Celestron 6se power tank substitute?

What's a good substitue for the Celestron Power Tank? It really has too
many bells and whistles for our needs.

On 8/14/12 11:46 AM, W. eWatson wrote:
What's a good substitue for the Celestron Power Tank? It really has too
many bells and whistles for our needs.

Get a 12v gel cell of appropriate ah, and make a 12v pigtail - put the
whole thing into a 6pack ice chest from the goodwill store. Recharge
with your car charger now wasting shelve space in the garage. Cheap,
more than adequate, AND individual parts easy to replace if needed.

On 8/14/2012 12:57 PM, lal_truckee wrote:
On 8/14/12 11:46 AM, W. eWatson wrote:
What's a good substitue for the Celestron Power Tank? It really has too
many bells and whistles for our needs.

Get a 12v gel cell of appropriate ah, and make a 12v pigtail - put the
whole thing into a 6pack ice chest from the goodwill store. Recharge
with your car charger now wasting shelve space in the garage. Cheap,
more than adequate, AND individual parts easy to replace if needed.
Out of curiosity, I Googled gel pack. I found this as an example.
http://www.gandermountain.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?pdesc=12-Volt-Gel-Cell-Rechargable-Battery&i=414698&r=view&aID=503AC1C&cvsfa=2586&cvs fe=2&cvsfhu=343134363938&s_kwcid=goobasecontent_go obasecontent_filler&cID=GSHOP_414698
That surprised me, because I had been using a similar style lead
acetate, an alarm battery, from The Shack that looks just like it. How
do gel and lead acetate differ chemically? I have a 12 v dc Xantrex HD
600 battery. It will fire up a car battery, and maybe recharge it too,
so will that be sufficient? Why a used ice chest? Safety?

On 14/08/2012 20:57, lal_truckee wrote:
On 8/14/12 11:46 AM, W. eWatson wrote:
What's a good substitue for the Celestron Power Tank? It really has too
many bells and whistles for our needs.

Get a 12v gel cell of appropriate ah, and make a 12v pigtail - put the
whole thing into a 6pack ice chest from the goodwill store. Recharge
with your car charger now wasting shelve space in the garage. Cheap,
more than adequate, AND individual parts easy to replace if needed.

And don't forget to put an automotive low voltage fuse in series to
avoid serious embarrassment in the event of a short. Decent lead acid
batteries pack enough punch to make bell wire red hot in a few seconds.

Regards,
Martin Brown

On 2012-08-14, W. eWatson wrote:
What's a good substitue for the Celestron Power Tank? It really has too
many bells and whistles for our needs.

The Celestron Power Tank is basically the same as an automobile jump starter
battery. You can get one from any auto parts store. A deep cycle marine
battery works better. Around these parts they are trolling motor batteries.
A power wheelchair battery is similar.

Bud

On 8/14/12 2:47 PM, W. eWatson wrote:

I have a 12 v dc Xantrex HD 600 battery. It will fire up a car
battery, and maybe recharge it too, so will that be sufficient?

Should have amp-hour (capacity) written on side. Just match to your needs.

Why a used ice chest? Safety?

6Pack ice chests are ready made near correct sized boxes with handle to
carry/store battery and 12v leads and maybe some other stuff, and
they're nearly free.

Note also that Uninterpretable Power Supplies (UPS) often contain 12v
gel cells of about the right capacity and should be available free/cheap
at any computer recycle. Most failed UPSs the gel cell went bad, but
often enough the electronics fails and the gel cell is still good. Got
several batteries from UPSs.
Emergency exit signs around here also use 12v gel cells - sometimes such
lights show up at the recycle shop.

Main thing is you can easily assemble your own power supply with exactly
the features you want much cheaper than someone else's pricey idea of
what you need.