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#11
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"""and also a mains inverter for the laptop""" If your laptop operates from 12 (or 13.8V) no invertor should be necessary, power it straight from the battery box you'll be making. """Do you know anywhere on the web that stocks a good range of suitable batteries ?""" Try Maplin www.maplin.co.uk for a larger range of 12V lead acids. Mine works from sunset to 2am with no sign of being in a severely discharged state and its a 1.2AH about 10cm x 5cm x 4cm. I also sometimes use one of the cheap multi voltage-multi connectored mains adapters AKA Travellers Power Supply, again, from Maplin. Regards Chris "Andrew Cockburn" wrote in message -service-com... Hi Colin It's alot cheaper, and you don't need to dedicate it to the scope. I suppose - but I always loved gadgets of any sort, one reason why the whole scope thing appeals so much ! You're right though, no real need for a compass, and any cheap level will do the job. I've been working on it this weekend. Just need to get the battery voltage monitor circuit working. Then build a box to house the battery and circuits. Here's a sneak preview of some of the work so far... The clear blue box shows the insides of the box really well. It certainly does - that is looking pretty damn cool ! I like the way you are doing this, it is giving me a lot of ideas for power. I'd like to build a combination battery box including your dew heater design and also a mains inverter for the laptop when I get it up and running. I'd like to include a charge indicator so I look forward to seeing how yours works out, also might include the obligatory red light, and a built in mains charger. I hadn't thought of using a breakout box mounted on the scope to stop trailing wires though - great idea. My immediate need is to not have to buy another set of those damn C cells, so I think I'll pick up a small lead-acid battery and hook it up as per your power cable specs, then think some more about my master project. Do you know anywhere on the web that stocks a good range of suitable batteries ? Chris mentioned he used an alarm battery from B&Q, that will probably do for starters, but I can imagine I'll need something fairly hefty when I get all of the above in and running ! Let me guess. The blinking lights. They're always popular. Yep ;-) They look pretty simple to rustle up and would instantly label me as a techno-geek. Is geekery possible in the telescope world ? hehe yeah. And those long cloudy nights when there's no point settting up the scope. Feel free to drop me an e-mail anytime. Thanks - I had another look at the dew heater on your website today, I'm definately tempted to give it a go ! I've just taken a quick look at your website. I can't wait to see the images that you'll be producing with your Coolpix and Scope combined! So much to do, so little time ... Yes, I need to source some kind of mounting kit for that, but will probably try piggybacking first, and of course there is the LPI to play with .. Regards, Andrew Regards Colin Dawson www.cjdawson.com |
#12
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Chris Taylor wrote:
"""and also a mains inverter for the laptop""" If your laptop operates from 12 (or 13.8V) no invertor should be necessary, power it straight from the battery box you'll be making. That might just work :-) I'll have to research it a bit though. Damn, just checked and its 20v :-( """Do you know anywhere on the web that stocks a good range of suitable batteries ?""" Try Maplin www.maplin.co.uk for a larger range of 12V lead acids. Mine works from sunset to 2am with no sign of being in a severely discharged state and its a 1.2AH about 10cm x 5cm x 4cm. I also sometimes use one of the cheap multi voltage-multi connectored mains adapters AKA Travellers Power Supply, again, from Maplin. Thanks I'll have a look - I think a small battery like you suggest will do for now, but later when I get the dew heater, inverter, red-light, bum warmer and laser-assisted Street Lamp eradicator built I might need a little more ;-) regards, Andrew Regards Chris "Andrew Cockburn" wrote in message -service-com... Hi Colin It's alot cheaper, and you don't need to dedicate it to the scope. I suppose - but I always loved gadgets of any sort, one reason why the whole scope thing appeals so much ! You're right though, no real need for a compass, and any cheap level will do the job. I've been working on it this weekend. Just need to get the battery voltage monitor circuit working. Then build a box to house the battery and circuits. Here's a sneak preview of some of the work so far... The clear blue box shows the insides of the box really well. It certainly does - that is looking pretty damn cool ! I like the way you are doing this, it is giving me a lot of ideas for power. I'd like to build a combination battery box including your dew heater design and also a mains inverter for the laptop when I get it up and running. I'd like to include a charge indicator so I look forward to seeing how yours works out, also might include the obligatory red light, and a built in mains charger. I hadn't thought of using a breakout box mounted on the scope to stop trailing wires though - great idea. My immediate need is to not have to buy another set of those damn C cells, so I think I'll pick up a small lead-acid battery and hook it up as per your power cable specs, then think some more about my master project. Do you know anywhere on the web that stocks a good range of suitable batteries ? Chris mentioned he used an alarm battery from B&Q, that will probably do for starters, but I can imagine I'll need something fairly hefty when I get all of the above in and running ! Let me guess. The blinking lights. They're always popular. Yep ;-) They look pretty simple to rustle up and would instantly label me as a techno-geek. Is geekery possible in the telescope world ? hehe yeah. And those long cloudy nights when there's no point settting up the scope. Feel free to drop me an e-mail anytime. Thanks - I had another look at the dew heater on your website today, I'm definately tempted to give it a go ! I've just taken a quick look at your website. I can't wait to see the images that you'll be producing with your Coolpix and Scope combined! So much to do, so little time ... Yes, I need to source some kind of mounting kit for that, but will probably try piggybacking first, and of course there is the LPI to play with .. Regards, Andrew Regards Colin Dawson www.cjdawson.com |
#13
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On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 16:19:04 +0100, Andrew Cockburn
wrote: Chris Taylor wrote: """and also a mains inverter for the laptop""" If your laptop operates from 12 (or 13.8V) no invertor should be necessary, power it straight from the battery box you'll be making. That might just work :-) I'll have to research it a bit though. Damn, just checked and its 20v :-( There's a chap that used to sell stuff on eBay for about £20 that is basically a car plug to a variable output power supply for a laptop. Do a search on eBay for "car laptop power" and see what comes up. Even if there's nothing there, it may give you some ideas. I got one device and it's never let me down yet. """Do you know anywhere on the web that stocks a good range of suitable batteries ?""" I understand Lidl were selling off a number of suitable battery units as one of their weekly deals. I think this particular one may have gone though. -- Pete Lawrence http://www.pbl33.co.uk Astronomy & digital astroimaging |
#14
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There's a chap that used to sell stuff on eBay for about £20 that is basically a car plug to a variable output power supply for a laptop. Good idea - I checked and there were a few different ones there - a lot cheaper than the inverter, thanks. """Do you know anywhere on the web that stocks a good range of suitable batteries ?""" I understand Lidl were selling off a number of suitable battery units as one of their weekly deals. I think this particular one may have gone though. I'll check it out, thanks. Regards, Andrew |
#15
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Hi Andrew My immediate need is to not have to buy another set of those damn C cells, so I think I'll pick up a small lead-acid battery and hook it up as per your power cable specs, then think some more about my master project. Do you know anywhere on the web that stocks a good range of suitable batteries ? Chris mentioned he used an alarm battery from B&Q, that will probably do for starters, but I can imagine I'll need something fairly hefty when I get all of the above in and running ! I've taken a quick look at an alarm battery that B&Q do. It was 12v rated at 1.2Ah, which is seriously under powered for the scope, I've tested and it pulls 2amps when slewing in both alt and azi. One of those car jump starters will do the job in the first instance. That's what my 17Ah is in. It'll provide all the power that you need, until you start playing with bum warmers, also when you manage to finish your master project, it can be retired to the car, just incase of a flat battery :-). The product code is L52AT and it only costs 19.99 including charger! A word of warning about the power cable - Make sure that the polarity if correct. I can't re-iterate this enough, get it wrong and the electrics of the scope could get damaged! I've seen it happen!!!!! (not to my scope though) Let me guess. The blinking lights. They're always popular. Yep ;-) They look pretty simple to rustle up and would instantly label me as a techno-geek. Is geekery possible in the telescope world ? Erm... geekery is a compulsary qualification needed before you're even allowed your FIRST scope! :-P You might be interested that Maplin also do a laptop power converter that runs from 12v. I've got one when they were on offer, and it's great. I think it was N11BB from the maplin site, but it was on offer at £20. Regards Colin Dawson www.cjdawson.com |
#16
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I saw in one of your messages that you are thinking about a charge
indicator. That's one of the things that I'm putting into my box. Also I'm adding a circuit to show the current setting of the dew heater. Each circuit will pull about 20mA of power from the battery, so it's not even worth thinking about :-) Even in high power mode, when it shows a pretty bar graph, it still pulls about 100mA with all ten LED's lit. I'll be posting up the circuit diagrams once I've got it all working. (hopefully tonight!) Regards Colin. |
#17
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Can't wait to see how you did it, sounds cool - good luck getting it
working ! Andrew Colin Dawson wrote: I saw in one of your messages that you are thinking about a charge indicator. That's one of the things that I'm putting into my box. Also I'm adding a circuit to show the current setting of the dew heater. Each circuit will pull about 20mA of power from the battery, so it's not even worth thinking about :-) Even in high power mode, when it shows a pretty bar graph, it still pulls about 100mA with all ten LED's lit. I'll be posting up the circuit diagrams once I've got it all working. (hopefully tonight!) Regards Colin. |
#18
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I've taken a quick look at an alarm battery that B&Q do. It was 12v rated at 1.2Ah, which is seriously under powered for the scope, I've tested and it pulls 2amps when slewing in both alt and azi. That's a fair amount - no wonder the C cells aren't up to it in the cold ! One of those car jump starters will do the job in the first instance. That's what my 17Ah is in. It'll provide all the power that you need, until you start playing with bum warmers, also when you manage to finish your master project, it can be retired to the car, just incase of a flat battery :-). The product code is L52AT and it only costs 19.99 including charger! Sounds like a good start - maybe I can even dismantle it and rebox it for the master project phase 1. A word of warning about the power cable - Make sure that the polarity if correct. I can't re-iterate this enough, get it wrong and the electrics of the scope could get damaged! I've seen it happen!!!!! (not to my scope though) Glad it wasn't yours ;-) I'll be careful ... Let me guess. The blinking lights. They're always popular. Yep ;-) They look pretty simple to rustle up and would instantly label me as a techno-geek. Is geekery possible in the telescope world ? Erm... geekery is a compulsary qualification needed before you're even allowed your FIRST scope! :-P That's a relief - another field to extend my geekery in (evil laugh) You might be interested that Maplin also do a laptop power converter that runs from 12v. I've got one when they were on offer, and it's great. I think it was N11BB from the maplin site, but it was on offer at £20. Thanks, I'll check it out ! Andrew Regards Colin Dawson www.cjdawson.com |
#19
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You might be interested that Maplin also do a laptop power converter that runs from 12v. I've got one when they were on offer, and it's great. I think it was N11BB from the maplin site, but it was on offer at £20. Just remembered that I already have an in-flight laptop inverter that would do the job - do you (or anyone lese) happen to know what voltage they use for power on planes ? If its 12v I'm all set ... Regards, Andrew |
#20
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In message , Colin Dawson
writes A word of warning about the power cable - Make sure that the polarity if correct. I can't re-iterate this enough, get it wrong and the electrics of the scope could get damaged! I've seen it happen!!!!! (not to my scope though) I've seen it happen too, but is there some good reason why the manufacturer (or a DIY-er) can't incorporate a diode in the circuit so reversing the polarity does no harm? -- Save the Hubble Space Telescope! Remove spam and invalid from address to reply. |
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