Pegasus Astro Saddle Powerbox for NYX-101

Pegasus Astro Saddle Powerbox for NYX-101

The Saddle Powerbox has close functionalities to the Pocket Powerbox Advance and can be directly placed on Pegasus Astro´s NYX-101 mount or other mounts in the market.

Feature List

4 x 12 V DC power outlets for your equipment. (A single channel to switch all four outputs ON/OFF via software)

10 amps (120 W) of total distributed current

Embedded powered USB3 hub (2 x USB3 ports & 2 x USB2 ports available (USB3 ports are backward compatible with USB2 devices)

1 x Power USB Port (up to 3 amps) - suitable for Raspberry PI 3/4 power

Built-in ambient temperature and humidity sensor

2 Channels with PWM for dew heaters - 5.5/2.1 mm outputs (adjust power levels via software). Pair of cable adapters from DC 5.5/2.1 mm -> RCA is included.

Auto Tune of dew heater channels

Power, current, and input voltage meter

Reverse Polarity Protection

USB/PC controlled or standalone operation out of the box

Losmandy and Vixen saddle

4 x 12 V DC Power Outlets

A powerful MOSFET transistor provides ?electric juice? to your precious equipment. It supply of electricity 4 outputs. Can switch on/off all 12 V outputs (not individually).

This single channel can provide up to 10 amps of current to all ports. Current is shared among the 4 x 12 V ports.

Built in Sensors

A precise voltmeter measures and displays in real-time your input voltage. If the input is more than 14.5 V, the power is instantly cut off to protect your equipment.

An amp-meter placed after the DC input reports the total electric current. This allows you to easily monitor your equipment?s detailed and overall power consumption. The powerbox has been designed to output up to 10 amps of electric current. Please note that a usual backyard astrophotographic setup requires 5-7 amps.

A temperature and relative humidity sensor measures and report your current environment values.

2 x Dew Heater Outputs

Two dew heater outputs allow you to precisely control the output of your heaters. Auto-dew functionality can automatically control the intensity of the heaters by consulting the built-in temperature and humidity sensor. A pair of cable adapters from DC 5.5/2.1 -> RCA is included in the package.

Embedded USB3 Hub - 2 x USB3 & 2 x USB2 Ports

A powered USB3 hub at the back of the device provides:

2 x USB3 SuperSpeed Ports (downward compatible to USB2)

2 x USB2 High-Speed Ports

The SuperSpeed hubs operate in parallel with the USB 2.0 controller, so 5 Gbps SuperSpeed data transfers are not affected by slower USB 2.0 traffic.

USB3 Port 1 provides up to 3 amps of current. You can connect any device that requires 5 V. E.g a Raspberry PI 3/4 or Intel Compute Stick M3/M5 can receive power from this specific port.

Optional Pucks for 3rd party mounts

The Powerbox Saddle can be directly placed onto the NYX-101 mount. For another type of mounts, an extra puck is required. Currently the Powerbox Saddle supports the following mounts:

Puck "PEG-PUCK-AM5" can be used to attach the Powerbox Saddle onto the ZWO-AM5 mount.

Puck "PEG-PUCK-EQ6R" can be used to attach the Powerbox Saddle onto Skywatcher NEQ6 and EQ6-R mounts.

Puck "PEG-PUCK-RST" can be used to attach the Powerbox Saddle onto RST 135 and RST 300 mounts.

Other Key Features

Standalone Operation "out of the box"
The Saddle Powerbox can work "out of the box" as a standalone device. Just plug the cables, setup the "autodew" functionality and every time you boot the device, it will retrieve your settings. So, If you don´t like to connect to a PC every time, you don?t have to. Simple as that!

Two channel duty cycle PWM outputs
Two pulse width modulation (PWM) outlets are capable to provide power to your "thirsty" dew heaters. No more moisture fuzzing your equipment and destroying your clear nights. These outlets can be remote-controlled from your laptop using the supplied software.

Auto Adjustment of PWM (Dew Outputs)
The controller can auto adjust the heater power levels by consulting the environmental sensor dew point reading. Just click "Auto" and leave to the Saddle Powerbox to decide if it is time to turn on and precise tune the level of your dew heaters.

LED Indications for power and failure states
LED can blink in patterns to warn you regarding important power issues (e.g over or under voltage). Moreover light can be turned off using the software. The LED is very dim, but in case you don´t like it on, you can switch it off via the software.

Reverse Polarity Protection
Saddle Powerbox has been design with a reverse voltage polarity protection. It will definitely save your night if you accidentally connect the main power supply in reverse polarity!

A hardware watchdog
A hardware watchdog resets the device if for any reason there is no response from the controller for two seconds. A neat feature in the unlikely event of a controller freeze - when you have a remote observatory and you need to be certain that everything works as expected.

Upgradable Firmware
The device is firmware upgradable to support future features and bug fixes.

Losmandy and Vixen Style support

A high-quality robust CNC aluminium saddle houses the electronics of the Powerbox. The saddle accepts Vixen and Losmandy dovetail bars.

There are two independent knobs allowing you to lock your telescope onto the saddle.

Supported By

ASCOM 6
Saddle Powerbox fully supports ASCOM6. In combination with Pegasus Astro´s main program which acts as a server, you can use Pegasus Astro´s latest ASCOM 6.5 supplied drivers to:

Report environmental settings to supported software (e.g Sequence Generator Pro / MaximDL) (ASCOM ObservingConditions)

Switch ON / OFF 12 V outputs, Adjustable Output, Tune Dew Heaters. (ASCOM Switches)

INDI
Saddle Powerbox fully supports INDI, Bundle it with Stellarmate or any other device that can use INDILib.

Unity Platform
Unity Platform is Pegasus Astro´s all around application. Their goal is to provide a robust and modern application that is going to support current and future products under one roof.

This modern frontend allows the full control of all Pegasus Astro devices. Moreover, a REST JSON api helps developers from 3rd party software to interact with their products.

As they continuously develop their applications, based on customer feedback, lots of innovative features are going to be added in upcoming releases.