Quote:
Originally Posted by g__day
I run a total of four ZWO cameras on three side by side or piggybacked Williams Optics refractors - my two cooled cameras are both powered by the same lab power supply - voltages measure with two multi meters at the power plugs ends that attach to the camera. They both use the supplied 2 metres ZWO USB 3 cables to connect to a high quality, powered USB3.1 hub that connects via a high quality 3 metre cable to the astrolab PC.
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Just note when measuring voltage at your device such as a camera for people reading this and want to check something themselves. It needs to be done under load so in the case of the cooled camera, when it’s trying to cool at max power (or use a dummy load that draws a similar current).
You can’t test for voltage drop without doing that. It’s why I suggested a short test cable so you can access the wires to measure under load without accidentally shorting things out.
No load means little current so no voltage drop in cables, fuses, connectors etc that may have higher resistance than expected. So for the cable lengths and voltages involved, no load is likely to result in the same voltage as the power supply.
You might expect about 0.5v drop at the end but I’ve seen 1v or once 1.5v
At least a 12v battery which is really closer to 13v or over would help with poor or inadequate cabling.