Home > Consumer Reviews > Celestron Power Tank

I heard a great deal about what a superb product this was. Unfortunately, I've had the opposite experience. I received mine yesterday through OPT by way of UPS. The flashlight was broken internally and didn't work. The floodlight had one of the swivel ears broken. Celestron said send it back and they would repair or replace it at their option - with a wait of 4 to 6 weeks! Their repair facilities have been remodeled and that is part of the delay. I am not impressed with Celestron and will not consider them for any future astronomical purchases! I hope I can find a similar product from another source. I suppose this might be a decent product if you can pick it up in person and inspect it but I wouldn't count on Celestron standing behind it.

If you want to power your telescope there are less expensive ways. Of course this is a most elegant but also a most costly solution. Experience shows that the unit is failure prone in many ways.
Rather buy a 12V battery of sufficient capacity, i.e. about 10 Ah. This will make it easily through a night of observing.

I purchased the Celestron Power Tank 7ah from Amazon to replace a similar unit from another manufacturer that quit charging. I opened the box, read the instructions, tried to charge the battery per instructions. As soon as I plugged the charger in the 110v outlet, the charger sparked and died. Can't find another 15v charger so am charging with a 12v charger which seems to charge the unit.

This seems cheaply made for the cost ($68 with tax). I don't use it for a telescope but as a 12v power supply for other small items. I am disappointed in the unit but will keep it until it dies, which probably won't be long.

Bought the 7AH version a couple of years ago. The floodlight never worked due to a broken switch, but I didn't bother to ship it back since I only wanted the battery to power my mount. (First thumb down if you actually want a working flood.) I probably got 20-30 observing sessions out of it with no apparent problem. It will certainly run the drive for several hours if you don't also have your CCD or dew heater plugged in.

Unfortunately, it's been in the closet for over a year and will no longer charge. Could be the typical problem of a cheap battery not being cycled for an extended period of time. Or could be the fact that the charging unit is putting out 2.5A at 22V when it's rated for 500ma/15V. Lol... (Second thumb down.)

I use this with my NexStar 6SE. I don't know how one can use the telescope without this. Simply 'a must'.