When we discuss Astro Photography, we always think about cameras, Mounts, scopes, and filters. But power rarely comes up, more importantly, many people overlook this because they run their setups from home, mitigating the need for a power bank to run the mount and computer/ ASI Air etc.
For people who have to travel out for AP or like to travel away occasionally, the power bank becomes more of a necessity than an option.
There are multiple forms of power banks which can be used, custom power banks which people construct themselves, small 10k power banks right through to 4000Wh (watt-hours - This is a measure of how much energy a power bank can store and relative to the amount of Lithium in the battery).
This review is not based on these monsters, but on a small compact power bank which will be able to power your equipment all night and have some juice to spare. This is the review for the Fox Halo 48k/96k power bank.
For people who have to travel out for AP or like to travel away occasionally, the power bank becomes more of a necessity than an option.
There are multiple forms of power banks which can be used, custom power banks which people construct themselves, small 10k power banks right through to 4000Wh (watt-hours - This is a measure of how much energy a power bank can store and relative to the amount of Lithium in the battery).
This review is not based on these monsters, but on a small compact power bank which will be able to power your equipment all night and have some juice to spare. This is the review for the Fox Halo 48k/96k power bank.
Stats
The fox Halo is 209mm x 157mm x 72mm in dimensions for the 96k, weighing 3kg and 200mm x 148mm x 38mm for the 48k coming in at 1.5kg and comes in a well-packaged box with just instructions, power cable and changeover plug. The 96k has a 307Wh capacity (Capacity: 307.2Wh / 26Ah @12V/96000mAh @3.2V) and the 48k has 153Wh (Capacity: 153.6Wh / 13Ah @12V/48000mAh @3.2V). The power bank comes in a strong plastic casing with some rubber-type grips on the edges to help with holding the power bank. It also comes with a handle on one side but is plastic. The 96k power bank has the following connections:
It has battery percentage lights on the front to help you know how much battery is left as well as a light at the base. I’ve not used the light, but it is easily turned on and off by the power button by clicking it twice to turn on and twice again to turn off. It isn’t bright (it's not meant to be mind!) and is orange/ yellow colour. To check the battery, just click the power button once. |
Price
These power banks cost £234 for the 96k and £144 for the 48k. Comparing these to other similar power banks (Celestron Power Tank Pro - £240, Anker SOLIX F2000 - £1499, Jackey 500 – £556.99) the power bank is a decent price, but the Lithium Iron Phosphate style power bank is more expensive over other lithium batteries.
There are several factors which we need to consider when choosing a power bank which can be used for Astrophotography and price shouldn’t necessarily be the main factor when choosing.
These power banks cost £234 for the 96k and £144 for the 48k. Comparing these to other similar power banks (Celestron Power Tank Pro - £240, Anker SOLIX F2000 - £1499, Jackey 500 – £556.99) the power bank is a decent price, but the Lithium Iron Phosphate style power bank is more expensive over other lithium batteries.
There are several factors which we need to consider when choosing a power bank which can be used for Astrophotography and price shouldn’t necessarily be the main factor when choosing.
Battery type
The Fox Halo is a Lithium (Li) Iron (Fe) Phosphate (PO4) battery – LiFePO4, which can be shortened to LFP (Which we will refer to during this review to keep the name short) which is the abbreviation of the first capital letter in each of the elements used in this battery.
There are many types of Lithium batteries which are used in the world today.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1364032118300728#preview-section-snippets
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/1.3515880/meta
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery (Apologies in advance - I hate using wiki for a factual source, but this will collectively give general information on the battery overall)
The LFP battery is generally considered one of the safer batteries out of the six listed above due to its ability not to overheat and not catch fire. This means you can safely use this power bank in most conditions without the worry of it catching fire and damaging your equipment, or heaven forbid your home!
LFP is also known to have a stable current which is needed for AP, as well as discharging of the battery and goes much lower than other Lithium batteries. During nights this power bank has been discharged to nearly the last bar on the power bank (0-25%) and several times (not purposely) has been drained to 0%. It took a while to charge up, but it did every time. It isn’t recommended this is done and to always leave some power in the power bank, but this is a lower % over other types of Lithium power banks.
LFP is good for most conditions but does struggle in conditions below 0 degrees if it is not protected. But it can function down to -20C. it is recommended you cover the power bank with a snood and cover to stop dew from freezing over it, this will help with its life expectancy and battery life.
The Fox Halo is a Lithium (Li) Iron (Fe) Phosphate (PO4) battery – LiFePO4, which can be shortened to LFP (Which we will refer to during this review to keep the name short) which is the abbreviation of the first capital letter in each of the elements used in this battery.
There are many types of Lithium batteries which are used in the world today.
- Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (NMC)
- Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminium Oxide (NCA)
- Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP)
- Lithium Cobalt Oxide (LCO)
- Lithium Manganese Oxide (LMO)
- Lithium Titanate (LTO)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1364032118300728#preview-section-snippets
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/1.3515880/meta
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery (Apologies in advance - I hate using wiki for a factual source, but this will collectively give general information on the battery overall)
The LFP battery is generally considered one of the safer batteries out of the six listed above due to its ability not to overheat and not catch fire. This means you can safely use this power bank in most conditions without the worry of it catching fire and damaging your equipment, or heaven forbid your home!
LFP is also known to have a stable current which is needed for AP, as well as discharging of the battery and goes much lower than other Lithium batteries. During nights this power bank has been discharged to nearly the last bar on the power bank (0-25%) and several times (not purposely) has been drained to 0%. It took a while to charge up, but it did every time. It isn’t recommended this is done and to always leave some power in the power bank, but this is a lower % over other types of Lithium power banks.
LFP is good for most conditions but does struggle in conditions below 0 degrees if it is not protected. But it can function down to -20C. it is recommended you cover the power bank with a snood and cover to stop dew from freezing over it, this will help with its life expectancy and battery life.
Battery life
The Fox Halo (and other similar types of power banks) have about 3000 charges in battery life expectancy. Putting this into perspective – if you charge this power bank every day and use it every day it would last just over 8 years! Currently, personal average use is 1-3 times a month – if you use and charge it once a week, it will last around 57 years. This may be exaggerated as it will fail before then for other reasons, but you get the drift on battery life expectancy.
Charging time
This is a critical part. It might not seem it but charging times and short notice do not go well together. This is based on people regularly for AP who rely on going out to do AP. The charging time for this battery is 14 hours on the DC 24V and 10 hours from the USB-C. This would be from near dead to full battery. Times will vary for a charge on a 50% battery but as a rule of thumb, you should allow a decent amount of time to charge this power bank.
The Fox Halo (and other similar types of power banks) have about 3000 charges in battery life expectancy. Putting this into perspective – if you charge this power bank every day and use it every day it would last just over 8 years! Currently, personal average use is 1-3 times a month – if you use and charge it once a week, it will last around 57 years. This may be exaggerated as it will fail before then for other reasons, but you get the drift on battery life expectancy.
Charging time
This is a critical part. It might not seem it but charging times and short notice do not go well together. This is based on people regularly for AP who rely on going out to do AP. The charging time for this battery is 14 hours on the DC 24V and 10 hours from the USB-C. This would be from near dead to full battery. Times will vary for a charge on a 50% battery but as a rule of thumb, you should allow a decent amount of time to charge this power bank.
What is run on this power bank
The Fox Halo 96k has two 12v ports which I split my setup on. I use one port solely for the mount. The mount needs its port, or it won’t function properly, even if your power bank can run multiple things on one port, try to keep the mount on a seperate port. But overall, what is used on this power bank is the following:
Port 1
Scope – Sharpstar EDPH III/ Sharpstar 13028 HNT/ RASA 8
Guide scope – ZWO 30mm
Guide Camera – ZWO ASI 120mm mini
Main Camera – ZWO Asi 533mc Pro
Control box – ZWO ASIAIR Pro
Port 2
Mount - Skywatcher EQ6 R pro
With this setup, the power bank will run all night no issue and will generally have about 50% of the charge left in the morning. You could easily run this for several nights depending on the setup used.
You will notice dew heaters are not mentioned here. I don’t run dew heaters through the power bank, mainly due to power consumption – Two Dew heaters are used. A Svbony and a generic version. Both of these uses very different power consumption. The Svbony will consume about 5000mAh per night (generally half a 10k power bank which is used), whereas the generic version is more, far more power hungry – consuming nearly two power banks per night of use.
The Fox Halo will be able to cope with them being used but it would drain the main bank far quicker. As a rule of thumb, dew heaters aren’t run directly through the power bank and a power box like the Pegasus Powerbox or something similar should be used.
The Fox Halo 96k has two 12v ports which I split my setup on. I use one port solely for the mount. The mount needs its port, or it won’t function properly, even if your power bank can run multiple things on one port, try to keep the mount on a seperate port. But overall, what is used on this power bank is the following:
Port 1
Scope – Sharpstar EDPH III/ Sharpstar 13028 HNT/ RASA 8
Guide scope – ZWO 30mm
Guide Camera – ZWO ASI 120mm mini
Main Camera – ZWO Asi 533mc Pro
Control box – ZWO ASIAIR Pro
Port 2
Mount - Skywatcher EQ6 R pro
With this setup, the power bank will run all night no issue and will generally have about 50% of the charge left in the morning. You could easily run this for several nights depending on the setup used.
You will notice dew heaters are not mentioned here. I don’t run dew heaters through the power bank, mainly due to power consumption – Two Dew heaters are used. A Svbony and a generic version. Both of these uses very different power consumption. The Svbony will consume about 5000mAh per night (generally half a 10k power bank which is used), whereas the generic version is more, far more power hungry – consuming nearly two power banks per night of use.
The Fox Halo will be able to cope with them being used but it would drain the main bank far quicker. As a rule of thumb, dew heaters aren’t run directly through the power bank and a power box like the Pegasus Powerbox or something similar should be used.
Pros, Cons, and Negatives
As usual, I use the pros, cons and Negatives to better show what is good and not so good and outright bad and could be changed.
Pros
The Fox Halo power bank is 307Wh and 153Wh for the 96k and 48k respectively. I have purposely left out travelling with this power bank on flights across the country and abroad for the reason that I can’t cover all countries/ locations.
Please refer to your country’s regulations on transporting Power banks as personal and stored luggage on any flights. Please don’t assume this will be able to travel on air flights and always check before booking flights/purchasing this item if the sole use is to travel on flights.
As usual, I use the pros, cons and Negatives to better show what is good and not so good and outright bad and could be changed.
Pros
- The Fox Halo lasts all night! Could even last two nights depending on usage. This power bank has been used for over two years now and it has never failed me in overnight use, even in winter in negative temps
- Has enough ports to run everything on one power bank (with in reason as noted above)
- Carry handle
- At 3kg it is light
- Small overall package
- Overall feels well built (apart from one thing – see Negative)
- Stable discharge over the battery life allowing for constant usage of AP
- Comes in two sizes
- 48k
- 96k
- Will last a long time. Even if charged daily, will last over 8 years
- It comes well packaged
- Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries are safer than other types of lithium batteries
- Water-tight rubber covers over the connections
- Not fully deigned for cold weather
- Anything under 0 degrees will affect the battery life expectancy and charge
- Takes a long time to charge (not good for short notice clear skies)
- Price – this type of battery is more expensive than other types of lithium batteries.
- Plastic handle
- Will easily brake
The Fox Halo power bank is 307Wh and 153Wh for the 96k and 48k respectively. I have purposely left out travelling with this power bank on flights across the country and abroad for the reason that I can’t cover all countries/ locations.
Please refer to your country’s regulations on transporting Power banks as personal and stored luggage on any flights. Please don’t assume this will be able to travel on air flights and always check before booking flights/purchasing this item if the sole use is to travel on flights.
Final thoughts
The Fox Halo is a small, light, and powerful power bank for its size. Its technically designed for Fishing trips, although it has other uses. This power bank can easily cope with Astrophotography all-night sessions.
While the carry handle could be better (better suited to a metal reinforced (metal strip through the rubber)) it does work well for carrying. The lights on the side give an indication of battery life percent as well as a small light on the base if needed.
The power bank does last all night. It has been used on multiple setups in all seasons and temperature variations from -10C to 20C, but always without Dew heaters connected, these have always been powered separately. If you wish to use dew heaters through this, use a powerbox to run it all though.
As usual, I try to leave personal preferences out of this and just give you the facts and let you decide for yourself if this is suitable for your needs, but this power bank has been used every single time I have gone out for Astrophotography for the last two years. It has never faltered or failed me on a night out (unless I have used it multiple nights in a row without charging it between and it doesn’t last the night). I don’t use any other power sources to power my equipment, apart from Dew heaters, as mentioned and I will continue to use it until it fails me or breaks!
The Fox Halo is a small, light, and powerful power bank for its size. Its technically designed for Fishing trips, although it has other uses. This power bank can easily cope with Astrophotography all-night sessions.
While the carry handle could be better (better suited to a metal reinforced (metal strip through the rubber)) it does work well for carrying. The lights on the side give an indication of battery life percent as well as a small light on the base if needed.
The power bank does last all night. It has been used on multiple setups in all seasons and temperature variations from -10C to 20C, but always without Dew heaters connected, these have always been powered separately. If you wish to use dew heaters through this, use a powerbox to run it all though.
As usual, I try to leave personal preferences out of this and just give you the facts and let you decide for yourself if this is suitable for your needs, but this power bank has been used every single time I have gone out for Astrophotography for the last two years. It has never faltered or failed me on a night out (unless I have used it multiple nights in a row without charging it between and it doesn’t last the night). I don’t use any other power sources to power my equipment, apart from Dew heaters, as mentioned and I will continue to use it until it fails me or breaks!