Science, Astronomy, & Engineering projects
In the video below, I’ll show you how to install the Eco-Worthy battery monitor. This monitor uses a hall effect sensor and can measure the current passively.
I designed a custom box holder which allows the monitor to be mounted onto a flat surface. You can download it here.
ECO-WORTHY 12V 20Ah Lithium Battery: A Lightweight, Long-Lasting, and Safe Battery for Your Telescope Mount or Outdoor Needs
The ECO-WORTHY 12V 20Ah Lithium Battery is a high-quality, long-lasting battery that is perfect for a variety of outdoor applications. It is lightweight, safe, and easy to use, making it a great choice for camping, RVing, boating, and more. I bought mine to add extra capacity for my telescope mount and my accessories.
I previosly reviewed my Talentcell LIFEPO4 battery which is love. The reason I’m upgrading to the Eco-Worthy is two fold.
The ECO-WORTHY 12V 20Ah Lithium Battery is a versatile battery that can be used for a variety of outdoor applications. Some of its most common uses include:
The battery comes with M5 screw connectors, my favorite for adding custom components. These connectors are very reliable and easy to use. Just screw on any accessory you need.
For my purposes, I wanted 2 12V female connectors. This is a snap with 12V pigtails.
The pigtails I ordered has 10 pairs of male and female connectors. These are standard 5.5 x 2.1mm 12v connectors and they fit great with all of my existing 12V equipment. They are only rated to 5A so you should install multiples of these to prevent drawing too much current from one plug.
I connected mine with these crimps. They work great on the M5 terminal connectors.
If you install the females as I did, then you can simply plugin a male LIFEPO4 battery charger. I used my existing charger but you can use any size up to 20A. Make sure you get LIFEPO4 and not Li-ion, they are completely different chargers.
The ECO-WORTHY 12V 20Ah Lithium Battery is a high-quality, long-lasting, and safe battery that is perfect for a variety of outdoor applications. It is lightweight, easy to use, and has a long lifespan, making it a great value for the price. If you are looking for a reliable and versatile battery for your outdoor needs, the ECO-WORTHY 12V 20Ah Lithium Battery is a great option.
Where to buy
The ECO-WORTHY 12V 20Ah Lithium Battery is available for purchase on Amazon
I just love my GOTO Equatorial Mount. Since it has a 22lb carrying capacity, it does not come with any batteries. In order for me to travel, I need to add my own battery power supply. In this post I’ll review the Talentcell 12V 6.5 aH capacity battery bank which appears to be the same model as the Agena AstroCell AC-B05.
Get yours at Amazon or AgenaAstro;
Most mounts take a 12V power supply with an input capacity of around 2 to 3 amps. This of course varies but this is a typical range. I use the ASIAir and I can see in realtime what it is consuming. For tracking and running 2 cameras and one filter wheel mine uses about 1.1A. This will be higher for slewing but you cannot view the power consumption while the scope is slewing.
If you add more accessories such as dew heaters or an auto focuser, then the power requirements will go up.
For lithium batteries, there are 2 common chemistries. Li-Ion and LIFEPO4. LIFEPO4 stand for Lithium Iron Phosphate. There are a few differences between these two chemistries. Li-ion has a higher energy density. LIFEPO4 is lower, but it is considered one of the safest batteries available. Not only are they safe, they have a more stable discharge curve then Li-ion. What this means for astronomers is that they can maintain a higher voltage over the length of the discharge curve than Li-ion. The only other disadvantage to LIFEPO4 is that they tend to cost more. This is due to the not being mass produced to the extent that Li-ion batteries are produced.
If you read the reviews for any Li-ion battery packs intended for telescopes, you will see people complaining about the voltage. It’s just a result of the chemistry and the number of cells in series used in the pack.
Talentcell produces both versions with the Li-ion packs being nearly 50% the cost of LIFEPO4.
For the Li-ion version, almost all manufacturers use a 3 cell design using the 18650 cell. Well that’s a bit of a problem for applications needing an actual 12V output. The reason being is that 3 cells in series equals about 10.2V total when each cell is at 3.4V. 3.4V is about the middle of the road on the discharge curve.
In contrast, the LIFEPO4 version uses 4 cells. At a nominal voltage of 3.2 per cell, this equals 12.8V which is perfect for a 12V power application.
To calculate the capacity that you need, divide the capacity of the battery by your average total usage in amps.
Talentcell makes 2 versions of LIFEPO4 a 6.5aH and a 12.8aH version.
Example.
1.1 average amp usage = 6.5/1.1 or 5.9 hour run time.
1.1 average amps usage with the 12.8ah version works out to 12.8/1.1 or 11.6 hour run time
The battery comes with 3 output connections. One for 9v, 12v and one USB 5v output. This gives you a lot of options and allows for multiple connections at the same time.
I plan to use a single 12V output and the let the ASIAir distribute the power through their on board 12v output and USB ports. This makes is less cluttered and I can run a single power cable up to the mount instead of many.
There are many choices to choose from even from just TalentCell. If you must have a nominal output of 12V then I would go with either of the 2 LIFEPO4 versions. However if your voltage requirements are not that critical, you can save some money by purchasing the Li-Ion versions. Before you do anything however, calculate how much capacity you need.
I recently purchased the ZWO 1.25″ narrowband filter set. The set include 3 filters H-alpha, S-II, and O3.
Narrowband filters are a great way to battle light pollution when photographing emission nebula. I live in a Bortle 8-9 area so for me narrow band is a must have. Even in light polluted skies, you can achieve highly detailed color images with a monochrome camera.
Thickness – 2mm (glass)
Cost – $369 as of post date
Light Pass – up to 90% (see chart) The manufacturer says “up to 80%” but if you look at the chart, it clearly say 90%. I suspect it’s just a typo on their site since the chart is more reliable.
Band Pass – 7 +/- .5nm
Wavelength
H-alpha – 656nm
S-II – 672nm
O3 – 500nm
Mounted – yes (standard 1.25″ filter thread male)
The filters are pre mounted onto standard 1.25″ male filter threads. I have used them individually and also with the ZWO Filter wheel. All you have to do is to screw them into the filter holder.
The following images were taken in my back yard using all three of these filters.
Camera – ZWO 1178mm
Mount – Skywatcher EQM-35 Pro
Guide Software – AsiAir Plus
Guide Scope – SVBony SV165
Agena AstroProducts has a rating of 4.3 stars with 6 reviews.
High Point Scientific has a 5 star rating with 2 reviews.
Most of the feedback posted from customers has been positive. The 4 star ratings mention difficulty focusing and not fitting the filter wheel. For me they fit perfectly so I cannot replicate any issue that the customer mentioned. As far as focuing goes, I can attest that it is more difficult to focus with the filters. The issue is that there is a significant reduction in the amount of light passed to the camera. To overcome this, I use a 15 to 30 second exposure time in the focus and preview mode. With the addition of a Bahtinov mask, I can use the preview function with long exposure to fine tune the focus.
As I just mentioned, focusing is a challenge. Here is how I get to focus fast with my setup. I use a filter wheel with my kit. I bought a cheap CLS filter and added it to the wheel. To get close but not yet perfect, I just switch to the CLS filter and increase my exposure time to 2 to 5 seconds. This get’s me very close to what the narrow band filter need to be at.
After this step, I switch to the filter I intend to use and use the preview mode with 30 seconds. With the mask, I can achieve perfect focus this way.
