I'm looking for a LiFePO4 battery to power my computer during the times I travel to a dark site. I do have a 50 AH Bioenno battery, but these are fairly expensive. Anyone have any experience with the cheaper ones available online? I would want it to discharge reliably when the outside temperature is in the 20 -30 Farenheit range and up. Thanks!
LiFePO4 batteries
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Thanks Arun, nice query which if you permit i can extend to Cooled cameras usage, which need almost 3A for the cooler…
Hi,
I have a suspicion that mine is struggling to keep a strong power output for a whole night past -10C.
Also please use Celsius.
Greetings, Stefan.
I have a suspicion that mine is struggling to keep a strong power output for a whole night past -10C.
Also please use Celsius.
Greetings, Stefan.
Stefan Pfleger:
Also please use Celsius.
I think both Celsius and Fahrenheit are acceptable units of temperature, depending on context and region.
When I am doing academic work or reporting cooling temperature, I will use Centigrade. When thinking about weather, I use Fahrenheit, because this is how weather is reported in the US and nearly all of us here in the US mentally think of temperature this way. It is quite easy to convert between the two units or use an online tool. By all means use Celsius if it is more convenient for you, I will do the conversion on my end. But I will use Fahrenheit when reporting weather.
Anyhow - the topic is LiFePO4 batteries.
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It works. I live in Minnesota. I bought a used anker power station about 778wh from Ebay.(This is enough in minnesota's winter like 5 f)。 In fact, electricity demand is reduced in winter than in summer. Cause cooled camera's fans dont need work.（this is main part cost).
It works. I live in Minnesota. I bought a used anker power station about 778wh from Ebay.(This is enough in minnesota's winter like 5 f)。 In fact, electricity demand is reduced in winter than in summer. Cause cooled camera's fans dont need work.（this is main part cost).
Thanks for this recommendation. I had not considered this, but the nice thing is that with the AC output, I can use my box computer without any kind of 12-19 V conversion. It would have dual use too, as a backup at home. And as you noted, refurbished ones are available on eBay, relatively inexpensive. The Bioenno battery can power my mount, camera, etc. This is a good solution.
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I have a Bluetti EB3A which can power my rig. The specifications list its operating temperature as -4 - 104℉ (-20 - 40℃) which sounds like it should work for you. I haven't used it in the field, but I did test it one night with my rig outdoors. The trick was to run most of the equipment through the AC outputs, as the USB power outputs were insufficient to power my camera (they managed a dew-heater just fine though). A power-bar attached to one of the AC outputs was much better at supplying reliable power throughout the night. You can also monitor the battery remotely over bluetooth, and they have solar charging setups available (I've bought one, it works very well). Hope that's helpful!
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Mark Germani:
I have a Bluetti EB3A which can power my rig. The specifications list its operating temperature as -4 - 104℉ (-20 - 40℃) which sounds like it should work for you. I haven't used it in the field, but I did test it one night with my rig outdoors. The trick was to run most of the equipment through the AC outputs, as the USB power outputs were insufficient to power my camera (they managed a dew-heater just fine though). A power-bar attached to one of the AC outputs was much better at supplying reliable power throughout the night. You can also monitor the battery remotely over bluetooth, and they have solar charging setups available (I've bought one, it works very well). Hope that's helpful!
I use the Bluettie EB70S, the 700W big brother to the EB3A. Love it. Easily powers all of my rig for several sessions...
Mark, Rodrigo, and Tom - thanks for the suggestions.
I do like the Bluetti LiFePO4 solution - seems like they are rated for a much larger number of discharge cycles than the Anker power bank which is Lithium based. I'll have to decide between the EB 70S and the EB 3A. The EB70S may be better to assure enough charge for a full night of imaging.
I do like the Bluetti LiFePO4 solution - seems like they are rated for a much larger number of discharge cycles than the Anker power bank which is Lithium based. I'll have to decide between the EB 70S and the EB 3A. The EB70S may be better to assure enough charge for a full night of imaging.
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Arun H:
The EB70S may be better to assure enough charge for a full night of imaging.
I made a spreadsheet with amps required for each component of my rig, assuming max power draw (mount slewing + camera cooling at 100%) and calculated my EB3A would last 6-8 hours, which was sufficient for my needs. If you have the $$$, I'd go for the bigger battery
Mark Germani:
I made a spreadsheet with amps required for each component of my rig, assuming max power draw (mount slewing + camera cooling at 100%) and calculated my EB3A would last 6-8 hours, which was sufficient for my needs. If you have the $$$, I'd go for the bigger battery
In my case, the dollars would have to be spent anyway. It becomes a matter of convenience. My AC powered box computer consumes about 60 watts. So something like an EB3A could not supply power for more than 4-5 hours. I could certainly buy a smaller, lower powered box computer (which would cost money and time to set up); alternatively, I could use my existing computer which is completely set up for my rig, and spend the money on a bigger battery!
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In cooler weather, I have had the Renogy 50AH LiFePO4 battery shut down before I planned to stop shooting.
It's in a standard battery box, which give me enough room to also store the Victron solar charge controller and a useful length of power cable. The battery box was enclosed in a three-day cooler and battery temp never went below 2 C.
I recently bought a Renogy 100AH, Bluetooth, self-heating LiFePo4 from their site. Since I'm located near Chicago, I also used this battery in the three-day chest. When the temps when sub-zero (f), the chest and the heating kept the battery warm enough to work half the afternoon and overnight until mid-morning when I went out to collect the equipment. According to the Renogy app, I still had another 8-10 hours before the battery would be "empty."
They have a special going for ~US$600.00. It is a good chunk of change, but I think it's worth it to be able to shoot two nights back-to-back, even if I don't have an opportunity to recharge during the day.
My power drain items are an EQ6ri mount, ASIAIR Plus, ASI6200, FW, focuser, and two anti-dew strip heaters that run on "high" in the cold weather.
It's in a standard battery box, which give me enough room to also store the Victron solar charge controller and a useful length of power cable. The battery box was enclosed in a three-day cooler and battery temp never went below 2 C.
I recently bought a Renogy 100AH, Bluetooth, self-heating LiFePo4 from their site. Since I'm located near Chicago, I also used this battery in the three-day chest. When the temps when sub-zero (f), the chest and the heating kept the battery warm enough to work half the afternoon and overnight until mid-morning when I went out to collect the equipment. According to the Renogy app, I still had another 8-10 hours before the battery would be "empty."
They have a special going for ~US$600.00. It is a good chunk of change, but I think it's worth it to be able to shoot two nights back-to-back, even if I don't have an opportunity to recharge during the day.
My power drain items are an EQ6ri mount, ASIAIR Plus, ASI6200, FW, focuser, and two anti-dew strip heaters that run on "high" in the cold weather.
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For those of you doing device calculations with these power stations - you cannot simply use the rated capacity. You have to use:
Running time = Battery capacity × DoD × η ÷ Device rated power
where DoD is depth of discharge (80%) and η is the inverter efficiency (75% typically).
Also, the device itself uses some power, I believe, 15 W according to a review I read. So a 65 W AC power device can be used with an EB70S for:
716*0.8*0.75/80 = 5.37 hours.
Running time = Battery capacity × DoD × η ÷ Device rated power
where DoD is depth of discharge (80%) and η is the inverter efficiency (75% typically).
Also, the device itself uses some power, I believe, 15 W according to a review I read. So a 65 W AC power device can be used with an EB70S for:
716*0.8*0.75/80 = 5.37 hours.
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Thanks Arun, i was searching for the formula!!