Jackery Portable Power Station Explorer 500

[TerryMcK]

I’ve just ordered one of these power supplies for when we finally get back to being allowed to get out portable again. It should be fine for a night of imaging. It seems to have enough in reserve to power a modest rig like mine. I won’t have the laptop on all the time and will setup the PI to be the total controller with Kstars and EKOS running locally rather than on an external device. That way the power supply will only be powering the rig, dew heaters and PI.

The Jackery 500 seems to have a lot of good reviews and doesn’t break the bank. I know some people say lithium doesn’t work too good in very cold temperatures but it never really gets like Canadian winter temperatures in my area.

 

 

I was unable to source one of the Beaudens 240Wh Power Stations that Paul reviewed recently as they, like most things, appear to be out of stock with unknown dates of possible restock.

Edited May 15, 2021 by TerryMcK

[AstronomyUkraine]

4 hours ago, TerryMcK said:

I was unable to source one of the Beaudens 240Wh Power Stations that Paul reviewed recently as they, like most things, appear to be out of stock with unknown dates of possible restock.

I have noticed in Europe a lot of products are out of stock until the beginning of July, especially Skywatcher products. When they are back in stock, they will increse the prices by 15% which is not good news.

[paul]

That should keep the Pi running a few hours! I checked out Jackery, its gets a lot of coverage but of course it wasn't in stock😁. Let us know how you get on👍

[TerryMcK]

The Jackery arrived yesterday and I charged it up. This morning it is powering the solar rig. Just the PI4, a network switch, the ASI183MM camera (in non powered mode), a powered USB3 hub and the mount.

 

It is drawing just 19watts at the moment. When I plug a laptop in it goes up to about 90 watts.

 

I'm taking a few snapshots of sunspot 2824 right now.

Edited May 19, 2021 by TerryMcK

[TerryMcK]

And after a few frames were captured here is sunspot 2824 - no expensive Ha gadgets (I'm saving the pennies to buy one) just the Altair Astro Herschel wedge and a Baader solar continuum filter.

 

 

Processed with AutoStakkert3 and Registax6. Then passed into PhotoShop CC2021 for final processing.

Edited May 19, 2021 by TerryMcK

[TerryMcK]

The Jackery has been switched on for two hours, is now drawing 25 watts and has been imaging/controlling the mount. It still has 91% capacity.

 

This test is for solar use at the moment and I will give it a run on a night with PI, mount, camera cooler, dew heaters etc to gauge the current draw.

 

Now switched to the other side of the sun and took a snap of sunspot 2822

There appear to be other spots appearing too. A little cluster of 3 dots in the centre of the picture that also is apparent on other captures I've done.

 

Edited May 19, 2021 by TerryMcK

[paul]

91% is impressive. That's looking like a very capable solution Terry.👍

[Live_Steam_Mad]

How does that Jackery unit do in the cold ? Has it got any audible "low battery" alarm or mention about having one in the user manual ? Also what is the output voltage from the DC socket under almost no load and then under an e.g. 3A load ?

Regards.

Edited July 8, 2021 by Live_Steam_Mad

[TerryMcK]

The user manual is available for you to look at yourself on the Jackery website. The output voltage as measured with my Avo multimeter is 13.8 volts in all those conditions you stated.

It would be nice if you could put your name in your signature so we are not talking to a handle.

[TerryMcK]

No idea how it does in the cold as I bought it in May 2021 so temperature has not been below about 5 Celsius yet.

[TerryMcK]

I tried the Jackery 500 outside last night in temperatures around zero Celsius and can confirm it works supremely well.

I had my portable rig connected up to it which comprises:

• WO RedCat with ZWO ASI183MM Pro cooling to -20C
• 2 dewstraps
• 1 Deepskydad focuser
• 1 Skywatcher EQM35Pro
• 1 Raspberry Pi4
• 1 guide camera ZWO ASI120MM 

 

Total current draw when cooler on, dewstraps at 100%, computer running and slewing was just under 2 amps. This equated to 25 watts as seen on the Jackery display. It dropped slightly to around 23watts when just tracking

I had the rig on for around 9 hours and was imaging for about 7 hours.

The ambient temperature was around 5C when started and gradually dropped to around 0.5C by the morning.

 

At the end of the session the Jackery had 51% remaining. Probably good for 2 nights before recharging. 

 

[TerryMcK]

Last night was slightly colder dropping to about -3C and I got 15 hours of imaging in from dust until dawn. The capacity of the Jackery went down to about 37% from full charge over this period.