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battery use on long (8 hour) intervalometer run?

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Offline bugbear

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battery use on long (8 hour) intervalometer run?
« on: 26 / March / 2008, 05:17:49 »
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I'd like to set my camera (a630, CHDK allbest build) to monitor my bird table,
for around 8 hours (while I'm at work)

I was thinking, on my 1Gb sd card  of taking 1 photo per minute,
setting the resolution/compression low enough than 1Gb will
hold the 480 pictures generated.

To reduce battery consumption, I can focus lock, although
automatic exposure is probably desirable.

I don't have a "mains" power supply for my camera, but I do
have 2 sets of NiMh batteries.

Question; since the 2.5" display is a major consumer
of power. can I run a script with the display off?

Wll I then get my 8 hour runtime?

follow up question; having run in this way, can
I turn the display off/on without stopping the script?

   BugBear
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Offline PhyrePhoX

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Re: battery use on long (8 hour) intervalometer run?
« Reply #1 on: 26 / March / 2008, 05:43:50 »
use a headphone jack and plug it into the av port of your camera, that will shut off the screen and reduce power consumption vastly. this is only needed in motion detection scripts though - you *should* be able to switch off lcd.
you can start the script, PAUSE it by pressing alt-button, then disable lcd, then unpause script by pressing alt again.
i dont have a cam at hand right now, but this should work. as always: make the test or die with the rest :D
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Offline GrAnd

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Re: battery use on long (8 hour) intervalometer run?
« Reply #2 on: 26 / March / 2008, 06:09:57 »
Quote from: bugbear on 26 / March / 2008, 05:17:49
Question; since the 2.5" display is a major consumer
of power. can I run a script with the display off?

The answer is "Yes". The exception is the motion detection script.
You can simple close your LCD. Or press the [disp] button several times before the starting the script to switch it off. Or even to code the presses of [disp] button in your script. :) But I'd prefer the first option. ;)
« Last Edit: 26 / March / 2008, 06:13:35 by GrAnd »
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Offline bugbear

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Re: battery use on long (8 hour) intervalometer run?
« Reply #3 on: 26 / March / 2008, 06:21:42 »
Quote from: GrAnd on 26 / March / 2008, 06:09:57
Quote from: bugbear on 26 / March / 2008, 05:17:49
Question; since the 2.5" display is a major consumer
of power. can I run a script with the display off?

You can simple close your LCD.

Do you mean the (basic) Canon functionality turns the display off if I put the display "face in" to the camera and close it down (which is how I normally carry the camera to protect the display)??

   BugBear
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Offline GrAnd

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Re: battery use on long (8 hour) intervalometer run?
« Reply #4 on: 26 / March / 2008, 06:34:36 »
Quote from: bugbear on 26 / March / 2008, 06:21:42
Do you mean the (basic) Canon functionality turns the display off if I put the display "face in" to the camera and close it down (which is how I normally carry the camera to protect the display)??
Exactly. You can check it by yourself. In the near to close position, the camera switches the display off and close the shutter (you can hear the "click") as well.
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Offline carlos

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Re: battery use on long (8 hour) intervalometer run?
« Reply #5 on: 26 / March / 2008, 11:58:57 »
Quote from: PhyrePhoX on 26 / March / 2008, 05:43:50
use a headphone jack and plug it into the av port of your camera, that will shut off the screen and reduce power consumption vastly.

bugbear,

If you use focus lock or manual focus, PhyrePhoX's workaround is the only way. Otherwise, when the  LCD is shut down, by choice or by Canon, locked or manual focus setting is lost.

Best,

carlos


« Last Edit: 26 / March / 2008, 12:07:56 by carlos »
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Offline bugbear

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Re: battery use on long (8 hour) intervalometer run?
« Reply #6 on: 26 / March / 2008, 12:11:51 »
Quote from: carlos on 26 / March / 2008, 11:58:57
bugbear,

If you use focus lock or manual focus, PhyrePhoX's workaround is the only way. Otherwise, when the  LCD is shut down, by choice or by Canon, locked or manual focus setting is lost.

Best,

carlos

That's most helpful - thank you.

  BugBear
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Offline Barney Fife

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Re: battery use on long (8 hour) intervalometer run?
« Reply #7 on: 26 / March / 2008, 19:38:42 »
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« Last Edit: 22 / April / 2008, 15:14:07 by Barney Fife »
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Offline bugbear

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Re: battery use on long (8 hour) intervalometer run?
« Reply #8 on: 27 / March / 2008, 05:25:36 »
Quote from: Barney Fife on 26 / March / 2008, 19:38:42
You might also consider building a battery-pack for it and using your external power-source input for that. For extensive photo treks, long ago I picked up a Li-Ion battery pack from DigiPower (DPS-9000) that mounts onto the tripod screw on the bottom of any camera. It includes a host of DC-DC converters for various voltages and camera plugs. I primarily used its DC-DC converters to charge up my batteries from compact collapsible solar-panels, but it also works great when trying to mix and match other voltage sources to various cameras.

You could even use a 12v gel-cell battery (say a 12Ah one) with the right car-cigarette-lighter converters to run a camera for days or weeks, without the need to conserve battery power by turning off auto-focus or anything. I could, given the tools I have assembled for backpacking photography, even run my camera by solar-power alone for years unattended.

There are many options. Think outside the box and what the catalogs offer. :)

(I just thought of something, with the nazi-istic mentality of non-smokers, is that 12v cigarette-lighter accessory plug on cars eventually going to become a thing of the past? :) )

I only want to run the camera for a day looking out of my lounge window - I'm not ready to start "survivalist-photography" yet!

On the cigarette socket question, you can relax. At least in the UK, that socket has been labelled "12 V power" for quite a while now, and is used for all manner of car-resident gadgets e.g. DVD players, sat-navs etc.

  BugBear
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Offline bugbear

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Re: battery use on long (8 hour) intervalometer run?
« Reply #9 on: 28 / March / 2008, 09:09:42 »
Thanks to all (and the makers of CHDK). The run lasted 6 hours and 292 photos before the batteries gave up, and gave me the info I needed.

  BugBear
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