The Pegasus Astro Ultimate Powerbox V3 is the flagship of the company’s Powerbox series offering a state-of-the-art Wi-Fi and USB controlled power hub.
It features a USB 3.1 Hub which allows you to switch on/off 8 USB ports, 8 12V power outlets, 2 x adjustable outputs (3-12V and 12-24V), 3 dew heaters, a new silent low-vibration stepper controller that can drive any stepper motor in the astronomy market as well as a power relay and an expansion port for devices that communicates with the Pegasus Astro Ultimate Powerbox V3 controller.
As the Pegasus Astro team notes, “If you are tired of carrying multiple power packs and dealing with a mess of power and data cables, our Ultimate Powerbox v3, a sophisticated power control unit, is the “Ultimate” solution. Our idea is an enclosure that makes a sufficient number of amperes available. No cables disturb the movements of the mount and the instrument, only the main power cord and one USB data cord are attached to the Ultimate Powerbox which branches off the other cables powering all devices.”
The Pegasus Astro Ultimate Powerbox V3 offers a USB3.1 Hub controller that ensures that the USB hub will work flawlessly from temperatures of -40°C to +80°C. Each USB port can be switched ON/OFF individually by the software. Included are 6 x USB 3.1 Super-Speed ports and 2 x USB 2 High-Speed ports. Each USB port provides up to 2.5Amps. All USB ports include an electronic short circuit, additional Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) and overload electronic protection.
Six Smart Mosfet transistors provide power to equipment. Sophisticated short circuit and overload per port protections cut the power and report the incident into the included software. Every Mosfet is capable of providing up to 6 Amps of current. Metal premium quality output sockets ensure that the Ultimate Powerbox V3 will provide all the power you need and can secure in place your extension power cables.
A precise voltmeter and an amp meter (can measure up to 20A) measure and display in real-time your power input. If the input is more than 14.5V the power is instantly cut off to protect your equipment. Each smart 12V output has an internal and independent digital current meter. You can view each port’s power consumption in the software.
Additional power outputs and sensors include:
– 2 x Always ON 12V outputs increase the total 12V outputs to 10. In combination with the 2 x adjustable outputs (if configured to 12V) the total 12V outputs can be summed to 10 Outlets.
– 1 x Adjustable Voltage Step Down output can be regulated from 3V to 12V of and provide up to 3 Amps.
– 1 x Adjustable Voltage Step Up output can be regulated from 12V to 24V and provide up to 4 Amps.
– 1 x Switch Relay can pass 250V/10A and used to switch ON/OFF any 3rd party equipment.
A built-in ambient temperature and relative humidity sensor provides frequent readouts of the environmental conditions and automatically adjusts the heat intensity of dew strips.
A silent and low vibrating stepper motor controller will precisely move the drawtube of your focuser. The controller drives a Pegasus Motor Focus Kit or any other stepper motor on the market (Unipolar or Bipolar) such as Rigel, Robofocus, Moonlight and Starlight motors. Backlash compensation is already implemented in the firmware and can be enabled, tuned and disabled from the software. The latest fully ASCOM6 focuser driver is also available.
The enclosure is compatible with VESA mounting options. Available screw holes allow an Intel NUC to be stacked up with the Ultimate Powerbox v3.
The software logs all voltage, current, temperature and relative humidity readings. All the plots are zoomable and easily exportable in PNG image & CSV text format allowing you to keep a full record of your night conditions. There is also the ability to enable or disable each Power or USB port by setting a timer and creating groups of ports. You can easily define which output (power or USB) should turn ON or remain OFF during startup. The settings are stored in the system’s EEPROM memory.
You can also auto adjust the heater outputs by consulting the environmental sensor and calculating the dew point. Just click “Auto” and leave it to Ultimate Powerbox to decide if it is time to switch on your dew heaters. This makes it easy to select which dew heater output is controlled by the “Auto Dew” function.
The Pegasus Astro Ultimate Powerbox V3 has been designed with reverse voltage polarity protection. A hardware watchdog resets the device if for any reason there is no response from the controller for two seconds. This is a nice feature in the unlikely event of a controller freeze, especially when you own a remote observatory, and you need to be certain that everything can be quickly recovered.
The firmware supports re-programming via the USB or WI-Fi connection using upgrade software (only available for Windows), for future upgrades which become available. The company is constantly receiving feedback from customers and updating the firmware and software with new features.
Highlights of the Pegasus Astro Ultimate Powerbox V3 include:
– Up to 12V / 20Amps of provided electric current (240W).
– 6 x 12V smart and individual switchable outputs. Each output can be configured as constant 12V or pulse width modulated driven).
– Wi-Fi or USB Controllable Operation.
– 2 x 12V Always ON Outputs.
– 3 x Dew Heaters Outputs (Automatic Adjustable with AutoDew feature)
– 1 x Adjustable Power Output 3-12V -Regulated Output of 3Amps
– 1 x Adjustable Power Output 12-24V – Regulated Output of 4 Amps
– 1 x Power Relay switch 250V/10A
– 6 x USB3.1 (backwards compatible with USB2) and 2 x USB2 available ports (8 USB ports in total). Individual switchable via software.
– Stepper Motor Controller offering a silent and low vibrating stepper controller which can drive nearly any stepper motor in the astro -market up to 2Amps per coil.
– Physical push-button to control one function (e.g turn ON /OFF outputs). Functionality is configurable in software.
– Built-in ambient temperature and humidity sensor.
– Power readings (Input Voltage, Current, Current per port).
– Vesa compatible size enclosure.
You can learn more about the Pegasus Astro Ultimate Powerbox V3 here.
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