Suggestions for a good battery to power my setup while travelling

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Rene Matjanec avatar
Hello everyone.

I am looking for a good battery to power my setup for at least one night of imaging, preferably two nights on one charge. I have seen some sponsored youtube reviews of a few batteries, but I am looking for an unbiased recommendation from someone that actually uses one and has had a positive experience using it.

My setup includes an ASIAir (through which I power everything else), an ASI585MC Pro OSC camera, ASI120MM Mini guide camera and a ZWO AM5 N mount.
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Médéric Hébert avatar
I'm not familiar with the asiair, but can you get the total energy consumption either at the moment or for the night? Even the same equipment will consume different amounts of power depending of your environment. That will give you a better idea for the size of battery you'll need
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Pete Bouras avatar
Lion Energy

Lion UT 1300 BT Battery (12V, 105Ah, LiFePO4)

Should run your rig for 2+ nights, I get 2 nights, with QHY600M, and a MyT mount.
Samuel Warfel avatar
I like my Bluetti PS54, bought it on sale (Ebay, vendor sells there).  Plenty of power for two nights, topping off a friend's rig, or running 12+ hours at 0 degrees F.
AmyWarble avatar
I'm happy with my Jackery but I don't use it for travel; the power at our house is not entirely reliable so I use it to prevent any loss of time.  I've got the 500W model which can power my rig for ~8 hours, I think.  To be clear I'm not positive regarding that figure, I tested it back when I had the ASIAIR but not since I upgraded to the Eagle 5 computer.
Oscar avatar
I'm satisfied with my Anker Solix C1000 - has plenty of outlets and even an LED strip I can turn on when I can't see what I'm doing in the dark

it can last 2 full nights, assuming each time I power it on at dusk and off in the morning

powers my AVX mount, 2600mm, 174mm mini, ASIair, and filter wheel; have never had any problem with it
Alan Brunelle avatar
Oscar:
I'm satisfied with my Anker Solix C1000 - has plenty of outlets and even an LED strip I can turn on when I can't see what I'm doing in the dark

it can last 2 full nights, assuming each time I power it on at dusk and off in the morning

powers my AVX mount, 2600mm, 174mm mini, ASIair, and filter wheel; have never had any problem with it

I second the Anker product line.  Bottom line, all the suggestions that make use of LiFiPO4 batteries is probably the better option.  Naked batteries will require the added fuss of balancing cells, unless you are sure that it has a BMS built in with a charger.  And then an appropriate charger beside the BMS.  Many batteries have a BMS, but still check for that.  The Bluetti, Anker, etc. will also have temperature cutoffs during charge to protect the costly battery from frying if you were to try to charge it when it is too cold.  The Anker line of power supplies charge super fast.  I never bring mine down to near zero charge, but it is always charged in an hour when using house power to charge.  The solar is reasonably efficient, but sounds like you don't really need that.  

Another option, I can show you via my post of a few years ago:  See here.  This is a simple setup that makes use of the EGO line of tool batteries.  The 5 A hr batteries powered the system for nearly the whole night.  Note these batteries were well used, so not in the prime of there lives.  The adaptor was reasonably cheap, the batteries I had on hand because I use EGO tools, and the voltage step-down adapter and power readout monitor/alarm were dirt cheap on Amazon.  Simple to put together, even for this non-electrically inclined person. 

I prefer my Anker setup, but the small battery setup I described above is great for a grab and go setup.  Even when I have my Anker, I still bring the EGOs as emergency backup.

Oh, and my Anker powers my rig, charges my laptop, phone and powers my cpap while I sleep during the night camping.  Easily lasts the night, which is pretty good since my cpap requires that I use the inverter to power it.  It all charges during the day out with my solar panel.  At the time I bought the Anker, the deals were much cheaper than Jackery, or Bluetti, which at the time were pricing as premium supplies because they were well known brands.  Anker was trying to break into that market and were priced well below the others, and better yet, they often had deals that were considerably lower than the low list prices.  Built like a brick, with fans for proper temp control during charging (why it is so much faster to charge than those premium supplies) and if discharge is fast, which won't happen if you are driving a rig.
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Rene Matjanec avatar
First of all, I would like to say thanks to everyone that replied!

Since I don't have a multimeter with me currently I couldn't measure my exact power usage, but using the maximum amperage for each component and adding an additional 20% to the number to account for any excess power draws due to hot/cold conditions and the discharge efficiency of the battery gets me to roughly 500 Wh per night of imaging. That is just for my rig, but I will probably end up charging my phone and laptop while there and for running any lights or accessories i bring with me, so the number is likely to be even higher.

Also, I have heard good things about the Bluetti line of batteries from a friend that goes camping. He has their 1800 Wh battery and is very satisfied with it.

I will also look into Anker, but from what I have read and what you guys have said they are pretty similar in quality and performance, so my choice will likely go to the brand that has a better discount available at the time of the purchase.

Solar charging of the battery is something I haven't considered, but now that I think about it it might be useful to have if, in the future, I decide to go camping for more than a night or two. I have seen Bluetti advertising a 10 year life span for their batteries, so future proofing might not be a bad idea.

Once again, thanks to everyone for taking the time to respond.

Clear Skies, Rene.
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Chris Kramer avatar
Hi Rene,

    I came across this when I was looking for a power station for my astronomy gear - it's a couple of years old, but may be of some help to you:

https://astrobackyard.com/portable-power-station/There is a section about Jackery power stations and problems with the Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro mounts that may be of some interest to you.

Chris
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Eric Gagne avatar
I use 2 Bluetti EB3A.  When on sale on Bluetti’s site they are very affordable and I prefer 2 light ones than 1 heavier one.
Tobiasz avatar
I use the VTOMAN Jump 2200, its a heavy boy, but plenty of power, you dont have to insulate it in cold nights and with duties and taxes i only paid 450$ for it. It has a display which tells you the current power draw, battery percentage and how much time you got left with the current power draw.
Aloke Palsikar avatar
There are several options available on Amazon.  Jackery is one which is quite popular

Trevor Jones of Astrobackyard has reviewed a few options and suggested tips for selection and usage.  Video available on You Tube

https://astrobackyard.com/portable-power-station/


Hope this helps

Regards

Aloke
SkyHoinar avatar
It depends on what you mean by "travelling": by car or by plane (which is more restrictive in terms of weight and capacity).

For me it was airplane travel, so I opted for lightweigth power packs, which I practically use all the time even at home, because they are very convenient.

I put a link hereafter with more details from a previous post on this topic:

https://www.astrobin.com/forum/post/176399/

I hope it helps.
NeilM avatar
I've been using a Jackery battery with my EQ6R for 18 months now with no issues.  With my 1264Wh battery I can run everything for 2 full nights:  mount, cameras, dew heaters, iPad and iPhone.
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