It did not take too many evenings in my garden until I knew that I would have to invest in mobile Astrophotography equipment if I wanted to have fun at this hobby on the long run.
And so I did.
I have read several blog articles about building a mobile power supply on my own. To keep this part of the story short: I did not build one. The primary reason was the box. I wanted a slim box fitting a battery perfectly. And with this in mind, I found only real battery boxes fitting my requirements.
The box for mobile astrophotography
I found and bought this battery box. But it wasn‘t that easy.
Some important facts:
- This box is manufactured in china.
- It is available all over the globe (or flat earth) under different labels
- You can find them (and similar boxes) easily googling the following: battery box anderson plug USB
- The empty box comes without a charger.
Here a quick look inside the box:
The box (the battery inside) is chargeable over the Anderson Plugs without the need to open it.
The battery
Now that i knew the box and the size, I had to choose a battery. For astrophotography I think a AGM battery fits perfectly.
I wanted one with more than 100Ah capacity. One thing that I learned is the following: It is not only the capacity that is important, but also the time (in hours) over which you plan to use the capacity. The faster you use the capacity, the lower is the capacity you can actually use. A battery labeled with 110Ah 100C means, ignoring that you should only use 50% of the capacity if you want maximum recharges, has 110 capacity, if you use the power over a time of 100 hours.
Means: The lower the „C“ value for a given capacity, the better. And this makes a real different in price.
The one i found, bought and I am happy with is this one:
Why this one? It fits perfectly into my box and it has a capacity of 120Ah calculated for 20 hours. Means 120Ah 20C (!!!).
My first mobile Astrophotography camp
I was really happy when finally the clouds moved on and I could test it under dark skies. After testing it in my garden previously.
Under a dark sky without any scattered light, the laps used in the box are really bright. I simply used some tape to lower the brightness.
