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Quick weatherproof camera box.

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Offline ahull

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #100 on: 12 / September / 2013, 17:21:05 »
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Quote from: Microfunguy on 12 / September / 2013, 15:59:45
1.97 GBP including shipping from China !

China will rule the World in the relatively near future.
Too true, furthermore I'll probably be working for the Chinese soon to pay for all these impulse buys.  :blink:
..but they don't own me yet,  'cos they still owe me 5 mosfets. :D
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Offline ahull

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #101 on: 14 / September / 2013, 06:28:52 »
Things become even scarier if you are willing to shop direct (i.e.not through ebay), for example if you can fight your way through a bit of google translate, and are willing to risk buying almost direct the cousin of that "Gold Solar Charger 2600mAh" comes in at around 4.00 GBP ... even less if you go to the manufacturer I suspect. Compare this with the price in a well known electronics retailer on my local high street, who sell an Identical gadget for 20.00 GBP. This says to me, assuming they get a large bulk discount that they are making about 500 to 1000% markup on them. 

Of course you do have to wait a bit longer for your "retail fix", and there is always the risk that they will send the wrong thing, or nothing at all, but thats half the fun of it. In the main these guys are very honest.  I ordered a couple of batteries for my Ricoh CX3 about a year ago, they sent the wrong thing. The supplier admitted their mistake and then sent the correct ones, didn't want the other ones back either. ....having said that... mosfets, mosfets.... mosfets  :P .. they have another four days to make good on their delivery promise, and if they haven't arrived, they should according to their website, refund me.  I'll keep you posted.

I haven't had a chance to travel to China, but I believe their electronics street markets are a veritable wonder to behold, you can source pretty much anything (although quality is somewhat variable as I have already shown).
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Offline Microfunguy

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #102 on: 14 / September / 2013, 06:43:08 »
The delay is probably nothing to do with the seller.
I have never had any problems ordering from China.
I no longer buy anything from the US, far too expensive.

I was testing my SX220hs cameras yesterday with the external Pololu effectively feeding the battery contacts .
The Pololu is set at 4.8V and falls 'a bit' under load.

I forgot to remove the camera battery.
For some reason it did not cause any harm, the battery and converter both work fine.
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Offline ahull

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #103 on: 14 / September / 2013, 06:59:38 »
Quote from: Microfunguy on 14 / September / 2013, 06:43:08
The delay is probably nothing to do with the seller.
I have never had any problems ordering from China.
I no longer buy anything from the US, far too expensive.

I was testing my SX220hs cameras yesterday with the external Pololu effectively feeding the battery contacts .
The Pololu is set at 4.8V and falls 'a bit' under load.

I forgot to remove the camera battery.
For some reason it did not cause any harm, the battery and converter both work fine.

So long as the battery has a built in protection circuit (assuming it is a LiPo), and assuming connecting the converter to your setup doesn't disconnect the battery,  then all that is going to happen, is that the regulator will charge up the battery to its maximum voltage, around 4.2V and the protection circuit will kick in, in a manner similar to the way that little solar charger works. If the battery was unprotected (very unlikely) then I wouldn't stand too close  ;)

In the case of the SX220HS, the battery is LiPo and is protected, so you are pretty safe, you just end up charging the battery, which probably adds about 0.5A to the load on the regulator until the battery charges completely.

If the battery in question was an alkaline pack, it would also probably charge (and eventually overheat and leak), it is possible to recharge both alkaline and zinc carbon cells with a specialist charger, albeit they usually have reduced capacity and can only be recharged a limited number of times, so a one off event like this would probably not be catastrophic. Dont get me wrong, this is not a recommended idea, but if there were no fizzes, pops or bangs, then everything is probably unharmed. 

Those little solar chargers actually connect the solar panel directly to the battery through a schottky diode, so far as I can see there is no path through the regulator as I originally thought, so they only actually charge the battery when the solar panel output voltage, less the diode drop exceeds the current battery voltage. Its a bit crude, and probably woefully inefficient, but it seems to work. 

I flattened the black charger completely and stuck it in the sun, to see if the solar panel was just an ornament.  The built in, nominally 0.4W panel does actually charge the battery, albeit pretty slowly.

I was meaning to do the same thing with the hacked about gold one, to see how long a full days charge in the sun actually lasts, but other thing got in the way,
« Last Edit: 14 / September / 2013, 07:25:53 by ahull »
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Offline Microfunguy

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #104 on: 14 / September / 2013, 07:12:11 »
The battery is an NB-5L 3.7V LiIon.

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Offline ahull

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #105 on: 14 / September / 2013, 07:29:01 »
In the case of the SX220HS, the battery is LiPo and is protected, so you are safe if the regulator doesn't object, you just end up charging the battery, which probably adds about 0.5A to the load on the regulator until the battery charges completely. This is a bit of a bonus in the sense that you end up with the built in battery charged, so it should kick in when the regulator switches off (glitches and voltage spikes not withstanding, you may need a capacitor to take the strain for the few miliseconds it takes for the battery to react).

The NB5L is the same battery as is in my Ixus 850IS, which give me an idea. I might just add a couple of pins to let me charge it  (or an NB4L or whatever the camera I am using takes) in parallel with, or instead of the built in battery in the solar charger.

The built in protection circuit in the battery will ensure you don't over charge.
« Last Edit: 14 / September / 2013, 07:37:27 by ahull »
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Offline Microfunguy

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #106 on: 14 / September / 2013, 08:02:38 »
Quote from: ahull on 14 / September / 2013, 07:29:01
In the case of the SX220HS, the battery is LiPo

LiIon.

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Offline ahull

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #107 on: 14 / September / 2013, 08:32:09 »
Quote from: Microfunguy on 14 / September / 2013, 08:02:38
Quote from: ahull on 14 / September / 2013, 07:29:01
In the case of the SX220HS, the battery is LiPo

LiIon.

Probably Lithium Ion (as that is what is printed on it), possibly actually Lithium Ion Polymer (LiPo), but without dismantling it I cant be sure  :D http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/is_lithium_ion_the_ideal_battery

The two designations are commonly misused, (especially by me) and both technologies are very similar.

The point is that it has built in protection, so there is very little risk of explosion.
« Last Edit: 14 / September / 2013, 09:10:53 by ahull »
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Offline ahull

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #108 on: 14 / September / 2013, 08:54:55 »
Just to prove that the mishmash of all of those wires, electrical tape and Ixus does actually still takes photos (and that I don't take *all* of my photos on a Ricoh  :P )... here is yet another butterfly picture straight from the camera today, a peacock this time,  taken with the hacked solar charger as the power source.



Slightly more remarkable than the picture perhaps is the fact that there are still lots of butterflies about in mid September in Scotland.
« Last Edit: 14 / September / 2013, 10:32:14 by ahull »
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Offline Microfunguy

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Re: Quick weatherproof camera box.
« Reply #109 on: 14 / September / 2013, 11:38:34 »
Not much buddleia blossom left now, the Peacocks, Red Admiral's and Tortoiseshell are making the most of it.

From what you say, I can leave the batteries in the camera and they will safely charge while the regulator is plugged in.

With the camera turned off the output is 4.8V maximum and less with camera on.

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