TalentCell LIFEPO4 6.5ah 12V Battery Bank - Review & Test on GOTO Telescope Mount

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6.5 aH battery:
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Male to Female Power Cord
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In this video I'll review and test this 12V power bank. I used it on my Goto telescope mount and tested it with the Celestron 127EQ telescope. It was cold that night and the battery performed well in these conditions. I also had 2 astronomy cameras running and an electronic filter wheel.
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00:12 Intro
00:53 Battery Chemistry
04:02 What's in the box
07:22 Field Test
09:39 Heavy Newtonian
10:36 Run Time
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[@MyEngineeringProjects]

Note that when I shot this I plugged in the mount to the AsiAir power port. This was a mistake. The mount must be plugged in directly to a battery and you should not use the AsiAir. I corrected my mistake but I don't want anyone else to hook this up incorrectly.

[@jillratanapan2606]

Just ordered one thank you for your recommendations! Question- you stated in your video that the cigarette lighter charger came with the kit but it was not included (what’s comes in the box) so my question is- you could still use other battery bank cigarette lighter charger (to charge in the car, of course, while on the go)? I go to remote locations often time for my imaging sessions where there’s usually no electricity hookups. Thank you in advance!

[@MyEngineeringProjects]

Hi jillratanapan2606. I don't remember mentioning the cigarette lighter charger. What was the time stamp in the video? The battery just comes with a 120v charger. When I travel with this type of battery, I charge it with a small inverter that plugs into the cigarette lighter 12v port. It only pulls 20W charging so it works great with an inverter.

[@MyEngineeringProjects]

I forgot to mention that you should plug the mount directly into the battery and not the AsiAir. You can use a splitter or a second battery to accomplish this. I had made a mistake in the video where I did it the opposite way. The AsiAir can only output 3A which is too low for mounts.

[@cherylmcmurray1397]

Did you power both your mount and ASIAIR setup with this? I didn’t see a second charger for the mount. I’ve been using the TalentCell 12v/3amp but see in the documentation of the Asiair that a 12v/5amp is recommended. Thank you for the review!

[@MyEngineeringProjects]

When I shot this video I powered both the Asi Air and the mount from just one battery. This works most of the time (photography and tracking are ok) but when I slew, it sometimes causes issues due to needing more current than the battery can supply. To solve this issue, I bought a second battery that only powers the mount. Now it works all the times.

[@cherylmcmurray1397]

@@MyEngineeringProjects Thank you! I've had nothing but great results from my 2 TalentCell 12v/3A chargers for my mounts that I've used for a while with no power issues and very long battery life, but will feel better knowing this one is 5A as recommended by ZWO for the ASIAIr plus with a cooled astrocamera connected. Just ordered one. 🙂

[@MyEngineeringProjects]

Good to hear. I'm very happy with mine as well.

[@SpicyAngler]

Thanks for this video. I have a lithium ion batt of tallentcell to power up my fishfinder. It is the 12v 8300mA 72W, 100WH one which I think over 3 years of use by now, started to discharge and therefore it stops my sonar from working because no enough voltage supply. I think I will go for the Phosphate one. Although it is only 6500mA and it will power up less time my device, it will remain more consistent with its voltage. What do you think? Thank you for your video

[@MyEngineeringProjects]

LIFEPO4 is by far the better option for applications that require a higher voltage. I have both versions and the Li-ion voltage drops quickly and can cause issues. You may need to run another LIFEPO4 in parallel if the capacity is not enough

[@SpicyAngler]

@@MyEngineeringProjects thanks for replying. I have checked my lithium Ion voltage and it shows 11.3v. This is less than 12v of course. Do you think this is not enough voltage to power up the sonar to work properly?

[@MyEngineeringProjects]

It should work. Most 12V devices can take a range of voltages. 12V is a nominal specification.

[@SpicyAngler]

@@MyEngineeringProjects yea this make sense but maybe the sonar needs higher supply..? When I have spoke to raymarine they came back to me telling me the sonar range is no lower than 11.9v and not higher than 13.1v for functioning, although on their manuals the fishfinder/sonar/gps says the range is 10.8-15.6. That at leaset what is mentioned there. However when I use the sonar in my last few trips, in depth of 30 meter up it doesn’t work when you go shallower to around 10 meter it is back to life… so might it be low voltage for the sonar to function properly at 11.3V. The rest of the finder is working, plotter, temperature,…

[@MyEngineeringProjects]

I would recommend an LIFEPO4 battery instead of LI-Ion. The voltage is much more stable and higher than LI-Ion