My star tracker battery died 3 hours into a 6 hour shoot near Flagstaff

I was out in the Coconino National Forest last Thursday night, set up for a Milky Way panorama. Around midnight my iOptron SkyTracker just shut off no warning even though I charged it that morning. Turns out the cold dropped the battery capacity way faster than I expected. I ended up using a friends DSLR on a fixed tripod and just stacked shorter exposures later. Has anyone else had batteries fail on them in desert temps around 40 degrees?

3 comments

3 Comments

jordangibson1mo agoTop Commenter

Ugh that is such a bummer I felt that sting just reading it.

michaeladams1mo ago

Man, I've been there too. @jordangibson you gotta just accept the hit and move on. Next time keep a backup stash of whatever failed on you. Like I always have a second charger in my bag just in case the first one decides to give up. It stings less when you already have a fix ready to go.

brown.susan11d ago

Right there with you Jordan. The worst is when you thought you were being smart and had the backup but it ended up being the one that failed. Had a similar thing happen with a car charger where my spare actually fried the port on my phone because it was a cheap knockoff. Made me so mad I just sat in the parking lot staring at my steering wheel for a good five minutes. Michael is right though, having the fix ready is huge but you gotta make sure it's actually a good fix.