dry every once in a while? hmm.

[silv]

brian nordstrom, your chicken seem to be holding their breath waiting for the weather to clear up... any chance that you clear up what it meant "you're in a twist?" (I am no native English speaker)

[bmitchell82]

Definately not you will kill your battery very quick if you discharge it very deep.

A process called Sulfacation forms a hard layer on the lead plates... game over dead battery very quick!

Like i said in my post Depth Of Discharge (DOD) you should aim to go no further than 50%. You can get to 30% but make sure you recharge straight away after you have taken it that far.

Also be sure to pick the right charger for your battery that is important.

BM

[silv]

cheers mate!!!

[MattT]

Thanks whzz28 and BM now I get it.
Cheers Matt