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Power Auto Turn On

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Offline igor

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Power Auto Turn On
« on: 30 / September / 2008, 20:29:40 »
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I've read this thread: USB / power auto switch ON???
and this page: CameraFeatures - CHDK Wiki
and found nothing on possibly discovered not known camera features.

Therefore, I want to report that on my TX1 if power button is constantly pressed, then if you provide outside power to camera (not through internal battery): camera will automaticaly turn on.
At this point if you are using CHDK, you might have a script that will execute and shutdown the camera at the end.
Next remote power on will turn camera on again and sequence will repeat.

Just though someone might come up with some ideas, for example turning camera on using not expensive external timer, thus not waisting internal camera power while not busy...

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Offline fudgey

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Re: Power Auto Turn On
« Reply #1 on: 01 / October / 2008, 14:37:55 »
Interesting, will have to try that some day.

Do you mean you removed the batteries and hooked it up to an external power supply? I wasn't sure if that's safe and allowed, but I guess it could very well be... from what I tried earlier today it looks like the camera doesn't power up from batteries if I have an unpowered DC plug inserted.

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Offline igor

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Re: Power Auto Turn On
« Reply #2 on: 01 / October / 2008, 16:37:11 »
Yes, for my TX1 there is standard Canon's ACK-DC10 AC power adapter kit. It works with my other SD750 Powershot too.
It has just small plastic box that you insert inside the camera instead standard NB4-L battery.
If you look at the battery door you should see rubber cover for adater connectors plug.
THe price is rather steep for ACK-DC10, so as I bought one of those (for around $50), I've used them to come up with my very cheap alternative.
ACK-DC10 provides stable 4.5v at up to 1amp current.

So, what I did (and you can do too) is just took standard NB-4L battery, solder 2 wires to Gnd/+ and insert it into it's normal position in the camera, allowing those 2 wires to go out through that rubber covered adapter hole. Then I took old and unused 4v unused power adapter and properly connected it. It works perfectly.

I don't know about other cameras but TX1 has power regulator on entry, so you probably can provide higher voltage power then 4.5V to it.  Be carefull here, and don't take my words as you might burn your cameras power entry.
But logically, if they do have (which they for sure do) power regulator is probably standard range and therefore it could accept anything up to 12V.
On my TX1 I've managed to install 2 rechargable protected 18650 batteries sequentially (each battery is 3.7V, thus giving me 7.4V 2500mah), which gives me around 8-12hours of contant on. So, it's enough for a week and more even with extensive usage without recharging. You can also connect them in parallel, which gives you exactly the same as required cannons(NB4L or NB5L) 3.7v, but with astounding 5000mah (which is more then 8 times more then standard NB4L).

In fact, I'm not even using any wall power adapter to recharge those batteries. I'm just connecting them to USB connector, which is 5V and as batteries are protected, they charge to 4.2v and actually perform that extremely fast.


If interested, use only protected batteries (or protect unprotected ones): here is a deal on good batteries:

   DealExtreme: $10.00 TrustFire Protected 18650 Lithium Battery (2500mAh 2-Pack Blue)


BTW: Here is pretty good deal on standard adapter I have, just $29. I've bought the same for $49:
BestBatt.com - Canon ACK-DC10 AC Power Supply Adapter
However, I wouldn't pay even that if you have old unused battery and old unused AC 4-5v adapter and ready for DIY solution.



« Last Edit: 01 / October / 2008, 16:47:20 by igor »

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Offline fudgey

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  • a570is
Re: Power Auto Turn On
« Reply #3 on: 01 / October / 2008, 17:11:32 »
Ah... well, my a570is has (like most if not all of the A series) a jack for a conventional DC wall power supply (3,15V 3A nominal), no need for battery form factor connectors. So the batteries (2*AA NiMH) are still in the camera when I'm using external power, which is why I was worried about lowering the voltage below the battery supply.

The Canon PSU is expensive, so I just made an adapter a while back and now I can use my NiMH charger's 3 V (yes, I tested it first and it appears to be well regulated and drops to about 2,9 V at 3 A) power supply with the camera, works like a charm... and cunningly I now have to haul around not two but only one power supply!


Re: Power Auto Turn On
« Reply #4 on: 16 / October / 2009, 01:54:44 »
Did you ever find a script to do this? It is EXACTLY what i am looking for (which means it is probably something others are looking for).

Thanks

Adam

I've read this thread: USB / power auto switch ON???
and this page: CameraFeatures - CHDK Wiki
and found nothing on possibly discovered not known camera features.

Therefore, I want to report that on my TX1 if power button is constantly pressed, then if you provide outside power to camera (not through internal battery): camera will automaticaly turn on.
At this point if you are using CHDK, you might have a script that will execute and shutdown the camera at the end.
Next remote power on will turn camera on again and sequence will repeat.

Just though someone might come up with some ideas, for example turning camera on using not expensive external timer, thus not waisting internal camera power while not busy...


*

Offline fudgey

  • *****
  • 1705
  • a570is
Re: Power Auto Turn On
« Reply #5 on: 17 / October / 2009, 10:24:34 »
Did you ever find a script to do this? It is EXACTLY what i am looking for (which means it is probably something others are looking for).


A script to do what? Script autostart is a CHDK script setting, and there's a script command for shutdown (a command which may or may not work well for your camera). Other than that, this startup stuff is all about external hardware (and taping the power button so that it's always depressed).

Re: Power Auto Turn On
« Reply #6 on: 17 / October / 2009, 11:53:42 »
Oh, ok. Yeah I was just wondering if he ever got a script to work for taking a picture then turning the camera off. I looked through the list of commands and didn't see a shutdown function and I have an A610 that i am working with. Where should I reference to help build this script?

Thanks

Did you ever find a script to do this? It is EXACTLY what i am looking for (which means it is probably something others are looking for).


A script to do what? Script autostart is a CHDK script setting, and there's a script command for shutdown (a command which may or may not work well for your camera). Other than that, this startup stuff is all about external hardware (and taping the power button so that it's always depressed).


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Offline fudgey

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  • a570is
Re: Power Auto Turn On
« Reply #7 on: 18 / October / 2009, 14:58:10 »
Oh, ok. Yeah I was just wondering if he ever got a script to work for taking a picture then turning the camera off. I looked through the list of commands and didn't see a shutdown function and I have an A610 that i am working with. Where should I reference to help build this script?

The command is 'shut_down' (see http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/UBASIC/TutorialScratchpad, but also do a search on the forums to find out about people's experiences and problems with that command...).

Any script can be made to autostart (see script menu before). You can add that shut_down command to the end of any script that is not an infinite loop and the camera should shut down.

So, a for example you could start with an ubasic script such as this shtest.bas:

Code: [Select]
@title shutdown test
@param a foo
@default a 0
sleep 2000
shoot
sleep 2000
shut_down
sleep 1000
shut_down
sleep 1000
shut_down

and fiddle with script autostart, the power button and your external power supply plug.


 

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