After I purchased a ZWO ASI183MC back in January of this year, I ended up going down a DIY rabbit hole which ended up producing what I consider a potentially useful gadget. 

I only own one 12V 5A rated wall power supply which I use to power my iOptron CEM26 mount, however, I do own a moderate collection of Milwaukee brand power tools + batteries, some of which are up to 6Ah in capacity.I then thought to myself, why not use my engineering skills to develop a DC-DC converter that can safely power 12V AP equipment using an 18V power tool battery, and have power monitoring functionality to monitor draw from the battery in real-time. 

I ended up naming the PCB “Smart Buck”, which is a play on words, since a buck converter is electronics term for a device which converts a higher voltage to a lower one.Smart Buck Converter Top Isometric Rev2.jpg

Smart Buck Converter Bottom Isometric Rev2.jpg

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I've made the entire project open-source and available on GitHub:

Smart Buck Intelligent DC-DC Converter

My hopes is that while this won't entirely be a replacement for off the shelf power banks used for field AP, it can be a great in-between solution that isn't as bulky and suited to people who already own some li-ion power tool batteries. 

I've been able to use this converter to power my ASI183MC during several imaging sessions so far. When using a 6AH battery pack, with the active sensor cooled to -10C and ambient temperature outside on average around 15-20C I can reliably get 8 hours of use.
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