I know Celestron sell 12v rechargeable batteries for their telescopes. But a friend has mentioned to me that I could probably power my telescope with any type of rechargeable pack. Is this true and if so what do you use?
Most telescope manuals that I have seen provide the electrical specifications for mains adapters to power their mounts. Most that I have seen are 12V DC and for GoTo operations, usually require a minimum of 2 Amps.
You need to be very careful with the connector on the mains adapter that plugs into your mount. Some are centre tip Positive whilst my Vixen GPDX mount is centre tip negative. If you get these mixed up you could fry the electronics in the mount unless the mount manufacturer has designed reverse polarity protection into the electronics of the mount. I always use Regulated mains adapters on my mounts.
Also, take the usual precautions with using mains power at night time, outdoors under damp conditions.
I have a Celestron CGE and have had a C8NGT and usually run both from the Celestron "tank", the source you are refering to. I also have a "jump start" battery from Auto Barn and use that as a second backup battery. It works perfectly and will run the scope for hours. I would suggest you look at one of these as they are considerably cheaper...I have a yellow one (middle size). Your scope probably came with a cigarette light cable, like mine did, but it is probably much longer than you will need so you may want to solder up a shorter version (keep the old one for the car and as a spare). Take it down to you local electronics store and make sure you get the right connectors.
The only problem I had was the first one did not charge, after 2 days it could barely light the internal torch. Took it back and swapped, checked the built in voltmeter at the checkout and it was on zero (it should have something in it, but not charged) and the needle didn't move. Grabbed a third one and it has never missed a beat, I use it for the CatCooler and as a spare for the scope.
If you wanted to use a battery charger pack, as pointed out you will need to ensure the polarity is correct and it will need to be able to provide several amps when the scope is slewing. Most chargers will only output an amp or less. Otherwise you would need a regulated supply.
It depends if you want to run off a cheaper battery alternative (portability) or from the mains (it won't go flat through the night).
I purchased a 'Jump Starter' from Supercheap as a $35.00 special, about 6 months ago. It has performed flawlessly powering the my Nexstar 6SE for hours, and has even performed its intended function for a damsel in distress!
Your manual will describe polarity set up for the lead.
My first powertank was similar to the ones that Supercheap sell. It lasted me 3 years - last month the battery died. I will replace the battery, but now that I have a bigger Celestron I decided to get the bigger Celestron Powertank to go with it.
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