celestron power plant

Hi

I just use it to run the scope nothing else. Light sometimes comes on but just for a few seconds only. I stuck it on charge the other night just to see what happened. No visible sign that it was charging, charger wasnt warm, no light coming on etc. But still had enough power to run the scope last night. Lots of slewing aas well. So maybe it is charging- but secretly

David,
I'd go with that. I have a couple of other items that seemed to have last well past their charge-expiry date! I reckon they are charging, but the l.e.d. is just dead to indicate it.

Be warned - Lead acid batteries do not like being fully discharged. Even if you don't think it needs a re-charge - stick it on charge after every use.
If you discharge it totally then it may never recover.
This applies to wet cells, SLAs and AGMs. The former two can be left indefinitely on charge, the latter should be taken off charge once it reaches peak.
Look after the battery and the power tank will last you at least a few years before you need to change the battery.

Hi all.

Just for anyone who is interested.

It turned out that the battery was indeed not being charged. I eventually tracked the fault down to the charger unit supplied. I sent it back to GW as it was faulty who agreed to replace it. Its just come back now and all seems to be well.

In the mean time I used the portable car charger that came with it to recharge. (This actually gives an output of 15v so dont use it to power your scope in an emergancy!!!!)

Also, before you plug in the charger for the first time dont forget to make sure that you have changed the switch from 110v to 220v.

Hi all, I've used my powertank now a few times and has not let me down, I decided to recharge it last night.

The red 'charging' light comes on alright, but the green 'fully charged' light is also on. What does this mean I wonder??? My charger is warm to hot when touched....

Keith..

Keith - my battery (from Halfords I think) shows both the charging light (red) and a green 'charged' light when its fully charged. The instruction manual says to stop charging at that point. I guess the powertank would be the same.

I've not noticed any significant warmth in the charger when unplugging it though... Top up your house insurance just in case...

Dave