12v Power for Camera?

[Michael Suchar]

I've been seaching the net for power range specs for my Canon HXA1; the only info I can find talks about the battery voltage (7.2v) or the output voltage of the AC adaptor (8.4v). My question: is this a hard voltage value or can I use one of my 12v batteries to run my camera? Does anyone here run their camera off of a 12v battery even though the camera specs are something below 12v?

Thanks.

[David L. Holmes]

Have you got a spare $3,800.00 for another camera?  DONT do it...  Buy two extended run batteries (about 45 bucks each).  Not worth hooking up another battery with higher voltage just to "see" if it would work.

[Michael Suchar]

Dave thanks for the response. No, I don't have a spare camera (would be nice though ) I wasn't planning on trying it unless I got some definitve info.

You may or may not be aware that  all electronics have built in smoke which keeps the device working properly; if you "Let the smoke out" then the device will stop functioning; once the smoke has been let out in cannot be put back in. So, don't let the smoke out.

[Tom Wills]

Might your camera work off of 12v? I'm not sure, but I am sure I don't want to be the first one to try it out.

I'd use one of these instead, or perhaps a car adapter for your camera. I also know SIMA makes a device that takes a 12v wall plug adapter (which you could substitute your rig in for), and spits out a whole number of common camera voltages. Also, I've been working with a voltage regulator in my rig, which could be tuned to take 14.4v or 12v down to 7.2 for the camera.

There are many options, but there is also the potential that if you screw something up, you could end up with a very expensive paperweight. So, be careful, whatever you do.

[Michael Suchar]

Thanks Tom that's exactly what I'm looking for except for the price. I'll have to see if I can make one.

[Tom Wills]

I use a switching regulator from Dimension Engineering ( http://www.dimensionengineering.com/ ) to regulate the power in my sled. Possibly one of their products could be of good use to you. I use the SWADJ, I think it's called. It's a switching regulator, which means that instead of dropping the unnecessarily volts in heat, it uses a store/use cycle to drop the voltage. Perhaps it'd work for your camera, though I don't know if the wattage is enough.

Good luck.

[David L. Holmes]

I just checked the specs on that regulator Tom, I wouldn't use it.  The Canon XHA1 runs around 7.3W max using 7.4VDC power (around .99Amps)  That little voltage regulator runs 1Amp MAX continuous, so you would be pushing the little regulator at almost 99% of max all the time your using your camera.  It would only be a matter of a short time before you let all the "Smoke" out of the regulator...

Honestly, your best and safest bet is to buy a couple third party battery packs and swap them out.  Your battery power with two batteries will outlast both your tapes, and your arms when flying your camera.

Tom, if you use the little regulator to run other accessories (monitor, lights, etc...) make sure you aren't over loading the regulator or you could have some problems.

Dave

[Tom Wills]

I'm not. I'm running it within specs - I'm just using it to take down the voltage of my batteries a touch to get it in spec for my little LCD. It works fine for that purpose. I'm running it at around .8A, and it runs just fine. The thing about a switching regulator though is that since it doesn't dispel energy as heat, it shouldn't break down as easily, at least as far as I can figure. But, maybe they aren't the solution for a camera with an amperage like the XH-A1. Perhaps there's another solution with a higher amperage capability though.

[Michael Suchar]

Hey guys thnks for the quick replies and suggestions. I guess I should searched the net a bit more before putting my foot up my butt.  Looks like A/B makes a 75Wh lithium ion battery (10,500 mAh @7.2V) See if this is a good deal....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320306783412&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=011

[Charles King]

Never seen ttype of charger before. I do no think this is standard three pin battery charger

[David L. Holmes]

Hey Mike,

So what exactly is your idea for your sled power?  Are you just running the camera, or do you have other accessories that need power?  Are you trying to lighten the top load of the sled, or do you want longer run time with the camera?  Do you have a full rig, or just a hand held sled?  Besides the XHA1, do you have any other cameras you want to fly?

Trying to get a big picture here, just a bunch of questions about batteries are not enough information to fully help you out

Dave

[Michael Suchar]

Hey David, Only the XHA1 (for now that is, looking for a used XL2 or XL1s as a back up).
My idea initially was to have a universal power set up that would run the camera, light, monitor and wireless transmitter; but with the uncertainty of the voltage for the camera I'll just run that with it's own battery for now I just wanted to avoid having multiple mount/battery/charger types. I have a call into Canon tech to get the word on what power the camera will or won't handle. I'm not too concerned with the top weight (yet). My idea was to have a D/J box on top with 2 XLR4 power taps and one BNC and one RCA video tapes; the bottom D/J box would have 2 XLR4 power-in and 2 XLR4 power-out taps and again, one BNC and one RCA video taps; I was also thinking of putting a regulator switch on on of the XLR4 outs to select between 12, 9, and 7.2v out.

As far as my alterate battery idea goes, I was thinking of using NiMH batteries that I have used in AirSoft guns and R/C cars. The better batteries have quality cells  from Japan and are easy to build/re-configure to suit your needs and come in multiple mAh & sizes D, sub-D, C, sub-C, N, AA. So the potential to build a completely custom battery is definitely an option. I have used one of the 7.2v bats to power a 12v police scanner I have; and it will run for about 4 hours. I haven't had time to run any video gear from these bats so I  don't know what kind of run times the bat will yield so I will experiment as time permitts and report my findings.

I'm gonna have to "mickey mouse" something here real quick; I have a 5-hour shoot I'm doing for my church for Harvest Fest (Halloween) on the 31st.