Hello,
I have been trolling all the wonderful comments and thoughts about using external battery sources to power a camera for longer-term time-lapse projects. I would love to add a few questions I haven't yet seen addressed and would be tremendously appreciative of any insights or comments!
The goal:
Take a (RAW format) photograph every two hours for at least one 24 hour period (though running continuously for 5 days would be ideal). After I set the camera I will not have any access to it for one week; any solution should be able to run without any intervention.
Equipment/software:
-Canon PowerShot D20
-CHDK
-Battery intervalometer or ultimate intervalometer (if there is something better out there I would be happy to learn about it – these are the two intervalometers I have been testing and they seem great)
The problem:
Using the internal battery (3.7 V, 1000 mAh) I am unable to get over five hours.
My questions:
Part one – internal battery only:
1. Without using an external battery the only other option I can see working is to minimize battery consumption. The only setting I can imagine helping with this is to "use shortcut key to sleep" in the battery intervalometer (other settings I am using are below for reference) however the PowerShot D20 does not appear to have a "shortcut" key. Might there be another way to put the PowerShot D20 into sleep mode?
Part two – external battery:
With the thought that I will need to use an external battery source I purchased a 10000mAh external battery pack intended for cell phones and tablets (like:
http://www.amazon.com/Battery-13000mAh-Portable-External-Cellphones/dp/B00K64WR9C/ref=cm_cd_al_qh_dp_t). I'm using a cable that goes from the USB output of the external battery pack to the DC input in the camera with the original Canon battery remaining in the battery slot (I'm using a cable like:
http://www.startech.com/Cables/USB-2.0/USB-Adapters/3-ft-USB-to-Type-M-Barrel-5V-DC-Power-Cable~USB2TYPEM).
2. It is my understanding that the device that canon sells to plug into the DC Jack of the PowerShot D20 outputs 4.7V and 1.5A. Most external battery packs I have seen output 5V and have two jacks, one supplying 1 A and the other supplying 2A. I have been using the 1A jack with great success but fear that it might harm the camera in the long run. Any advice as to whether I should be using the 1A jack or the 2A jack?
3. Perhaps most importantly I'm wondering how the camera will respond as the power begins to drain from the external battery. That is, I assume, the camera is designed to respond appropriately when the internal battery drains and no longer provides adequate voltage/amperage. However, because I am using the external DC power jack do you know if the camera will tolerate diminishing voltage/amperage as the external battery drains? Is the camera smart enough, as it is with the internal battery, to know when the external DC battery source is providing insufficient voltage/amperage and just shut off?
4. Can you think of another, easier (or as easy), method for getting more than 24 hours of intervalometer shots using the Canon PowerShot D20?
Many many thanks for any advice!
Battery intervalometer settings I am using:
battery miser 6.1
interval (sec): 7200
turn back light off: activated
turn display off: deactivated
weight in playback mode: activated
use shortcut key to sleep: deactivated
enable AF lock: activated
log to file: activated
lens retract delay: 99,999
battery stop voltage: 0
