Windup Clock Drive?

I seem to recall seeing windup sidereal tracking drives on some
older telescopes from before the days of cheap electronics.
Anyone still make these? Seems like it would still be a good
choice for a portable setup, not have to worry about batteries,
wiring, etc. And especially, not being interested in goto,
compensating for Earth's rotation is about the only task my
drive ever does.

Ol' Duffer wrote:
I seem to recall seeing windup sidereal tracking drives on some
older telescopes from before the days of cheap electronics.
Anyone still make these? Seems like it would still be a good
choice for a portable setup, not have to worry about batteries,
wiring, etc. And especially, not being interested in goto,
compensating for Earth's rotation is about the only task my
drive ever does.


While that may sound like a good idea... I wonder, does anyone have a
wind up (spring) powersupply for 12v? I see wind up flashlights and
radios. A portable wind up power supply, with maybe a chime to alert
that it's running down would be nice.

Richard Adams wrote:
Ol' Duffer wrote:
I seem to recall seeing windup sidereal tracking drives on some
older telescopes from before the days of cheap electronics.
Anyone still make these? Seems like it would still be a good
choice for a portable setup, not have to worry about batteries,
wiring, etc. And especially, not being interested in goto,
compensating for Earth's rotation is about the only task my
drive ever does.


While that may sound like a good idea... I wonder, does anyone have a
wind up (spring) powersupply for 12v? I see wind up flashlights and
radios. A portable wind up power supply, with maybe a chime to alert
that it's running down would be nice.

Windup flashlights provide so little power, that you'd only be able to
power an LED flashlight. You'd be cranking for days to get 12v out of
them for only a couple of minutes.

Of course, if you're taking your telescope out into the countryside,
you could just plug it into your car instead.

Ernie Dunbar wrote:

Windup flashlights provide so little power, that you'd only be able to
power an LED flashlight. You'd be cranking for days to get 12v out of
them for only a couple of minutes.

Of course, if you're taking your telescope out into the countryside,
you could just plug it into your car instead.

Why bother? Many of the simpler mounts have clock drives
that run on 9 volt batteries or D cells. My C8's fork mount
draws 15 mA from a 9 volt battery, and is good for several
nights of observing. My G-11's much more sophisticated
stepper motor controller draws 270 mA during sidereal
rate tracking; I run it on a 12 Ah gel cell, about the size
of a motorcycle battery.

Measure the current, estimate how long you want to be
in the field, and size the power supply accordingly.
All the battery manufacturers have data sheets online.

Laura Halliday VE7LDH "That's a totally illegal,
Grid: CN89mg madcap scheme. I like it!"
ICBM: 49 16.05 N 122 56.92 W - H. Pearce

Ernie Dunbar wrote:
Richard Adams wrote:

Ol' Duffer wrote:

I seem to recall seeing windup sidereal tracking drives on some
older telescopes from before the days of cheap electronics.
Anyone still make these? Seems like it would still be a good
choice for a portable setup, not have to worry about batteries,
wiring, etc. And especially, not being interested in goto,
compensating for Earth's rotation is about the only task my
drive ever does.


While that may sound like a good idea... I wonder, does anyone have a
wind up (spring) powersupply for 12v? I see wind up flashlights and
radios. A portable wind up power supply, with maybe a chime to alert
that it's running down would be nice.


Windup flashlights provide so little power, that you'd only be able to
power an LED flashlight. You'd be cranking for days to get 12v out of
them for only a couple of minutes.

Of course, if you're taking your telescope out into the countryside,
you could just plug it into your car instead.


The problem being sometimes the "car" is quite a way from the site.
Motor drives do not appear to consume large quantities of current.
Perhaps if winding by hand is too much, something could be facilitated
to use bodyweight, by foot lever action to wind up a spring. I may have
to pursue this one myself as there seems no confirmation such an item
exists.