Quote:
Originally Posted by frank777
I've purchased a no name power station to power my rig, which includes both an ASIAir Plus and a SkyWatcher EQ6R-pro mount, both of which require 12 volts. I noticed on the weekend that as time went on, the voltage as reported by the ASIAir dropped from an initial 12 volts to less than 11, at which point the ASIAir started giving undervoltage warnings and the power light on the mount started blinking. I then bought a more expensive power station thinking the other one was of poor quality, only to discover its voltage dropped even faster!
So my question is, is this common with lithium power stations, and is there a way, or brand, or type of power station that will retain its voltage over the course of a night?
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Hi Frank
It really depends on what you bought.
Lithium comes in many flavours. The stuff that's in say, a Jackery, uses Lithium NMC (Nickel Manganese Cobalt). They can hold voltage pretty well, but I'd recommend one with a regulator to guarantee output.
The "newer" stuff on the market is Lithium Iron Phosphate / Lithium Ferrophosphate / or more commonly known as LiFePO4 and this stuff doesn't really need a regulator. It holds voltage down to almost 5% at which point it drops quickly.
And not all lithium batteries are made equal. I haven't had any voltage drop from several Solarking naked batteries, my Jackery solar generator or the newer Bluetti EB70 (uses LiFePO4), but that said, there can be duds out there!
What did you buy? Sometimes it's not even the battery. For example, if you're using a powerbrick plugged into the AC out of these portable batteries, that power brick might not delivery 12V. I've had two Jaycar 10Ah 12VDC packs fail to deliver 12V.