Telescope Reviews: 110v to 12v power supply, purchase or DIY???

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Equipment Discussions >> Mounts

Pages: 1

PGW Steve
Pooh-Bah

Reged: 10/03/06

Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

110v to 12v power supply, purchase or DIY???
#2954149 - 02/28/09 12:51 AM

I've been running my mount in the back yard for a while now and don't see much point in lugging booster packs that have a limited life under the strain of dew heaters and -25C temperatures.
I know that Kendrick and Astro-Physics sell an off the shelf inverter. I'm wondering if there is another option for a heavy duty all in one type inverter. As far as a do it yourself project, could you use a heavy duty battery charger as the 'transformer' and then attach 12v sockets to the charging cables?
Any help would be appreciated.

Edited by PGW Steve (02/28/09 12:51 AM)

Post Extras:

TheMenace
sage

Reged: 10/21/08

Re: 110v to 12v power supply, purchase or DIY??? new

[Re: PGW Steve]
#2954311 - 02/28/09 04:50 AM

http://salestores.com/sisppoceacto.html

I have something like this from radio shack and it runs my EQG just fine.

Post Extras:

johnpd
sage

Reged: 04/13/08

Re: 110v to 12v power supply, purchase or DIY??? new

[Re: PGW Steve]
#2954336 - 02/28/09 05:50 AM

Try this one or this one.

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mclewis1
Thread Killer

Reged: 02/25/06

Loc: New Brunswick, Canada

Re: 110v to 12v power supply, purchase or DIY??? new

[Re: johnpd]
#2954765 - 02/28/09 11:50 AM

Steve,

Don't hook up a connector to just a transformer, you need a well regulated and protected 12v power supply. Something that will put out a consistent 12.5 - 13.5 v under all normal loads and that if in the event of a failure will not dump the raw (18+ v off of the transformer) into your scope.

Sure you can build one but I'm with johnpd ... just buy a Pyramid or other well respected brand of power supply. Don't go really cheap (off of ebay from an unknown supplier). The few extra dollars spent will be good insurance.

I use a pair of Pyramid 9KX's to power my CGE and imaging gear. Size your power requirement and then add 50% and you'll likely never have to worry about it again.

Post Extras:

ccs_hello
Postmaster

Reged: 07/03/04

Re: 110v to 12v power supply, purchase or DIY??? new

[Re: mclewis1]
#2954907 - 02/28/09 01:17 PM

If the device is used outdoors, please make sure the ventilation holes are not exposed to the ambient.
Open-frame type is not recommended.

Clear Skies!

ccs_hello

Post Extras:

Luigi
Postmaster

Reged: 07/03/07

Loc: MA

Re: 110v to 12v power supply, purchase or DIY??? new

[Re: ccs_hello]
#2956268 - 03/01/09 08:12 AM

A battery charger is not designed to run 12V devices, but to charge batteries, so is the wrong device to use for a number of technical reasons. Good 12V supplies(actually 13.8 volts, which is the fully charged voltage of a 12V lead acid battery) are very reasonable. You can get a 30 amp supply around $150, maybe less. Keep the supply in your house and run heavy gauge wire for 12V to your observing location. Put a fuse at the power supply to limit the current to that which is safe for the wire you use. For 30A, you need something like 6 gauge wire. If you use smaller gauge wire, use an appropriate smaller fuse. Check here for wire gauge recommendations. http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

Post Extras:

rmollise
Postmaster

Reged: 07/06/07

Re: 110v to 12v power supply, purchase or DIY??? new

[Re: PGW Steve]
#2956508 - 03/01/09 10:43 AM

Quote:

I've been running my mount in the back yard for a while now and don't see much point in lugging booster packs that have a limited life under the strain of dew heaters and -25C temperatures.
I know that Kendrick and Astro-Physics sell an off the shelf inverter. I'm wondering if there is another option for a heavy duty all in one type inverter. As far as a do it yourself project, could you use a heavy duty battery charger as the 'transformer' and then attach 12v sockets to the charging cables?
Any help would be appreciated.

I doubt you would save any money, and the quality of the current would be worse. If you don't want to use a battery, look at a good, REGULATED AC power supply. Radio Shack as 'em, and the ones from MFJ are good and reasonably priced as well.

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John Carruthers
Skiprat

Reged: 02/02/07

Loc: Kent, UK

Re: 110v to 12v power supply, purchase or DIY??? new

[Re: PGW Steve]
#2958670 - 03/02/09 11:16 AM

Have you considered a PC PSU? steady volts and a reasonable supply of amps. Cheap too.

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Kaizu
sage

Reged: 08/17/07

Loc: Finland

Re: 110v to 12v power supply, purchase or DIY??? new

[Re: John Carruthers]
#2959245 - 03/02/09 03:53 PM

I bought this and it works well with my G11. It gives ca.5 Amps max. and the voltage is guite stabil 13V. I think that there are similar availlable also in Canada. These come from China and I think that the million Chinese can't be wrong.

Kaizu

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Fish
professor emeritus

Reged: 10/13/07

Loc: Norridgewock, ME

Re: 110v to 12v power supply, purchase or DIY??? new

[Re: Kaizu]
#2959674 - 03/02/09 07:54 PM

Hello all,

I've used Astron power supplies for years in both amateur radio and astronomy applications. Some have been on 24/7 for years with nary a glitch. Depending on your needs, you can get models that can put out over 50 amps (!) at 13.8v continuous. http://www.astroncorp.com and available through numerous dealers.

No, I have no financial interest in them; I just like their products!

Regards, Marc

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Doug D.
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 08/23/05

Loc: Virginia

Re: 110v to 12v power supply, purchase or DIY??? new

[Re: Fish]
#2960184 - 03/03/09 02:00 AM

The Pyramid power supplies are great as others have suggested. AP has chosen to offer one of these (PS9KX) for their mounts - but if you look around you can find them for quite a bit cheaper (like Amazon or the Bay).

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MartyT
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 09/28/07

Loc: Kansas City

Re: 110v to 12v power supply, purchase or DIY??? new

[Re: Doug D.]
#2961316 - 03/03/09 04:17 PM

All of my equipment (CGE mount, dew heaters, QHY8, etc.) runs off of cheap 12V power supplies like this one:

http://www.12vadapters.com/adapter/power-supply/12v/6-amp-6a.html

You don't need anything fancy.

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mclewis1
Thread Killer

Reged: 02/25/06

Loc: New Brunswick, Canada

Re: 110v to 12v power supply, purchase or DIY??? new

[Re: MartyT]
#2961383 - 03/03/09 04:48 PM

Quote:

All of my equipment (CGE mount, dew heaters, QHY8, etc.) runs off of cheap 12V power supplies like this one:
http://www.12vadapters.com/adapter/power-supply/12v/6-amp-6a.html
You don't need anything fancy.

The 2.5mm tip on the power plug for these power supplies is the wrong type for Celestron products. They require a 2.1mm tip. Using the larger diameter one opens up the possibility of intermittent connections. Yeah you can split the center pin a bit more than normal to make these work but IMHO you're just asking for trouble at some point.

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MartyT
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 09/28/07

Loc: Kansas City

Re: 110v to 12v power supply, purchase or DIY??? new

[Re: mclewis1]
#2963698 - 03/04/09 05:04 PM

Quote:

Quote:

All of my equipment (CGE mount, dew heaters, QHY8, etc.) runs off of cheap 12V power supplies like this one:
http://www.12vadapters.com/adapter/power-supply/12v/6-amp-6a.html
You don't need anything fancy.

The 2.5mm tip on the power plug for these power supplies is the wrong type for Celestron products. They require a 2.1mm tip. Using the larger diameter one opens up the possibility of intermittent connections. Yeah you can split the center pin a bit more than normal to make these work but IMHO you're just asking for trouble at some point.

Sorry - I didn't give a complete description of what I'm using.

All my power supplies are outfitted with Anderson PowerPole connectors, as are all the cables going to various devices. I can connect any device to any power supply and it's impossible to reverse the polarity of anything.

In the case of the CGE, I actually have a PowerPole-to-cigarette lighter socket cable that goes between the supply and the stock DC cable that came with the mount.

Post Extras:

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