15 replies to this topic

[DLuders]

This Orion Dynamo Pro 155 Watt-Hour AC/DC/USB Lithium Power Supply looks to be useful and powerful -- what do folks think about it?

 

 https://www.telescop...keyword=lithium

 

 https://www.youtube....h?v=0HTHgqc8SC8

 

It sports three 12V DC ports, three USB ports, and a three-prong AC port.   

 

The Celestron PowerTank Lithium Pro   https://www.celestro...ank-lithium-pro  costs more and doesn't have as many ports.  

 

 

[rogeriomagellan]

Edited by rogeriomagellan, 11 May 2018 - 09:10 PM.

[Astroscrub]

That's awesome. I like that you can recharge it with a solar panel easily. Two of those and you are set for just about anything I suppose. How long would one power up a fairly powerful laptop?

[Ares69]

there are several model available on amazon as well

This I believe is the equivalent

 

https://www.amazon.c...r/dp/B075QDN3KT

 

The Orion is just a re branded version

 

I have two smaller (https://www.amazon.c...r/dp/B01M3S00H0) since a few months and work ok

However I dont use them very often, but being lithium should be lasting several hundreds discharge cycle

 

On Amazon, they are often in Lightning deal... for a 10-20% discount. So monitor them if you are interested

Edited by Ares69, 11 May 2018 - 09:38 PM.

[Ares69]

my model comes with a nice carry-case, and it is rather light and small

 

 

 

 

Edited by Ares69, 11 May 2018 - 09:53 PM.

[Ares69]

That's awesome. I like that you can recharge it with a solar panel easily. Two of those and you are set for just about anything I suppose. How long would one power up a fairly powerful laptop?

 

Check the characteristics of your laptop battery. My one has a 65Wh battery. The Orion is rated 155Wh, so is like having 2.3x more battery if you use it only for the laptop. If your laptop lasts 2hrs... this will give you probably another 4hrs

[mclewis1]

The Celestron PowerTank Lithium Pro   https://www.celestro...ank-lithium-pro  costs more and doesn't have as many ports.  

The Celestron unit is based on LiFePO4 technology. It's generally considered a bit safer than LiPo technology batteries. Orion doesn't specifically say what battery technology it's product uses (other than just "Lithium") but it's likely that Orion would promote the different battery technology if it was using it. That difference probably won't make much difference to most folks ... but it does account for much of the difference in price.

Edited by mclewis1, 11 May 2018 - 10:00 PM.

[jdupton]

DLuders, Ares69,

 

   These are indeed very interesting units. I like that they are not hiding capacity figures in misleading ways. All the specs and useful features make these look very promising. Let's hope that this is a new trend we will be seeing for battery packs like this.

 

   The only thing I see in the specs that might be a little worrying is the low current turn-off feature. I did not see the detailed specifications of that feature. It would be nice to know what the least amount of current draw is required to keep it from turning off after 3 minutes. This feature is useful for normal usage but could cause problems when used with very low power mounts. It is meant to turn the unit off when it is left on and unconnected. Depending on how little current it is set for, it might be prone to turn off if you have a very low power mount and no other accessories attached.

 

 

John

Edited by jdupton, 11 May 2018 - 10:10 PM.

[carolinaskies]

That's a 12aH battery, suitable for light duty use. 
The spec is shut-off after 3min if NO output so a running telescope will still be causing a drain so shouldn't shut down.   

The safety cutoff point of a lithium box will be different than an SLA since voltage doesn't drop in a lithium design like acid batteries. 

Most jump SLA boxes drop into the red zone around 12v and then have to be recharged.   If they build them according to battery recommendations they don't want them to drain below 50% or around that figure for the health of the battery.  LIon batteries on the other hand can go typically until 'dead' then be recharged fully though I'm sure there is some low-cut off point.  

[ccs_hello]

Li-Ion  and Li-Poly max Voltage: 4.2V, nominal 3.7V, typical cut-off voltage 3.2V.

LiFePO4 max Voltage: 3.6V, nominal 3.2V, typical cut-off voltage 2.8V.

 

Note the cut-off is done by a BMS protection circuit, if provided.  If it drains to dead (close to zero volt), such Li-Ion, Li-Poly, LiFePO4 will be permanently damaged.

 

BTW, for reference purpose, as a general idea (battery only)

a 12V 9Ah (96 Wh) SLA battery costs around $18 and a 12V 18Ah (216 Wh) costs around $36

An Optima deep-cycle (YellowTop) 12V 55Ah (660 Wh) AGM costs around $180 but is very heavy.

Edited by ccs_hello, 12 May 2018 - 10:27 PM.

[spongebob@55]

Here's a couple more interesting ones...... with some different specs/capabilities....

 

https://www.amazon.c...0RXR5JBXV&psc=1

 

https://www.amazon.c...2MGL60QM1&psc=1

[johnpd]

Be aware that the mAH rating they specify is based on 3.7v. So at 12v the 42,000mAH would actually be more like 13AH, not 42AH.

 

JohnD

[Shneor]

And the reason for 3.7 volts is because that is the voltage of the 18650 lithium iron rechargeable batteries that are becoming ubiquitous. I have a few in flashlights, but they also power my laptop batteries. Even the 3024 watt hour Yeti Goal Zero uses them.

[udayankapur]

This Orion Dynamo Pro 155 Watt-Hour AC/DC/USB Lithium Power Supply looks to be useful and powerful -- what do folks think about it?

 

 https://www.telescop...keyword=lithium

 

 https://www.youtube....h?v=0HTHgqc8SC8

 

It sports three 12V DC ports, three USB ports, and a three-prong AC port.  

 

The Celestron PowerTank Lithium Pro   https://www.celestro...ank-lithium-pro  costs more and doesn't have as many ports.  

Please share which power pack did you finally buy. I'm too looking for a portable power pack.

[denniruz]

I just bought the Orion Dynamo Pro 155. The weather here is not imaging friendly but I will try to drive my mount and setup to see how long it will track. I would not probably use this for a laptop but I will test with both (Orion Sirius EQ-G with PHYCCD guide cam with and without the laptop)

 

I'll post results in a couple of days.

[Jon Isaacs]

The spec is shut-off after 3min if NO output so a running telescope will still be causing a drain so shouldn't shut down.

 

 

"No" output is not the sort of spec an electrical engineer would find meaningful.  If it truly took 0.00000 ma for it to shutdown,  there would be no need to shut it down because there would be no current drain. 

 

Typically these units have a threshold shut off that's significant , enough to be a concern for someone running only a single fan or some other low power application .

 

Jon