Century Deep cycle gel battery-good buy?

graham.hobart (Graham stevens) · #1 14-10-2011, 10:18 AM

I have found a 100AH one at Supercheap auto for 209 bucks, I need to power a sony viao (3.65amp) and a cgem over max one night, running phd off lappie and dslr off batteries.
Any one have concerns about the make Century?
Also -whats the best type of charger to get?
Cheers
Graham

AstroJunk (Jonathan) · #2 14-10-2011, 11:07 AM

My observatory has been running off a Century for over a year and its still in great condition. Conversly I trashed two batteries costing twice as much each in my camper due to woeful battery management on my behalf!

Ctek make brilliant chargers, but the price may leave you breathless. With a top charger, you can leave them on charge permanently to ensure good condition. Oh, and if you never discharge more than about 50% (even with deep cycle) it should work out well.

Tiotion (Jack) · #3 14-10-2011, 01:08 PM

+1 For the C-Tek chargers. Expensive, but will maintain the performance of your battery much longer than cheap one. I have a 8 or 9 stage charger that goes through all sorts of phases to bring it to full charge. When fully charged it will cycle so as to not over charge. Basically, i come home from a nights observing, plug it in, come back a month later and take it out again.
Can't comment on Century batteries, but they're a very common brand and I would assume good. Either way, $210 for 100Ah is a darn good deal.

Cheers

graham.hobart (Graham stevens) · #4 14-10-2011, 01:52 PM

thats good guys-have ordered it now along with an 8 stage charger.
For running kit off it, is it ok just to get 2 or 3 ciggie plug sockets with croc clips to the terminals?
I will be running laptop via car adaptor, mount with native plug, occasional ccd camera with native plug .
The plug I saw has max load 10 or 12 amps I think so a lappie at max 5amps + 2-2.5 for mount + 0.5-1 amp max for ccd should be ok?
Thanks for any advice thus far, want to get this sorted before the local astro club open viewing night in November.
Graham

cventer · #5 14-10-2011, 02:05 PM

Avoid Ciggie plugs if you can. They have a nasty habbit of losing contact when you least want them to. The spring in the fuse holder sometimes causes them to push out a little and then things start turning off when you dont want them to.

Make or buy a decent DC junction box with decent connectors. Something like one of these http://www.westmountainradio.com/con...page=RIGrunner

You can then get some Anderson Power Pole Connectors. http://andersonpower.com.au/store/in...a29a04239a9d72 which are much better idea than ciggie plugs.

You can buy these in AU and the connectors can also be found on ebay nice and cheap. Here they are at Jaycar http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView...e&form=KEYWORD

graham.hobart (Graham stevens) · #6 14-10-2011, 02:38 PM

So if I get one of those 4005 rig runners, and some anderson connectors, is it just a matter of attaching postive and negative wires?
This would mean taking the plug off the existing leads so I could not then go back and use the original adaptor - or do you advocate taking the pos and neg from the back of a connector so I could still use the original leads if I have to?
I'm keen to retain the original leads if possible so I can use mains still at home.
Wouldn't mind a bit of clarification...
thanks again
Graham

cventer · #7 14-10-2011, 03:11 PM

Depends on the plugs and what they are running. Can you be more specific about exactly what you will power from the DC source ?

You can allways just cut the leads and put female powerpole connectors on them. That way the original lead that now has male powerpole connectors on it for plugging into the rig runner female connectors can still plug into original lead instead whihc now have female connectors on them.

graham.hobart (Graham stevens) · #8 14-10-2011, 06:38 PM

will be a laptop 19.5V 4.5amp -my car adaptor ends in a cigarette plug, the settings on the adaptor are for 16/18/19/20/22 or 24V DC; on the little adaptor it says output-18/19V DC 8amp, 20V 7.5amp 22V 6.5amp etc, I can run the CGEm off 2.5amp 12V I think, and the CCD is 12v 0.5amp.
I am thinking I may have to get two batteries so I can be sure I can run the lappie off one then everything else off the other-may even take my EQ 6 out as well so that is approx 12V 2.5amp as well.
The laptop adaptor is a sealed lead which ends in a male ciggie plug.
its here on the jaycar site...http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView...2&form=KEYWORD
Thanks again
Graham

AstroJunk (Jonathan) · #9 14-10-2011, 09:41 PM

The Cigarette plug on the lappy adaptor will be fine - it has a built in UPS, ie internal battery so won't fail if it knocked! If you have a look at the laptop's own battery rating, you will get a better feel for how much power you need. The 4.5 ah quoted will be the max draw when it's flat out. under normal usage and with the screen brightness turned down for astro work, you may find it is not chewing up too much of your battery at all.

Trouble is, you never really know how it will behave until you are in the field...

midnight (Darrin) · #10 16-10-2011, 02:48 PM

Graham,

We'ved used Century batteries in power stations for critical loads so they are a good brand. Yuasa are even more preferrable.

Just make sure you charge your battery as soon as practical after a nights obs. I use a 40W solar panel and bought and built a 12V solar MP tracker charger from Jaycar (Silicon Chip magazine article) and it maximises the power available from the solar cell and yet charges the battery correctly (bulk, absorb, float etc). Works nicely and protects your investment in a deep cycle battery.

Very handy when operating remotely or up the back of the yard where there is no mains power.

Cheers,
Darrin...

Marke (Mark) · #11 17-10-2011, 11:43 AM

For the record my 11" Vaio dual core draws only 0.9-1.4 amps running off DC battery depending on load. The draw is higher if the internal battery is below
full charge so make sure you use it fully charged from the start.

Brundah1 (David) · #12 17-10-2011, 08:05 PM

Century were a very old battery manufacturer in Sydney, in the 1990s they became part of GS Yuasa.

I have used their batteries in industry and personally for decades, also used imported Yuasa (Korean) in cars late 1980s these normally lasted 6 years!
Century storage batteries with good maintenance practices would last 5-6 years in our diesel generators.

Most common replacement battery in 4WDs is the Century Yuasa "Overlander" and a Century storage battery if you have a fridge.

Anderson Plugs (dual) are the best battery disconnect plugs available -
the smaller 50Amp should be sufficient for Astro only loads.

For PSU DC connections I prefer the Hella polarised plugs & sockets - most popular interior connectors for boats and 4WD - limited to max 15 Amps, or continuous load of approx. 10 Amps:

4916 Hella Socket - insulated:
http://db.hella.com.au/cgi-bin/catal...ew&flmaint=329
4914 Hella Plug:
http://db.hella.com.au/cgi-bin/catal...ew&flmaint=332

Equivalent (cheaper) Jcar "Merit" plug PP2090 (water resistant) is also good:
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView...s&form=KEYWORD
Note the equivalent Jcar Mertit socket is not recommended.

Using the above you will have reliable connections. A suitable range ammeter can monitor you loads. If you intend to use long leads from any DC power source, measure the voltage across the load end and under load full load. You would be surprised how much voltage drop occurs in the 10M light gauge leads supplied by some mount manufacturers.