Highlights
- Our most compact, lightweight, and portable lithium power pack
- The built-in 12 volt regulating circuit Provides your telescope with up to 8 hours of consistent power at the proper voltage for optimum telescope performance
- Comes with a rapid charge USB port for fast-charging your electronic devices in the field
- Meets current FAA carry-on baggage regulations
- Approximately 6,000mAH of power (Battery life calculator)
Power your telescope anywhere with the PowerTank Lithium LT, our smallest and lightest lithium-ion power pack. This handy device is a must-have for your telescope and accessories, camping gear, emergency kit, and more.
Stable Power Designed for Telescopes
The PowerTank Lithium LT is built with Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide [LiNiMnCoO2] or NMC technology, which delivers a steady charge over long periods and requires less maintenance than a traditional sealed lead-acid battery.
Unlike other lithium-ion power packs in this price range, the PowerTank Lithium LT was designed for astronomers by astronomers-specifically for the unique needs of computerized telescopes.
Telescope electronics are very sensitive to voltage. Powering a telescope with lower-than-optimal voltage can cause the motors to strain with heavier loads and can even cause the electronics to glitch. The PowerTank Lithium LT uses a built-in voltage regulator to ensure that it delivers at least 11.8 volts for most of the life of the battery, until the battery is depleted and shuts off.
You may see competitor batteries claiming that they hold enough watt-hours of electricity to power your telescope for hours. The technology in these batteries was originally developed to power much lower-voltage electronics, such as home CPAP machines. Although the voltage actually being delivered starts off at 12V, it diminishes rapidly, impacting your telescope's performance and becoming functionally useless within about 2-3 hours.
Celestron's telescope engineers worked hand-in-hand with battery suppliers on PowerTank Lithium LT to ensure that it does not experience this drop-off in performance. The built-in voltage regulator ensures a stable 12V output, regardless of the amount of charge left in the battery. This keeps your telescope's electronics safe and performing their best, so you can focus on astronomy.
The NMC chemistry used by the PowerTank Lithium LT offers far more advantages than the commonly used Lithium Cobalt Oxide batteries found on the market today. Besides having a longer shelf life and three times the number of charge cycles than LiCoO2 chemistry, our NMC battery offers overcharge and over-discharge protection and can withstand temperatures 100o F (60o C) higher than LiCoO2 batteries making the NMC less likely to experience thermal runaway.
Compared to a lead-acid battery, the PowerTank Lithium LT is smaller, lighter, more efficient, and better for the environment. It offers better performance, a longer lifespan, and safer operation than other low-cost lithium-ion battery chemistries. It also offers automatic shut-off, reverse polarity protection, charging/discharging protection, over-current protection, and short circuit protection.
Use in the Field
The power pack's extremely portable form factor means it can go anywhere from a remote dark sky location for astroimaging to a weekend of camping. When it's powering your telescope, use the included 2 straps to secure the unit to your tripod leg where it is out of the way. Besides the power cable to charge your telescope, no other cables are needed.
If you need to power your telescope and charge electronic devices simultaneously, the PowerTank Lithium LT features two output ports: 1 12V DC port for the telescope and 1 fast-charging 2.1A USB charging port for smartphones and tablets. This USB port can also support any accessories that require 5V USB power.
Travel with PowerTank
The PowerTank Lithium LT can travel with you on your next vacation. At 73.3 watt-hours, it meets current FAA regulations (160 Wh) for transportation in your carry-on baggage. Please check in advance with your airline to verify they do not have stricter policies. Do not place PowerTank Lithium LT in your checked baggage.
PowerTank Lithium LT Compatibility List
Will power any computerized mount
| Compatible | |
|---|---|
| Advanced VX | Astro Fi |
| NexStar Evolution | NexStar GT |
| NexStar SLT | NexStar SE Series |
| LCM series | SkyProdigy |
PowerTank Lithium Auto Shutoff Feature
PowerTank Lithium batteries come with a safety feature that prevents them from slowly discharging if they are left unattended for long periods of time.
This feature works by monitoring the current being drawn from the battery. If the current drops below a threshold level, the battery automatically turns itself off.
- For PowerTank Lithium batteries that use a 12V telescope port, the threshold is 250mA.
- For PowerTank Lithium batteries that use a car battery adapter port, the threshold is 420mA.
Celestron computerized telescopes draw more than 250mA when the mounts are powered on, aligned, and tracking. However, if you turn on the battery and telescope, but do not align and engage the telescope's tracking motors, your setup may not draw enough current. After a prolonged period, this could cause the PowerTank Lithium to turn itself off.
When using a PowerTank Lithium Pro battery to power your computerized telescope, we highly recommend using the 12V telescope output to provide power to your mount. The car battery port was designed to provide power for much heavier loads (up to 10 Amps). To accommodate this larger load, the threshold for the port was increased to 420mA. Some Celestron telescopes, even aligned and with the tracking motors on, may not draw 420mA of current. This could cause the battery to turn itself off. You can avoid this by using the 12V telescope port.
My Celestron PowerTank is taking longer to charge and to show a fully charged light. Why?
PowerTanks use a lead-acid battery technology. These batteries start out new at 100% capacity in amp-hours. PowerTanks come in 7 amp-hour and 17 amp-hour capacities.
As they age, the full capacity of the batteries decreases due to chemical and mechanical processes inside the battery cells. The ability to take a full charge of 100 percent of the original capacity is lost. It also takes longer to charge up due to the reduced capacity.
The PowerTank battery will also age more rapidly when repeatedly deep discharged-losing its capacity in fewer cycles than if not deep discharged. It is recommended to turn off the PowerTank when the yellow "Needs Charging" light comes on and to charge the battery after every use.
Your PowerTank will continue to hold a large part of its charge when fully charged, even though the fully charged light may not come on. And it will continue to be useful, though the runtime and amp-hours of the battery will be diminished. Replacement is a good idea when the runtime is short even after prolonged charging. When properly used, your PowerTank should last for years before it needs to be replaced. Always recycle the dead battery.
Additional, specific charging recommendations to prolong the life of an idle or stored PowerTank are provided in the instructions that come with your PowerTank.
| Manuals: |
|---|
| Powertank Lithium LT Manual |
| Software & Firmware: |
| Other Product Files: |
| The Ultimate Guide to Powering Your Telescope |
Specifications
| Battery Capacity | 73.3 Wh |
| Charging Input | 16VDC @ 2000mA |
| Charge Time (from flat) | 4 hours |
| Telescope Power Port | 12V DC @ 3000mA, voltage regulated, 5mm/2.1mm tip positive jack |
| Car Battery Adapter Port | None |
| USB Charging Port 1 Output | 5V DC @ 2100mA |
| Auto Shutoff Threshold Current | Less than 250mA for 4 hours |
| Operating Temperature | -40°F - 140°F (-40°C - 60°C) |
| Light Panel | None |
| Weatherproof/Dustproof | No |
| Telescope Power Cord | 6.5 ft (2 m) with connector for Celestron telescopes |
| Strap | 2" wide hook & loop strap for attachment to tripod leg |
| Product Dimensions | 190.5mm x 101.6mm x 50.8mm (7.5" x 4" x 2") |
| Product Weight | 1.4 lbs (.63 kg) |
| Included Items | Battery pack (Lithium nickel cobalt manganese, Li(NiCoMn)O2) | Telescope power cable (2m/6.5 feet long) with 5.5mm barrel connectors | 60mm wide strap for tripod leg | AC charger |