Cable Management With The Pegasus Pocket Power Box - Best Thing Since Sliced Bread!

Best thing since sliced bread, Really? Well maybe a sight exaggeration.

YouTube Video:

INTRODUCTION:

I First heard of the Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox (PPB) last year from Trevor Jones of Astrobackyard.  It looked cool and I sort of understood what it did but was unclear why I should get one since what I had was working fine. It wasn't until I watched a video by Roswell Astronomy where he described how his setup is now all run on DC.  Although you may be home and your power source is AC, each piece of equipment needs to be converted to DC with a converter.

Suddenly the Powerbox makes Sense!

Since all of the electronic equipment runs on DC anyway, the PPB gets rid of each individual piece. All of equipment plugs into it and only one power cord is needed. Prior to the PPB , the method was splicing Power Poles into the power wires and then connecting to a Rig Runner. This is not exactly cheap nor was the thought of cutting very expensive power cords appealing.

All of these power cables and inverters in the image below go away!

ATTACHING THE PPB:
To connect the PPB, I modified the set up described by Danjc on StarGazers Lounge.  I purchased a 1/4 Inch (6 mm) 6061-T651 aluminum plate, 12 x 12 inch sheet on Amazon then cut it down to 7 inches by 8 inches (17.8 cm x 20.3 cm). I then drilled hole to mount the plate to the top of the cradle rings. The bolts which go into the cradle are 6 mm rather than the 1/4 inch #20 which most other ring dovetail attachment threads are.

 

Velcro was used to attach the PPB on the right side of the aluminum plate.  The autoguider was attached to the center of the of the plate and the USB Hub was attached to the left side of the plate.  In addition the finder scope was also attached to the lower left side of the plate. 

I was concerned when using aluminum plate with the Sirius mount as it did add approximately 24 ounces (680 g), however, the mount handled the added weigh no problem.

CONNECTIONS/CABLE MANAGEMENT:

Getting rid of a bunch of cables allows me to change my cable management system for the third time in two years.  In this 3rd rendition, everything is back on top of the scope rather than the wiring harness method I used previously. The old system worked well and if all I ever did was shoot from my observatory it would be fine. However, I have to move to different locations from time to time so being able to easily remove and then reconnect everything efficiently is paramount.

Imagine the PPB is the heart and the powered USB Hub is the lungs of my set up.  I had to get a new USB Hub as the connections were not the same. Pegasus provides 4 x 2.1mm circular cables but the old Hub had a 2.5mm cable connection. I contacted Pegasus and Evans recommended the StarTech.com 7 Port USB 3.0 Hub. I highly recommend this Hub as it is very sturdy all metal construction and as an added bonus comes with a metal mounting bracket.

The items plugged into the USB Hub are the Mount (Sirius), Autoguider (QHY-5L-II-M), Camera (ZWO ASI1600), Electronic Filter Wheel (ZWO), and the PPB (Pegasus).  Plugging into the PPB are the Mount (Sirius), Camera (ZWO ASI1600), Dew Heaters, and the USB Hub (StarTech).  Only two wires are needed, one for the power and one USB cable going to the computer.  If one were to use an ASIair or similar device then only the power wire would by required. 

 

I use Velcro to secure the extra cables to either the telescope or the mounting bracket and I highly recommend labeling the cables as well as where they are to be attached as recommended by Sean Moloney.  Since this is my main imaging telescope, I leave the aluminium plate attached to the cradle rings.  To image from a different offsite location; I unplug the connections and Velcro, take the telescope out of the cradle and put it in the case, and remove the cradle/plate system.  Drive to a new location, set up the Atlas Mount, attach the cradle/plate system, secure the telescope, and reconnect the cables.  To image from a different onsite location; I setup the Atlas Mount, unplug the power and USB cables, remove the cradle plate system with the telescope still attached, walk it to the Atlas Mount, and attach the cradle/plate/telescope to the Atlas Mount.

OTHER:
The PPB also has two dew heater inputs as well as a temperature sensor.  You can run it with a computer in order to get more weather condition data and more control over the dew heaters or as a stand alone unit where the dew heaters are set at the previous setting if you use them.  I have done it both ways.  Galactic Hunter  has a good video on the features of the PPB.  

I give the Pegasus Pocket Powerbox two thumbs up!