Power Supply / Battery Advice for My Astrophotography Setup - Forums

Hi everyone,

I’m currently building up my astrophotography setup and I’d love some advice on power supply options. Here’s what I’m working with:

Mount: ZWO AM3
Main Scope: Red-Cat 71 WIFD
Guide Scope: UNIGUIDE 32MM
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI 120MINI
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI 585 MC Pro
Mini PC: ASIAIR Plus 256gb

I usually image from Belgium, but I’d like the flexibility to go portable to darker sites. At the moment, I’m looking into power stations/battery solutions that can reliably run the mount, guide camera, and my imaging camera for a whole night (or ideally even longer).

Clear skies ✨

I tested some batteries and finally I bought a BLUETTI Elite 100 evo2. Enough power for a whole night ( asi 2600 mg, am5, así 220, mini PC and dew bands. Another option is DIY. There are many schemes in internet

My Go-to setup is ZWO AM3, Askar SQA70, ASIAir Mini, ASI 585MCPro, EAF, EFW, ASI 120 Mini, WO uniguide, SVBony USB dew heater. I use 1 PD3.1 140W rated 27000mAH INUI battery pack (only using the 100W rated USB C port with a PD3.1 rated USB C to 5.5×2.1mm connector) for the ASIAir, Camera and accessories, 1 PD3.1 100W rated 25000mAH INUI battery pack (again only using the 65W port) for the mount. And an older 25000mAH battery pack for the dew heater. The dew heater always dies first.

Main Scope: Red-Cat 71 WIFD
Guide Scope: UNIGUIDE 32MM
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI 120MINI

I used to run a RED CAT 71 with a helical focuser and that guide train and a Nikon Z5 on a SW SA GTi with 8 rechargable AA batteries using an ASIAir powered through the PC USB C port (guide camera runs fine on USB). I used a 20000mAH battery pack of the ASIAir and a 25000mAH battery pack for the dew heater in freezing Boston MA winters. Traded the RC71 for a GT81IV.

I run a similar setup — AM3, ASI2600MC Pro, ASI120MM guide camera, EFW, EAF, and dew heaters. I just checked and the system is currently pulling 12.6V at 2.5-3.0A. Dew heaters are powered separately and are drawing 12.5V at 800mA.

Call that 12.5V times 4A, which is 50W. Multiply by 12 hours and you’re at 600 Wh, or 600,000 mAH. That’s when the mount is slewing and the dew heaters are cranked up. Normally you’ll run around 2-2.5A, which brings it down to 375 Wh.

So I’d be looking at a Jackery 600 as opposed to a couple of 10000 mAH batteries. I use the Jackery 300 for a smaller system and it works well. It has a solar charging option but I don’t use that — I’m never far from home or out for multiple nights without being able to charge it in between.

are you planning to travel also by plane with your equipment. In such case you are facing legal limitations regarding the total capacity of your batteries (1 x 100 Wh per person in your hand luggage). I am using for this purpose Jackery Explorer 100 plus. As I am travelling together with my wife we have 2 × 100Wh for us, which covers almost a long night completely (AM 3 with ASiAir plus, ASI 120 mm guide camera). I am using a Canon EOS R as my main camera and here I have to change the battery 1x during the night.

You can find some recommendations in this post:
https://www.astrobin.com/forum/post/200233/
or in this one:
https://www.astrobin.com/forum/post/176392/

I have an older Bluetti Ac50b (i think the newer equivalent is the AC60) and a Bluetti AC2A.

Esprit 100ed

WO Uniguide 50

Asiair plus

ZWO EFW

ZWO EAF

Asi2600mm cooling at-10

Asi 290m mini

1 x Svbony dew strap running at 50%

all running from my AC50B

SW eq6r pro mount

1 x svbony dew strap at 50%

Both running from my AC2A

I get a whole night out off this setup.

I have a 200watt solar panel to recharge during the day to keep me running for how ever many nights i need to be at the dark site off the grid.

For your rig, i would recommend a Bluetti AC70. This would get you through the night comfortably with a little extra power if you decide to add a couple of dew straps later.

thank you every one for the replies. appreciate it !!

I use a Jackery Explorer 2000-Pro when I go out remote and it gives me enough power to image all night long. It has accessory solar panels as well for daytime charging. My portable set up:

Mount: ZWO AM5

Scopes: WO florostar120/WO Redcat 71/ Stellarvue SVX 130T

Control: AsiAirPlus

Camera: ZWO 585MC-Pro/ZWO 2600MC-Pro

Samsung Android tablet

Artesky flat panel light generator

Dew heaters (3) when required

ZWO 183MC camera for guiding

ZWO camera rotator

Clear skies to all!!

Patrick

I recently got a Bluetti AC70P and it’s worked very well. At 864 Wh, it’s good for 2-3 nights of imaging depending on how aggressive my camera cooling is. I had to add lots of red tape, though. The thing lights up like a christmas tree at night.

I have the Bluetti AC180. Have very similar set up.

I can run all night on a single charge of it. Usually still have 50+% afterwards.

Its expensive but well worth the money

Deniz Üzel · Sep 2, 2025, 08:19 AM
Hi everyone,
I’m currently building up my astrophotography setup and I’d love some advice on power supply options. Here’s what I’m working with:
Mount: ZWO AM3
Main Scope: Red-Cat 71 WIFD
Guide Scope: UNIGUIDE 32MM
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI 120MINI
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI 585 MC Pro
Mini PC: ASIAIR Plus 256gb
I usually image from Belgium, but I’d like the flexibility to go portable to darker sites. At the moment, I’m looking into power stations/battery solutions that can reliably run the mount, guide camera, and my imaging camera for a whole night (or ideally even longer).
Clear skies ✨

"I use a Wave 150i mount, an Asiair, two dew heaters, a guide camera, two EAFs (Electronic Automatic Focusers), a flat panel (or flat screen), a 12V camera, and a powered USB hub. I bought a 12V 120Ah LiFePO4 battery in a waterproof case from Ali (AliExpress) here in Belgium. It lasts me two winter nights.

📷 20241027174250-330e2fce.png📷 20241107154131-c39ee5b8-me.jpg

📷 20241213133334-a8140d9a-cu_s9999x600.jpg📷 20241024203739-943f1f90-me.jpg

hello, Luc

thank you so much for the advice. I will definitely look at this battery. I just wanted to ask you if there is any good spots to shoot and camp for a night ? I just recently moved into Antwerp and i do not know much about this place. so it will be very helpfull if you know and share any spots i can use in Antwerp.

Clear Skies.

Luc Viatour · Oct 2, 2025, 03:57
I bought a 12V 120Ah LiFePO4 battery in a waterproof case from Ali (AliExpress) here in Belgium. It lasts me two winter nights.

The two components that take by far the most power are dew heaters and camera cooling. The rest is negligible. So a lot will depend on whether you cool to just a few degrees under ambient, or always lets say at -10/-15°C. And whether you typically run your dew heaters on maximum, 50%, etc. My experience is that for a full night of imaging, 50% dew heaters and camera cooling at 50-70%, you would need somewhere between 300-500Wh. I currently use a GoalZero Yeti 500, a recent upgrade from the Yeti 400.

Many of these battery packs allow the use of 220V equipment, but for an astro-rig that only means a lot of energy loss of up-/down-regulating the voltage. Make as much use of the 12V and USB-PD outputs as you can. Using USB-PD is very efficient and together with the right trigger-cables can power your whole rig. If you want some ideas, feel free to check out my blog about it.

Deniz Üzel · Oct 3, 2025, 08:42 AM
hello, Luc
📷 Capture d’écran du 2025-10-03 20-51-10.png
so it will be very helpfull if you know and share any spots i can use in Antwerp.
Clear Skies.

It'll be tough to find a truly dark sky in Antwerp…

I'm in Belgium, but here in Wallonia, I've got a good Bortle 4 sky.

There's a publicly accessible field where you can set up camp for some stargazing/astronomy.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Xs2ABLZbYga47Wsc6

📷 image.png

Depending on the time of year, I can get a night or more out of my diy 40ah lifepo4 battery running an asi air, 2600mc duo, eaf, dew strip, and AM5. I charge it with a 120 watt solar cell when away from home. If I’m going to a star party, I also bring a 100ah diy setup that lasts a couple nights and is charged with either the 120 or a 200 watt cell. The 40ah then becomes a phone and accessories charger. For ports I use mostly Anderson connectors, but have an old school 12v and some usb options as well. I want to add some 2.1×5.5mm 12v ports at some point…

I don’t see the point in paying a premium for the branded stuff, but some people don’t like diy projects. Either way, I think a lifepo4 setup is the way to go when you travel. They are smaller, lighter, and last longer than anything else currently available.

Edit: One thing is to try to get a good charge controller for between the batteries and the panels that outputs to bluetooth so you can get an idea of what’s going on when the batteries are charging.

I wouldn’t go lower than 1000 watt power cell. That seems to be overkill until you add in hot nights/cold nights, dew heaters, and gives you plenty of room for long nights during winter. I started out at 500 and crushed that. Up to 700 which was better but not for 12 hours when it’s available. I tend to nearly exhaust the goal zero 1000wt. Model with everything going all night. That’s am5, zwo 2600 with fan and dew heaters, lag dew heater, c9:25 dew heater, and all the other little gnitnoid ephemera. If you watch your retailers you’ll often find windows where they take power cells down 25-40%.

I went for :
- Bluetti AC70 with solar panels so I can charge it while I travel (I’m located in Spain so lots of sun). This one would supply power up to 2 or 3 nights in a raw without any issues. It powers the camera, filter wheel, due heaters, EAF and ASIair.
- Bluetti AC2A, for the mount.

Very good brand, I’m happy with this set up.

That’s a really solid setup 👌 I run a similar configuration and did a lot of power testing for field sessions.

Here’s a rough estimate of the total power draw:

AM3 mount: ~0.5–1 A while tracking, up to 2 A during slews
ASI585MC Pro: ~2 A (with TEC cooling active)
ASI120Mini: negligible, about 0.15 A
ASIAIR Plus & Wi-Fi: around 0.5–0.8 A
👉 That gives you roughly 4 A average at 12 V, or about 48 Wh per hour.

So, for a 10-hour imaging night you’d need around 480–500 Wh of usable capacity.
A 12 V / 45–50 Ah battery (≈ 550–600 Wh usable) is perfect, that’s what I use.

I actually built my own DIY power box using a 62 Ah car battery inside a rugged case, with DC ports, voltmeter, and master switch (photos above 🔋). It easily powers my mount, camera, and ASIAIR for two full nights without any issue.

If you want something ready-made, look for power stations rated around 600–700 Wh minimum (Jackery, Bluetti, EcoFlow, etc.). But honestly, a DIY car-battery box can be just as effective and much cheaper.

Clear skies! 🌙📷 61e2a4fc-a438-4672-b3c3-2d3c15b16335.jpeg📷 37f17663-cbdc-41fe-93a5-f579c8f5075f.jpeg📷 dbe093b4-d192-4549-aa35-bb772ece146d.jpeg📷 2a8df9f7-1d0c-4f5b-8bc3-10491b43d303.jpeg

I have been using Bluetti EB3A for quite sometime on similar setup and it is working well and very happy with the output! I can share my setup if that is ok.

For what it’s worth I use an Anker Solix C1000:

https://www.ankersolix.com/products/c1000?variant=49702371524938&utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping&utm_content=pps&utm_campaign=us_ankersolix_pps_m3_google-shopping_alwayson_allpn_purchase_ost_audience_external_25BFCM_madhouse&utm_term=23231282538_189036650635_783019284434&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23231282538&gclid=Cj0KCQiAoZDJBhC0ARIsAERP-F9c7kK28hlDSjDfHWJE4ca9o_jbcZIjoj4oYTVL9he20uxHA1m5TI0aAgdYEALw_wcB

It’s rock solid and well made. It runs my whole rig all night and usually still has 20% left in the morning (Askar sqa106 on a WD-20 mount, Player One Zeus and phoenix filter wheel, QHY mini-guide scope, oasis autofocus, rbfocus Excalibur flat panel, mini-pc). All that Usually draws about 3-4amps. But what I like most about it: when recharging it reaches 80% capacity in 43min. I really like it.