[Chaos-l] Fw: 12v battery recommendations

[matted]

Jeff,

I thought about this a few months ago.  Ultimately, my desire for AC and DC
power led me to a commercial product.  Yes, it can probably be done
cheaper, however, from everything I saw you cannot buy the cheapest power
inverter and get good AC from a battery.  This all came up shortly after
the first SRSP... And honestly there was plenty of power around for that.
I just figured it was easier to have this battery pack, especially as I
like to go out to Medoc and power is further away.

This is what I bought...

http://www.amazon.com/Duracell-DPP-600HD-Powerpack-Starter-Emergency/dp/B000TKHMWK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348181969&sr=8-1&keywords=duracell+battery+amp+hour

Very happy with it so far.

-Matt


On Thu, Sep 20, 2012 at 6:44 PM, Robert Nielsen <robertnielsen at nc.rr.com>wrote:

> Jeff,
>
> I can assure you that there will be plenty of power (and outlets) at the
> star party for charging batteries.   And yes, there is also power available
> on a large majority of the field.  So you very likely can run your mount
> off of 120V, if you like.
>
> Concerning batteries, I don't know if you can figure out the amount of
> electricity (in amps) that your mount pulls when (a) tracking, and (b)
> slewing ... sometimes these figures are listed in the manuals for the
> mount.   You also should determine how much it takes to power your dew
> heaters and any other accessories you may use.   You can then use those
> figures to determine how "big" (in capacity, not physical size) a battery
> you need.
>
> For example, let's say your mount uses 0.6A when tracking, and 1.2A when
> slewing.  You want to observe from sundown at 8:00 until 2:00 AM, and you
> will look at 60 targets (meaning you will slew 60 times, 30 seconds each
> time).  Tracking for 6 hours will be 6 X 0.6A or 3.6 amp hours.  The
> slewing will be 60 X 30 seconds, or 30 minutes ... so 0.5 hours times 1.2A
> or 0.6 amp hours.  Together this makes 4.2 amp hours for the night.
>
> You shouldn't drain a battery more than half it's capacity ... so you need
> at least an 8.4 amp hour battery.   But note that dew heaters take much,
> much more power. So you probably want a 20-33 amp hour battery.
>
> I've found AGM batteries give that amount of power for the least amount of
> weight.  And I've also found that a no-name replacement battery did as well
> as the brand name original.     So my recommendation is to make sure it is
> an AGM battery, make sure it has enough amp hours, but don't really worry
> about the brand.
>
> Robert
>
> On Sep 20, 2012, at 5:02 PM, "Mark Montazer" <mark at montazer.org> wrote:
>
> > Great question, and one that's certainly been on my mind recently. My
> first
> > question is, how accessible will power be on the field? Jayme,  I believe
> > you mentioned there may be _some_ power available. Can you elaborate on
> > that?
> >
> > My second question is, will there be enough power during the daytime to
> > charge all of these car batteries? I imagine there will be a dozen or so
> > going at once by the 2nd day.
> >
> > Mark
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: chaos-l-bounces at rtpnet.org [mailto:chaos-l-bounces at rtpnet.org] On
> > Behalf Of Tony Rice
> > Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2012 3:39 PM
> > To: CHAOS
> > Subject: [Chaos-l] Fw: 12v battery recommendations
> >
> >
> >
> > -Tony
> > rtphokie at gmail.com
> >
> >
> > Forwarded message:
> >
> >> From: Jeff Charles <jmc51 at ix.netcom.com>
> >> To: Help at chaosastro.com
> >> Date: Thursday, September 20, 2012 2:48:13 PM
> >> Subject: 12v battery recommendations
> >>
> >> I am a member of the Club and recently got my first GEM. I am trying to
> > get ready for the Star Party in Oct. and want to make up a battery box.
> From
> > what I read I assume that I want to buy an AGM deep cycle battery. Can
> > someone recommend a brand that Club members have had luck with? Local
> > availability would be a plus. Thanks in advance.
> >>
> >> Jeff Charles, Durham
> >
> >
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> >
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-- 
Matt Lochansky
Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/matted> | Twitter<http://twitter.com/matted69>
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