DIY Battery Pack for sd780 - Hotwire! Hardware Mods, Accessories and Insights - CHDK Forum
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DIY Battery Pack for sd780

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Offline manno

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DIY Battery Pack for sd780
« on: 29 / April / 2010, 15:27:39 »
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Hello,

Has anyone tried to make an external battery pack for the sd780? I had attempted to but it seems that this camera is very picky on the correct voltage supplied.

I have this awesome Polarmate Li-Ion battery pack that outputs 5v (more like 5.1v). The Canon ACK-DC10 AC adapter for this cam seems to output 4.2v but not sure of the exact output as I don't have one of these. I did hack up one of the DR-10 DC Couplers and put 2 diode in it to drop the voltage from 5v down to ~4.2v. It did work but the coupler got a little too warm for my taste (because of the diodes). I then tried to take the same diodes and place them inline outside of the camera but this did NOT work. The cam would turn on OK and show a preview but when I went to focus for a shot, the lens would come half way out and shut off. I also tried a few different voltages:

3.7 - 4.1v, the cam would not even turn on
4.2 - 4.6v, the cam would turn on but would shut off when trying to focus

Maybe the sweet spot is somewhere between 4.1 - 4.2v.

The NB-4L battery for this cam has a full charge of around 4.1v and drops with usage. I think that the cam will shut off when the battery reaches ~3.7v

Do any of you have any ideas, help or pointers that might be helpful in creating a nice external battery pack for this cam? It's a very nice camera and would be awesome to have more juice for extended time lapse sessions. It doesn't go very long with the NB-4L

Thanks!
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Offline Microfunguy

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Re: DIY Battery Pack for sd780
« Reply #1 on: 29 / April / 2010, 15:47:17 »
Presumably, your battery pack cannot provide sufficient current when the focus motor energises so the voltage drops.

A suitably-rated power-pack would not drop the voltage.
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Offline manno

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Re: DIY Battery Pack for sd780
« Reply #2 on: 29 / April / 2010, 15:57:20 »
Thanks for the info!

Do you know if ~5v can be supplied to this cam?

I know that this battery pack can supply up to 2A so it's something between the pack and the cam that is not working. Like you said, too much current caused a more severe voltage drop that the cam didn't like.

Quote from: Microfunguy on 29 / April / 2010, 15:47:17
Presumably, your battery pack cannot provide sufficient current when the focus motor energises so the voltage drops.

A suitably-rated power-pack would not drop the voltage.

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Offline Microfunguy

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Re: DIY Battery Pack for sd780
« Reply #3 on: 29 / April / 2010, 16:19:18 »
The Canon battery pack is 3.7V DC.
Don't know what current the battery can provide.
It is very risky applying a higher voltage.

Try measuring the voltage on the camera side of the diodes at the instant it tries to focus.

What is a DR-10 DC Coupler ?

I cannot find any information about it.
« Last Edit: 29 / April / 2010, 16:28:03 by Microfunguy »
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Offline manno

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Re: DIY Battery Pack for sd780
« Reply #4 on: 29 / April / 2010, 17:23:44 »
The DR-10 DC Coupler is the little replacement battery housing that takes the place of the NB-4L that has a dc plug on the bottom. It comes with the ACK-DC10 power adapter. I just happen to find one by itself on ebay. Cheaper than buying the whole kit for hacking purposes. ;)

Great idea on measuring upon focus. I haven't tried that yet but will now. Thanks!

Quote from: Microfunguy on 29 / April / 2010, 16:19:18
The Canon battery pack is 3.7V DC.
Don't know what current the battery can provide.
It is very risky applying a higher voltage.

Try measuring the voltage on the camera side of the diodes at the instant it tries to focus.

What is a DR-10 DC Coupler ?

I cannot find any information about it.

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Offline yeyoungpup

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Re: DIY Battery Pack for sd780
« Reply #5 on: 19 / May / 2010, 22:16:52 »
I would recommend the DR-10 coupler. I made one from scratch for my camera and it was just annoying. I used it to connect 10 of these in parallel http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.20392

I started with just two and got about 7 hours of runtime doing timelapses on an sd400, but haven't actually run the full 10 pack.
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Offline henrooo

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Re: DIY Battery Pack for sd780
« Reply #6 on: 20 / December / 2011, 13:00:22 »
Quote from: manno on 29 / April / 2010, 15:27:39
Hello,

Has anyone tried to make an external battery pack for the sd780? I had attempted to but it seems that this camera is very picky on the correct voltage supplied.

I have this awesome Polarmate Li-Ion battery pack that outputs 5v (more like 5.1v). The Canon ACK-DC10 AC adapter for this cam seems to output 4.2v but not sure of the exact output as I don't have one of these. I did hack up one of the DR-10 DC Couplers and put 2 diode in it to drop the voltage from 5v down to ~4.2v. It did work but the coupler got a little too warm for my taste (because of the diodes). I then tried to take the same diodes and place them inline outside of the camera but this did NOT work. The cam would turn on OK and show a preview but when I went to focus for a shot, the lens would come half way out and shut off. I also tried a few different voltages:

3.7 - 4.1v, the cam would not even turn on
4.2 - 4.6v, the cam would turn on but would shut off when trying to focus

Maybe the sweet spot is somewhere between 4.1 - 4.2v.

The NB-4L battery for this cam has a full charge of around 4.1v and drops with usage. I think that the cam will shut off when the battery reaches ~3.7v

Do any of you have any ideas, help or pointers that might be helpful in creating a nice external battery pack for this cam? It's a very nice camera and would be awesome to have more juice for extended time lapse sessions. It doesn't go very long with the NB-4L

Thanks!

Saw this while searching for a solution to power a Canon PowerShot Elph 300 HS during longer time lapses.

I'd appreciate if you could share your latest solution in powering your camera using the DC Coupler DR-10 + battery pack?

Canon SX220 - Long battery life to Timelapse - homemade
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Offline waterwingz

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Re: DIY Battery Pack for sd780
« Reply #7 on: 20 / December / 2011, 13:10:47 »
Quote from: henrooo on 20 / December / 2011, 13:00:22
Saw this while searching for a solution to power a Canon PowerShot Elph 300 HS during longer time lapses.
Wow - that is a very nice hack.   The problem with the $30 Chinese A/C power supplies is that you need to be near a wall outlet (or have a really long extension cord) to use them.  Not portable and not much use outdoor for example.  This solves that.

With the hack in the video,  you can put batteries in one at a time and just swap batteries each time one runs down using the dual holder concept.   And you can get "knockoff"  Canon batteries pretty cheaply.  They may not be as good but my experience is that they are maybe 90% as good and you can get lots for them for the price of a real Canon battery pack.
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Ported :   A1200    SD940   G10    Powershot N    G16
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Offline henrooo

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Re: DIY Battery Pack for sd780
« Reply #8 on: 20 / December / 2011, 19:16:17 »
Quote from: waterwingz on 20 / December / 2011, 13:10:47
Wow - that is a very nice hack.   The problem with the $30 Chinese A/C power supplies is that you need to be near a wall outlet (or have a really long extension cord) to use them.  Not portable and not much use outdoor for example.  This solves that.

With the hack in the video,  you can put batteries in one at a time and just swap batteries each time one runs down using the dual holder concept.   And you can get "knockoff"  Canon batteries pretty cheaply.  They may not be as good but my experience is that they are maybe 90% as good and you can get lots for them for the price of a real Canon battery pack.


I like this solution, but I have Zero electronics' knowledge. I wouldn't know where to begin regarding modifying the internal circuitry of the chargers and soldering cables/wires.
I was thinking of using a battery pack [Tekkeon 5v]  if one of there adapter heads would fit into the DC coupler [DC 10]. Will pay a visit to the local electronic store to investigate after I get my hands on a eBay coupler knock off.
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Offline waterwingz

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Re: DIY Battery Pack for sd780
« Reply #9 on: 21 / December / 2011, 01:30:12 »
Quote from: henrooo on 20 / December / 2011, 19:16:17
I like this solution, but I have Zero electronics' knowledge. I wouldn't know where to begin regarding modifying the internal circuitry of the chargers and soldering cables/wires.
If I understood the video correctly,  he didn't modify the charger circuitry - he completely removed it. Doing that converted the charger into a simple battery holder and he wired the battery contacts in the (former) charger directly to the DC coupler.

Quote
I was thinking of using a battery pack [Tekkeon 5v]  if one of there adapter heads would fit into the DC coupler [DC 10]. Will pay a visit to the local electronic store to investigate after I get my hands on a eBay coupler knock off.
Does the SD780 use the same NB-4L battery as my SD940 ?  If so,  a 5V power supply is risky - the NB-4L only puts out 3.7Volts.
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Ported :   A1200    SD940   G10    Powershot N    G16
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