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John in Spain
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Reged: 07/12/12
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My First night with the new nexstar 8 Se
#5342908 - 07/30/12 07:30 AM
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My First night with the new nexstar 8Se.
Everything loaded in the car, I checked the batteries all full charged. (I had been waiting for this time to come)
I drove 5 minutes from my house the moon still not full no light polution.
such a beautiful night.
I started setting the telescope up and made sure it was level.
I took my time, I knew it was going to slow the first time, but i didnt mind.
I had a cup of coffee already to start.
Inserted the fully charged batteries. no light on the hand set.???
Checked to see if i put them in wrong, everything looked fine. 
I started to panick a little.
I sat drank another cup of coffee, thinking i had done something wrong.!!!
First check the power lead thats all connected, Next check the batteries
I had a small battery tester with me. check the batteries again. 
Taking them out one at the time checking and making sure the terminals was clean......... 5 were working fine the final 3 dead. 
I thought I had spares with me.
nope just the 8 needed .
As you can imagine i was a little dissappointed (ok the air was blue) 
I had another cup of coffee to calm down, and packed the telescope away and came home.
I couldnt sleep that night because of all the coffee and wondering what i did wrong.
I recharged the 3 dead batteries and tried them in a small touch.
they worked for less than 10 seconds before the touch was dead.
so my first night with the nexstar was a bit of a disaster.
Today my Celestron 17 AH Power Tank plus the Eye Pieces & Filter Kit and a arrived.
The power tank will be on charge for about 12 hours and I will be taking 8 new batteries as a back up
So tonight I will try again.
Just hoping for clear skies
Edited by John in Spain (07/30/12 07:50 AM)
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Midnight Dan
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Reged: 01/23/08
Loc: Hilton, NY, Yellow Zone (Bortl...
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Re: My First night with the new nexstar 8 Se
[Re: John in Spain]
#5342913 - 07/30/12 07:40 AM
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Hi John:
Sorry to hear about your first night, but at least it is only the batteries and that's easy to fix! Your powertank should solve the problem.
What kind of batteries were you using? You mentioned recharging them so I wonder if they are NiMH batteries? If so, those are not the best to use for powering the scope, even if they were fully charged and brand new. Alkaline batteries are 1.5v per cell, so 8 of them add up to the needed 12 volts. But NiMH batteries are 1.2v per cell so 8 of them only provide 10 volts. This will operate the scope for a while, but the voltage drops as you use them so they quickly drop below the voltage needed to run the scope.
-Dan
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John in Spain
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Reged: 07/12/12
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Re: My First night with the new nexstar 8 Se
[Re: Midnight Dan]
#5342920 - 07/30/12 07:53 AM
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they was NiMH batteries i have thrown them all away and bought some duracell as back up. the power pack should keep me going for a while. plus the extra batteries
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Widespread
sage
Reged: 05/11/11
Loc: Bowling Green, Kentucky
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Re: My First night with the new nexstar 8 Se
[Re: John in Spain]
#5343156 - 07/30/12 10:54 AM
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Hi John,
Off the main topic, but did you throw the batteries in the trash? I take my used NiMH (non-astro applications) to a local battery shop for recycling. They're full of stuff I don't want leaching into groundwater at the local landfill.
I use a 17 A/h PowerTank, and I've been happy with it so far. On (rare) dewless nights, I use a Starizona Power Pack velcroed to the top of the mount's battery compartment.
Best,
David
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Maverick199
Postmaster
Reged: 02/27/11
Loc: India
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Re: My First night with the new nexstar 8 Se
[Re: John in Spain]
#5343224 - 07/30/12 11:36 AM
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You will not need those batteries once you have the Powertank. I have the 7Mah which powers a C6-SGT.
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John in Spain
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Reged: 07/12/12
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Re: My First night with the new nexstar 8 Se
[Re: Widespread]
#5343358 - 07/30/12 12:42 PM
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No I did not throw them in the trash. where i live in spain everything is recycled... card... glass... plastics.. and all batteries.
plus all foods go on the compost im my friends garden
Live green live forever (ok maybe not)
Edited by John in Spain (07/30/12 12:45 PM)
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Skip
Starlifter Driver
Reged: 01/23/08
Loc: Fort Worth, Texas, USA
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Re: My First night with the new nexstar 8 Se
[Re: John in Spain]
#5343759 - 07/30/12 04:24 PM
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Quote:
You will not need those batteries once you have the Powertank.
Hi John,
Haseeb is right in that you don't really need them. But most of us keep a fresh set in the battery case in the scope just in case there is a Powertank failure or a plug gets yanked out of the socket. No power interruption and you won't need to re-align. Just change them out every once in awhile to be sure they are fresh.
Regards,
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