[RussellH]

Hi folks,

So I got my ZWO EAF installed a week ago, but horrible windy weather means I’ve had no chance to go try it out yet. I’m using a borrowed AC adaptor to power it at the moment, but I’d like to convert to a LiPo with boost/buck converter and mount it onto the telescope.

As you can see in the first photo, the EAF has a slight problem with the plugs projecting close to, and past the opening of the telescope on my Skywatcher Newtonian. If I leave the cables dangling to AC power, to allow some travel as the scope slews, there’s a change of them obstructing the front of the scope. If I can get the power supply onto the scope itself, I can take all of the slack out of the power cable at least (the usb connector is still a problem but not as bad as it is closer to the scope) and keep it out of the way.

So, I was thinking of mounting a 2 or 3 cell LiPo onto the scope somewhere with a boost/buck converter to regulate to 12v. The piggyback mounting points on the top of the scope look like the perfect spot as the weight placed there should affect the balance the least, and moving it away from the body of the scope a little on a bracket will avoid any possible heating issues (not that I expect it to heat up really, as it should use very little power to just re-focus occasionally while taking an image sequence). I can 3d print a mount, and I think the thread sizes are standard camera tripod mount threads.

So, does anyone see any issues with doing this?

Thanks.
Russell.