Quote:
Originally Posted by Landy
The power I might investigate a little more before I go plugging things in to the GOTO mount. My original thought was to make some sort of rechargeable battery packs that I could have a few ready to go so if I went on a camping trip I could take a few without the worry of recharging. I will keep you guys posted on this!
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One very common power pack is to just buy a cheap car jump-starter from Super-Cheap Auto, K-Mart, etc. They pretty well all have 12 volt cigarette lighter sockets, so you can use a suitable cable to power the mount. Many of them also have utilty lights, USB sockets, air compressors, etc, so can be handy for all sorts of applications. (And they're also handy to jump start the car if you need it!)
A typical jump starter should be able to power a mount of this sort for many, many hours, depending on the amp-hour rating. (Note: It is the amp-hour rating that matters, not the maximum amps!) How long can you get on a single charge? It's hard to say - your mount's user guide will probably quote a power demand of perhaps 1 to 2 amps - but this is typically the peak demand when the telescope is panning at maximum speed (eg when moving to a new GoTo target). It will draw a lot less current when it is in tracking mode - maybe 250 mA to 500 mA or so. If you have a 17 amp-hour power pack, say, you should be able to get well over 24 hours of continuous use on a single charge.
Another option is to buy a 12-volt Sealed-Lead-Acid battery (SLA) from JayCar or similar, but you would need to buy a suitable charger as well, if you don't already have one.