Eyepiece/equipment/powertank/powerpack cabinet

Well, its certainly a possibility and fairly easy to do, the question is do I need to do it at all ?? I
I have an old kendrick heater pad just for this so I'll put it in whichever section of the case fares the worst.

I'm gonna run with it as it is for a few long cold observing sessions and see how it goes, I cant go out tonight as I'm just getting over the flu, but hopefully this weekend will be the one !!.

I will be putting in red led lights into each case section with a small switch so I wont need a torch to see what I'm doing with it. It'll take very little power and is worth the effort.

Well lads,
What can I say, I was bored!, I had to go at it again and make some improvements :twisted: :lol:

I added 3 more cig lighter type sockets onto the front panel along with 4 phono/dew heater type sockets.

You can see the voltage is 12.78 volts and its drawing 0.6amps, what's drawing that power I hear you say?

This mains inverter that now attached to the side of the box !

and with the lid closed for when its not in use. I drilled some vent holes on the far end of it so it doesn't overheat.

It has its own switch so is only on when needed. It'll be handy for running the laptop if imaging remotely. Its an Argos inverter in a Maplin box, very handy.

One thing that's important is to cycle the battery every 2 months or so,
so I attached this 6 ohm 50 watt resistor (the gold thing).


One thing that became obvious to me is that the wiring was inadequate for the power requirements so I got new 50 amp rated wiring and re-did it.
Basically I figured the old wiring would have melted before the fuse blew in the event of something going wrong.
It now uses a proper 40 amp in-line fuse to prevent an explosion or fire.

The 3 switches are for the power to the phono connectors (connection 3 and 4 is on the last switch).
The big red switch to the lower right is the resistor dissapation switch (its turned on here).

Anyone recognise what this vertical panel on the side of the box is ??

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yes, its a pop out cup holder from a Saab dashboard, works perfectly here.


and here it is with the heater cup, the battery power will keep my tea hot at the temperature I set it to for as long as I like (1 degree increments!])


The phono connectors are for dew heaters that I'll be putting into the sections with eyepieces, I'll be getting some resistor wire from ebay for this.

Comments/ideas are welcome.

:shock:

Lidl had an offer last week of 3 different size fly cases.

Lidl had an offer last week of 3 different size fly cases.

Thanks for the reminder PJ, its the Lidl fishing gear week. Best value waders for under €20-must pick up another pair for the sea bass season.!


Dave

Where is the LCD TV and running hot water?
How about a wireless ripwave broadband connection
You could make a living making stuff like this -I'd buy one !!
Awesome

Dave

How about a talk on this at the SAC meeting??