External battery pack revisited

[David S20661]

Well as it turns out, my 3lb external battery pack had been on the shelf a little too long so I wasn't getting as many shots as I'd hoped.

I've now gotten a smaller gel pak and run some tests. The new battery is only 2 lbs and is rated at 3AH. I charged it over night and held the shutter button down till I got the low batt signal.

Here's what I got on a single charge on S10 with 340 microdrive:

LCD on, flash on every shot, all shots in superfine mode.
Large size: display showed 236, I got 218
Mediem size: display showed 348, I got 380
Small size: display showed 715, I got 686

Total of 1284 shots on a single charge. I also let the camera erase the 340 drive at the end of each test.

The battery was only $20 at Fry's!
If anyone wants I'll post pics of the new battery rig in the next day or so.

 

[Bob..]

Well as it turns out, my 3lb external battery pack had been on the shelf
a little too long so I wasn't getting as many shots as I'd hoped.

I've now gotten a smaller gel pak and run some tests. The new battery is
only 2 lbs and is rated at 3AH. I charged it over night and held the
shutter button down till I got the low batt signal.

Here's what I got on a single charge on S10 with 340 microdrive:

LCD on, flash on every shot, all shots in superfine mode.
Large size: display showed 236, I got 218
Mediem size: display showed 348, I got 380
Small size: display showed 715, I got 686

Total of 1284 shots on a single charge. I also let the camera erase the
340 drive at the end of each test.

The battery was only $20 at Fry's!
If anyone wants I'll post pics of the new battery rig in the next day or so.

Please do! Bob..

 

[Cassius Moura]

We are waiting !!

Cassius

Well as it turns out, my 3lb external battery pack had been on the shelf
a little too long so I wasn't getting as many shots as I'd hoped.

I've now gotten a smaller gel pak and run some tests. The new battery is
only 2 lbs and is rated at 3AH. I charged it over night and held the
shutter button down till I got the low batt signal.

Here's what I got on a single charge on S10 with 340 microdrive:

LCD on, flash on every shot, all shots in superfine mode.
Large size: display showed 236, I got 218
Mediem size: display showed 348, I got 380
Small size: display showed 715, I got 686

Total of 1284 shots on a single charge. I also let the camera erase the
340 drive at the end of each test.

The battery was only $20 at Fry's!
If anyone wants I'll post pics of the new battery rig in the next day or so.

 

[rds]

David,

Sounds great. Can we have some specifics please? Name of product? How does it hook to the S-10? You need the battery recharger/AC kit?

rds

Well as it turns out, my 3lb external battery pack had been on the shelf
a little too long so I wasn't getting as many shots as I'd hoped.

I've now gotten a smaller gel pak and run some tests. The new battery is
only 2 lbs and is rated at 3AH. I charged it over night and held the
shutter button down till I got the low batt signal.

Here's what I got on a single charge on S10 with 340 microdrive:

LCD on, flash on every shot, all shots in superfine mode.
Large size: display showed 236, I got 218
Mediem size: display showed 348, I got 380
Small size: display showed 715, I got 686

Total of 1284 shots on a single charge. I also let the camera erase the
340 drive at the end of each test.

The battery was only $20 at Fry's!
If anyone wants I'll post pics of the new battery rig in the next day or so.

 

[wim #13414]

C'mon David... show us some pics and tell us how long you have to charge it...

Wim

Well as it turns out, my 3lb external battery pack had been on the shelf
a little too long so I wasn't getting as many shots as I'd hoped.

I've now gotten a smaller gel pak and run some tests. The new battery is
only 2 lbs and is rated at 3AH. I charged it over night and held the
shutter button down till I got the low batt signal.

Here's what I got on a single charge on S10 with 340 microdrive:

LCD on, flash on every shot, all shots in superfine mode.
Large size: display showed 236, I got 218
Mediem size: display showed 348, I got 380
Small size: display showed 715, I got 686

Total of 1284 shots on a single charge. I also let the camera erase the
340 drive at the end of each test.

The battery was only $20 at Fry's!
If anyone wants I'll post pics of the new battery rig in the next day or so.

 

[David S20661]

Ok, here's the link

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=879704&a=6682208

The original 'Empire' pack hung down quite a bit from the belt and gets in the way when sitting down especially on roller coasters. The new 6V, 3AH battery is from Nesco Battery Systems, part # NSL630 and only weighs 2 lbs. The new battery with the Tamrac pouch works great. There's also a bit of extra room in the bag to put in any excess cable and the dummy battery when not in use; such as when I put in a regular battery and sucker the usual bystanders into taking our pictures. (I set the camera to continuous mode and tell the shooter to hold down the button and count to 15 while everyone gets settled, this way I get some very natural shots.)

The wiring that came with the original battery kit used RCA jacks for connectors with the center as the positive lead, and had a 10 amp fuse wired into the positive line. I just trasferred it over to the new battery since the terminals are the same. I spliced RCA jacks into the line of the dummy battery that came with the DK110 kit. I'm waiting for a respone from Canon to see if I can get just the dummy battery with having to buy the full kit. I'll post the results later.

Instead of using any of the thin web belts I used a Bianchi International web belt. It has a stiff plastic core which spreads the weight around nicely. I dont recommend the thinner materials since they have a tendancy to buckle under the weight, and then the other side digs into your hip. Another alternative would be the thicker web belts you can get at a dive shop, (the kind used for weights). Now if I could just find a yellow belt with a Bat buclke.... ;-)

The charger I picked up for $50 is from Xenotronix and is quite nice since it has a red/yellow/green led to show charger status; red for fault, yellow for fast charge (which takes the battery to about 75%) and green for a 'float' charge, basically a trickle charge. The manufacturer recommends leaving the charger connected all the time till the battery is needed thus ensuring maximum power. This is perfectly ok for this type of battery, since it's designed for emergency lights, exit signs, etc. which always have a trickle charge going to them.

Sorry I didn't measure how long it took to charge. I plugged it in and went to work and it showed a green light when I got back.

Enjoy

David S

PS Here are some battery links if you want to build your own kit (usual disclaimers here)

http://www.gsbattery.com/sla/index.html

http://www.powerqualityinc.com/6vspecs.html#6V7AH

http://www.computer-comfort.com/store28/merchant.ihtml?pid=1634642133&step=4

Well as it turns out, my 3lb external battery pack had been on the shelf
a little too long so I wasn't getting as many shots as I'd hoped.

I've now gotten a smaller gel pak and run some tests. The new battery is
only 2 lbs and is rated at 3AH. I charged it over night and held the
shutter button down till I got the low batt signal.

Here's what I got on a single charge on S10 with 340 microdrive:

LCD on, flash on every shot, all shots in superfine mode.
Large size: display showed 236, I got 218
Mediem size: display showed 348, I got 380
Small size: display showed 715, I got 686

Total of 1284 shots on a single charge. I also let the camera erase the
340 drive at the end of each test.

The battery was only $20 at Fry's!
If anyone wants I'll post pics of the new battery rig in the next day or so.

 

[David S20661]

Hi again,

I finally got the information from Canon. If you call 1-800-282-4040 and go through the voicemail prompts (1,3,3,1) you'll get to the parts ordering line. Just order the DC Coupler DR-100 for the PowerShot (they asked if I had the S10) this way you don't have to cut up your original coupler. The coupler costs $18.99, so if you want to build an external pack without buying a full DK-110 kit, this would be the way to go.

For about the same price (retail) you can have either 1 rechargeable battery that'll last about 50-100 shots, or a belt pack that'll give you over 1000 shots on a single charge (see below). Of course the 110 kit is the only way to charge the Nimh batteries, and you can leave the camera plugged in with the coupler for constant power (which is recommended by Canon if you need to do the firmware upgrade)

Enjoy

David S

ps here's another link:
http://www.nescobatteries.com/

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=879704&a=6682208

The original 'Empire' pack hung down quite a bit from the belt and gets
in the way when sitting down especially on roller coasters. The new 6V,
3AH battery is from Nesco Battery Systems, part # NSL630 and only weighs
2 lbs. The new battery with the Tamrac pouch works great. There's also a
bit of extra room in the bag to put in any excess cable and the dummy
battery when not in use; such as when I put in a regular battery and
sucker the usual bystanders into taking our pictures. (I set the camera
to continuous mode and tell the shooter to hold down the button and count
to 15 while everyone gets settled, this way I get some very natural
shots.)

The wiring that came with the original battery kit used RCA jacks for
connectors with the center as the positive lead, and had a 10 amp fuse
wired into the positive line. I just trasferred it over to the new
battery since the terminals are the same. I spliced RCA jacks into the
line of the dummy battery that came with the DK110 kit. I'm waiting for a

respone from Canon to see if I can get just the dummy battery without > having to buy the full kit. I'll post the results later.

Instead of using any of the thin web belts I used a Bianchi International
web belt. It has a stiff plastic core which spreads the weight around
nicely. I dont recommend the thinner materials since they have a tendancy
to buckle under the weight, and then the other side digs into your hip.
Another alternative would be the thicker web belts you can get at a dive
shop, (the kind used for weights). Now if I could just find a yellow belt
with a Bat buclke.... ;-)

The charger I picked up for $50 is from Xenotronix and is quite nice
since it has a red/yellow/green led to show charger status; red for
fault, yellow for fast charge (which takes the battery to about 75%) and
green for a 'float' charge, basically a trickle charge. The manufacturer
recommends leaving the charger connected all the time till the battery is
needed thus ensuring maximum power. This is perfectly ok for this type
of battery, since it's designed for emergency lights, exit signs, etc.
which always have a trickle charge going to them.

Sorry I didn't measure how long it took to charge. I plugged it in and
went to work and it showed a green light when I got back.

Enjoy

David S

PS Here are some battery links if you want to build your own kit (usual
disclaimers here)

http://www.gsbattery.com/sla/index.html

http://www.powerqualityinc.com/6vspecs.html#6V7AH

http://www.computer-comfort.com/store28/merchant.ihtml?pid=1634642133&step=4

Well as it turns out, my 3lb external battery pack had been on the shelf
a little too long so I wasn't getting as many shots as I'd hoped.

I've now gotten a smaller gel pak and run some tests. The new battery is
only 2 lbs and is rated at 3AH. I charged it over night and held the
shutter button down till I got the low batt signal.

Here's what I got on a single charge on S10 with 340 microdrive:

LCD on, flash on every shot, all shots in superfine mode.
Large size: display showed 236, I got 218
Mediem size: display showed 348, I got 380
Small size: display showed 715, I got 686

Total of 1284 shots on a single charge. I also let the camera erase the
340 drive at the end of each test.

The battery was only $20 at Fry's!
If anyone wants I'll post pics of the new battery rig in the next day or so.

 

[Qun]

Shame on Canon for making everything non-standard! Lucky people who bought the digital cameras made by Nikon and Olympus would not have such problem.

I have been thinking about using ProPower IV made by Unity Digital for my S20. It is a nice NiMH unit comes with AC charger, camera cables (cable to camera length is 3 feet), leather case with belt clip. Although it weighs only 8 Oz, it is poweful with the capacity of 2.7 Ah. Does anyone know where I can buy power jack adapters so that I do not have to cut my DC coupler? I would appreciate any suggestions.

By the way, you can buy Unity Digital ProPower Pack IV from Mercata.com right now for only $48.00 (including shipping) by using 20% discount for new customers:

http://www.mercata.com/cgi-bin/mercata/mercata/v2/pages/details.jsp?BV_SessionID=937846062.963469578&BV_EngineID=djalifemjgfebemgcfkmcgedki.0&OID=19136

Or you can buy it directly from Unity Digital for $99:

http://www.unitysales.com/MainPage.asp

I finally got the information from Canon. If you call 1-800-282-4040 and
go through the voicemail prompts (1,3,3,1) you'll get to the parts
ordering line. Just order the DC Coupler DR-100 for the PowerShot (they
asked if I had the S10) this way you don't have to cut up your original
coupler. The coupler costs $18.99, so if you want to build an external
pack without buying a full DK-110 kit, this would be the way to go.

For about the same price (retail) you can have either 1 rechargeable
battery that'll last about 50-100 shots, or a belt pack that'll give you
over 1000 shots on a single charge (see below). Of course the 110 kit is
the only way to charge the Nimh batteries, and you can leave the camera
plugged in with the coupler for constant power (which is recommended by
Canon if you need to do the firmware upgrade)

Enjoy

David S

ps here's another link:
http://www.nescobatteries.com/

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=879704&a=6682208

The original 'Empire' pack hung down quite a bit from the belt and gets
in the way when sitting down especially on roller coasters. The new 6V,
3AH battery is from Nesco Battery Systems, part # NSL630 and only weighs
2 lbs. The new battery with the Tamrac pouch works great. There's also a
bit of extra room in the bag to put in any excess cable and the dummy
battery when not in use; such as when I put in a regular battery and
sucker the usual bystanders into taking our pictures. (I set the camera
to continuous mode and tell the shooter to hold down the button and count
to 15 while everyone gets settled, this way I get some very natural
shots.)

The wiring that came with the original battery kit used RCA jacks for
connectors with the center as the positive lead, and had a 10 amp fuse
wired into the positive line. I just trasferred it over to the new
battery since the terminals are the same. I spliced RCA jacks into the
line of the dummy battery that came with the DK110 kit. I'm waiting for a

respone from Canon to see if I can get just the dummy battery without > having to buy the full kit. I'll post the results later.

Instead of using any of the thin web belts I used a Bianchi International
web belt. It has a stiff plastic core which spreads the weight around
nicely. I dont recommend the thinner materials since they have a tendancy
to buckle under the weight, and then the other side digs into your hip.
Another alternative would be the thicker web belts you can get at a dive
shop, (the kind used for weights). Now if I could just find a yellow belt
with a Bat buclke.... ;-)

The charger I picked up for $50 is from Xenotronix and is quite nice
since it has a red/yellow/green led to show charger status; red for
fault, yellow for fast charge (which takes the battery to about 75%) and
green for a 'float' charge, basically a trickle charge. The manufacturer
recommends leaving the charger connected all the time till the battery is
needed thus ensuring maximum power. This is perfectly ok for this type
of battery, since it's designed for emergency lights, exit signs, etc.
which always have a trickle charge going to them.

Sorry I didn't measure how long it took to charge. I plugged it in and
went to work and it showed a green light when I got back.

Enjoy

David S

PS Here are some battery links if you want to build your own kit (usual
disclaimers here)

http://www.gsbattery.com/sla/index.html

http://www.powerqualityinc.com/6vspecs.html#6V7AH

http://www.computer-comfort.com/store28/merchant.ihtml?pid=1634642133&step=4

Well as it turns out, my 3lb external battery pack had been on the shelf
a little too long so I wasn't getting as many shots as I'd hoped.

I've now gotten a smaller gel pak and run some tests. The new battery is
only 2 lbs and is rated at 3AH. I charged it over night and held the
shutter button down till I got the low batt signal.

Here's what I got on a single charge on S10 with 340 microdrive:

LCD on, flash on every shot, all shots in superfine mode.
Large size: display showed 236, I got 218
Mediem size: display showed 348, I got 380
Small size: display showed 715, I got 686

Total of 1284 shots on a single charge. I also let the camera erase the
340 drive at the end of each test.

The battery was only $20 at Fry's!
If anyone wants I'll post pics of the new battery rig in the next day or so.

 

[David S20661]

If you get it let us know how well it works.

Some things you may want to consider though. I noticed from the specs that its output voltage is only 5.8V. I wonder how long it could actually hold that voltage before dropping below the minimum voltage needed by the camera. When I checked my Nimh and Leadacid batteries at the lobatt signal (and at camera shutoff) the voltage showed 5.75V. My only concern would be that with the propower pack, the camera may wind up showing the lobatt signal constantly, and the only indicator you may have to recharge would be the autoshutoff. Since I'm using the microdrive, I wouldn't want to take any chances on corrutped photos. Take note that the Nimh from the DK110 kit, when fully charged can show a voltage as high as 6.61V and the sticker on the bottom of the camera says 6.5V. As for the connector, you may be out of luck. I've looked everywhere for the female connector (from inside the DK-110 chargerbase) and I couldn't find it anywhere! It's probably proprietary for the manufacturer.

Good luck
David S

I have been thinking about using ProPower IV made by Unity Digital for my
S20. It is a nice NiMH unit comes with AC charger, camera cables (cable
to camera length is 3 feet), leather case with belt clip. Although it
weighs only 8 Oz, it is poweful with the capacity of 2.7 Ah. Does anyone
know where I can buy power jack adapters so that I do not have to cut my
DC coupler? I would appreciate any suggestions.

By the way, you can buy Unity Digital ProPower Pack IV from Mercata.com
right now for only $48.00 (including shipping) by using 20% discount for
new customers:

http://www.mercata.com/cgi-bin/mercata/mercata/v2/pages/details.jsp?BV_SessionID=937846062.963469578&BV_EngineID=djalifemjgfebemgcfkmcgedki.0&OID=19136

Or you can buy it directly from Unity Digital for $99:

http://www.unitysales.com/MainPage.asp

I finally got the information from Canon. If you call 1-800-282-4040 and
go through the voicemail prompts (1,3,3,1) you'll get to the parts
ordering line. Just order the DC Coupler DR-100 for the PowerShot (they
asked if I had the S10) this way you don't have to cut up your original
coupler. The coupler costs $18.99, so if you want to build an external
pack without buying a full DK-110 kit, this would be the way to go.

For about the same price (retail) you can have either 1 rechargeable
battery that'll last about 50-100 shots, or a belt pack that'll give you
over 1000 shots on a single charge (see below). Of course the 110 kit is
the only way to charge the Nimh batteries, and you can leave the camera
plugged in with the coupler for constant power (which is recommended by
Canon if you need to do the firmware upgrade)

Enjoy

David S

ps here's another link:
http://www.nescobatteries.com/

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=879704&a=6682208

The original 'Empire' pack hung down quite a bit from the belt and gets
in the way when sitting down especially on roller coasters. The new 6V,
3AH battery is from Nesco Battery Systems, part # NSL630 and only weighs
2 lbs. The new battery with the Tamrac pouch works great. There's also a
bit of extra room in the bag to put in any excess cable and the dummy
battery when not in use; such as when I put in a regular battery and
sucker the usual bystanders into taking our pictures. (I set the camera
to continuous mode and tell the shooter to hold down the button and count
to 15 while everyone gets settled, this way I get some very natural
shots.)

The wiring that came with the original battery kit used RCA jacks for
connectors with the center as the positive lead, and had a 10 amp fuse
wired into the positive line. I just trasferred it over to the new
battery since the terminals are the same. I spliced RCA jacks into the
line of the dummy battery that came with the DK110 kit. I'm waiting for a

respone from Canon to see if I can get just the dummy battery without > having to buy the full kit. I'll post the results later.

Instead of using any of the thin web belts I used a Bianchi International
web belt. It has a stiff plastic core which spreads the weight around
nicely. I dont recommend the thinner materials since they have a tendancy
to buckle under the weight, and then the other side digs into your hip.
Another alternative would be the thicker web belts you can get at a dive
shop, (the kind used for weights). Now if I could just find a yellow belt
with a Bat buclke.... ;-)

The charger I picked up for $50 is from Xenotronix and is quite nice
since it has a red/yellow/green led to show charger status; red for
fault, yellow for fast charge (which takes the battery to about 75%) and
green for a 'float' charge, basically a trickle charge. The manufacturer
recommends leaving the charger connected all the time till the battery is
needed thus ensuring maximum power. This is perfectly ok for this type
of battery, since it's designed for emergency lights, exit signs, etc.
which always have a trickle charge going to them.

Sorry I didn't measure how long it took to charge. I plugged it in and
went to work and it showed a green light when I got back.

Enjoy

David S

PS Here are some battery links if you want to build your own kit (usual
disclaimers here)

http://www.gsbattery.com/sla/index.html

http://www.powerqualityinc.com/6vspecs.html#6V7AH

http://www.computer-comfort.com/store28/merchant.ihtml?pid=1634642133&step=4

Well as it turns out, my 3lb external battery pack had been on the shelf
a little too long so I wasn't getting as many shots as I'd hoped.

I've now gotten a smaller gel pak and run some tests. The new battery is
only 2 lbs and is rated at 3AH. I charged it over night and held the
shutter button down till I got the low batt signal.

Here's what I got on a single charge on S10 with 340 microdrive:

LCD on, flash on every shot, all shots in superfine mode.
Large size: display showed 236, I got 218
Mediem size: display showed 348, I got 380
Small size: display showed 715, I got 686

Total of 1284 shots on a single charge. I also let the camera erase the
340 drive at the end of each test.

The battery was only $20 at Fry's!
If anyone wants I'll post pics of the new battery rig in the next day or so.

 

[Mike O]

Just found a cheap adapter to make a power cord with... I had a spent Duracell 2CR5 battery lying around and noticed that the 2 cells could be seen under the wrapper. I have other brands of 2CR5's and the batteries are completely enclosed by plastic. I removed the Duracell wrapper and was able to pry out the cells. They just have a spot weld holding them to the contacts. If you're careful, you can break the spot welds without much damage to the tabs that go to the exterior contacts. All you have to do now is solder leads to the tabs, and connect to whatever 6v power supply you want to use(properly fused, of course). The leads come out the same little hole that the Canon adapter uses. For the ultimate in capacity, I recommend a 6v, 650 Ah fork lift battery. Of course, it weighs 90 lbs, but at least you could use the LCDfor the next several thousand shots before a recharge ;-)

I finally got the information from Canon. If you call 1-800-282-4040 and
go through the voicemail prompts (1,3,3,1) you'll get to the parts
ordering line. Just order the DC Coupler DR-100 for the PowerShot (they
asked if I had the S10) this way you don't have to cut up your original
coupler. The coupler costs $18.99, so if you want to build an external
pack without buying a full DK-110 kit, this would be the way to go.

For about the same price (retail) you can have either 1 rechargeable
battery that'll last about 50-100 shots, or a belt pack that'll give you
over 1000 shots on a single charge (see below). Of course the 110 kit is
the only way to charge the Nimh batteries, and you can leave the camera
plugged in with the coupler for constant power (which is recommended by
Canon if you need to do the firmware upgrade)

Enjoy

David S

ps here's another link:
http://www.nescobatteries.com/

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=879704&a=6682208

The original 'Empire' pack hung down quite a bit from the belt and gets
in the way when sitting down especially on roller coasters. The new 6V,
3AH battery is from Nesco Battery Systems, part # NSL630 and only weighs
2 lbs. The new battery with the Tamrac pouch works great. There's also a
bit of extra room in the bag to put in any excess cable and the dummy
battery when not in use; such as when I put in a regular battery and
sucker the usual bystanders into taking our pictures. (I set the camera
to continuous mode and tell the shooter to hold down the button and count
to 15 while everyone gets settled, this way I get some very natural
shots.)

The wiring that came with the original battery kit used RCA jacks for
connectors with the center as the positive lead, and had a 10 amp fuse
wired into the positive line. I just trasferred it over to the new
battery since the terminals are the same. I spliced RCA jacks into the
line of the dummy battery that came with the DK110 kit. I'm waiting for a

respone from Canon to see if I can get just the dummy battery without > having to buy the full kit. I'll post the results later.

Instead of using any of the thin web belts I used a Bianchi International
web belt. It has a stiff plastic core which spreads the weight around
nicely. I dont recommend the thinner materials since they have a tendancy
to buckle under the weight, and then the other side digs into your hip.
Another alternative would be the thicker web belts you can get at a dive
shop, (the kind used for weights). Now if I could just find a yellow belt
with a Bat buclke.... ;-)

The charger I picked up for $50 is from Xenotronix and is quite nice
since it has a red/yellow/green led to show charger status; red for
fault, yellow for fast charge (which takes the battery to about 75%) and
green for a 'float' charge, basically a trickle charge. The manufacturer
recommends leaving the charger connected all the time till the battery is
needed thus ensuring maximum power. This is perfectly ok for this type
of battery, since it's designed for emergency lights, exit signs, etc.
which always have a trickle charge going to them.

Sorry I didn't measure how long it took to charge. I plugged it in and
went to work and it showed a green light when I got back.

Enjoy

David S

PS Here are some battery links if you want to build your own kit (usual
disclaimers here)

http://www.gsbattery.com/sla/index.html

http://www.powerqualityinc.com/6vspecs.html#6V7AH

http://www.computer-comfort.com/store28/merchant.ihtml?pid=1634642133&step=4

Well as it turns out, my 3lb external battery pack had been on the shelf
a little too long so I wasn't getting as many shots as I'd hoped.

I've now gotten a smaller gel pak and run some tests. The new battery is
only 2 lbs and is rated at 3AH. I charged it over night and held the
shutter button down till I got the low batt signal.

Here's what I got on a single charge on S10 with 340 microdrive:

LCD on, flash on every shot, all shots in superfine mode.
Large size: display showed 236, I got 218
Mediem size: display showed 348, I got 380
Small size: display showed 715, I got 686

Total of 1284 shots on a single charge. I also let the camera erase the
340 drive at the end of each test.

The battery was only $20 at Fry's!
If anyone wants I'll post pics of the new battery rig in the next day or so.

 

[David S20661]

Where can I get that battery!?! ;-) When making my battery pack, I noticed a spark when I cut the cable on the dummy battery from the dk110 kit. There is a capacitor in the dummy battery, and I have no idea what it's for. That's why I didn't go the route of using an empty alkaline battery shell. I may tear one apart one of these days to find out how it's set up.

Later

David S

Just found a cheap adapter to make a power cord with... I had a spent
Duracell 2CR5 battery lying around and noticed that the 2 cells could be
seen under the wrapper. I have other brands of 2CR5's and the batteries
are completely enclosed by plastic. I removed the Duracell wrapper and
was able to pry out the cells. They just have a spot weld holding them
to the contacts. If you're careful, you can break the spot welds without
much damage to the tabs that go to the exterior contacts. All you have
to do now is solder leads to the tabs, and connect to whatever 6v power
supply you want to use(properly fused, of course). The leads come out
the same little hole that the Canon adapter uses. For the ultimate in
capacity, I recommend a 6v, 650 Ah fork lift battery. Of course, it
weighs 90 lbs, but at least you could use the LCDfor the next several
thousand shots before a recharge ;-)

 

[Mike O]

Hi David,

I've seen capacitors used in power circuts to help smooth out voltage surges when something is turned on. Also to filter out unwanted noise. Depending on size, it might have enough capacity to let the camera go to it's auto shut-off mode(camera thinks battery is dead) in case someone accidently unplugs it. Might try that tonight....

Mike

Later

David S

Just found a cheap adapter to make a power cord with... I had a spent
Duracell 2CR5 battery lying around and noticed that the 2 cells could be
seen under the wrapper. I have other brands of 2CR5's and the batteries
are completely enclosed by plastic. I removed the Duracell wrapper and
was able to pry out the cells. They just have a spot weld holding them
to the contacts. If you're careful, you can break the spot welds without
much damage to the tabs that go to the exterior contacts. All you have
to do now is solder leads to the tabs, and connect to whatever 6v power
supply you want to use(properly fused, of course). The leads come out
the same little hole that the Canon adapter uses. For the ultimate in
capacity, I recommend a 6v, 650 Ah fork lift battery. Of course, it
weighs 90 lbs, but at least you could use the LCDfor the next several
thousand shots before a recharge ;-)

 

[David S20661]

Hi, me again!

I've got a few more pics posted (new wiring, another battery and the charger).

It's been my experience that with the straight loose wire from the dummy battery, occasionally it would hang up on something. To get around this, I found some coiled wiring and spliced in the nylon connectors at each end, so now if it hangs up on something, it'll either disconnect at the camera or at the belt pack. This is why my battery leads are so short from the belt pack. I'm never going to have my S10 yanked out of my hands again! (once is enough, and yes I caught before it hit anything)

I looked everywhere for the coiled cable and found a broken cell phone auto charger in my junk drawer. I also went into my local cell phone store and asked if they had any broken auto chargers, and the they gave me a handfull for free!

Enjoy

David S
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=879704&a=6682208

 

[guygadbois]

I've fashioned an external battery pack for my S20, using a 6 volt, 7ah sealed lead acid battery. My problem is the Radio Shack "Deluxe" charger that I bought for $50 doesn't seem to charge the battery fully to operate the camera. I charger supposedly "auto senses" the voltage to charge. When the battery is "charged" and I attach it to the camera (via the batter adpater like you describe) the camera turns on, then shows low battery and shuts back down.

The only thing I can think of is that the charger is not charging the battery enough. I looked at the Canon DK-110 label and it states that it charges its batteries at 7.2 volts (!?). I'm guessing that the "deluxe" charger I bought is only charging at 6 volts, hence the undercharge.

Do you know if the Xenotronix "auto senses" or do you manually select the voltage to charge at? and if so, do you select 6 volt or 7.2 volt?

Thanks for any input anyone may have on this.

Jason

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=879704&a=6682208

The original 'Empire' pack hung down quite a bit from the belt and
gets in the way when sitting down especially on roller coasters.
The new 6V, 3AH battery is from Nesco Battery Systems, part #
NSL630 and only weighs 2 lbs. The new battery with the Tamrac pouch
works great. There's also a bit of extra room in the bag to put in
any excess cable and the dummy battery when not in use; such as
when I put in a regular battery and sucker the usual bystanders
into taking our pictures. (I set the camera to continuous mode and
tell the shooter to hold down the button and count to 15 while
everyone gets settled, this way I get some very natural shots.)

The wiring that came with the original battery kit used RCA jacks
for connectors with the center as the positive lead, and had a 10
amp fuse wired into the positive line. I just trasferred it over to
the new battery since the terminals are the same. I spliced RCA
jacks into the line of the dummy battery that came with the DK110
kit. I'm waiting for a respone from Canon to see if I can get just
the dummy battery with having to buy the full kit. I'll post the
results later.

Instead of using any of the thin web belts I used a Bianchi
International web belt. It has a stiff plastic core which spreads
the weight around nicely. I dont recommend the thinner materials
since they have a tendancy to buckle under the weight, and then the
other side digs into your hip. Another alternative would be the
thicker web belts you can get at a dive shop, (the kind used for
weights). Now if I could just find a yellow belt with a Bat
buclke.... ;-)

The charger I picked up for $50 is from Xenotronix and is quite
nice since it has a red/yellow/green led to show charger status;
red for fault, yellow for fast charge (which takes the battery to
about 75%) and green for a 'float' charge, basically a trickle
charge. The manufacturer recommends leaving the charger connected
all the time till the battery is needed thus ensuring maximum
power. This is perfectly ok for this type of battery, since it's
designed for emergency lights, exit signs, etc. which always have a
trickle charge going to them.

Sorry I didn't measure how long it took to charge. I plugged it in
and went to work and it showed a green light when I got back.

Enjoy

David S

PS Here are some battery links if you want to build your own kit
(usual disclaimers here)

http://www.gsbattery.com/sla/index.html

http://www.powerqualityinc.com/6vspecs.html#6V7AH

http://www.computer-comfort.com/store28/merchant.ihtml?pid=1634642133&step=4

Well as it turns out, my 3lb external battery pack had been on the shelf
a little too long so I wasn't getting as many shots as I'd hoped.

I've now gotten a smaller gel pak and run some tests. The new battery is
only 2 lbs and is rated at 3AH. I charged it over night and held the
shutter button down till I got the low batt signal.

Here's what I got on a single charge on S10 with 340 microdrive:

LCD on, flash on every shot, all shots in superfine mode.
Large size: display showed 236, I got 218
Mediem size: display showed 348, I got 380
Small size: display showed 715, I got 686

Total of 1284 shots on a single charge. I also let the camera erase the
340 drive at the end of each test.

The battery was only $20 at Fry's!
If anyone wants I'll post pics of the new battery rig in the next day or so.

 

[Phil H32246]

I have the DK-110 kit and want to be able to modify the DR-100 coupler to also use it with an external battery. Should I cut the cord upstream or downstream of the large black bulge? Is that the capacitor somebody mentioned in another post?

I finally got the information from Canon. If you call 1-800-282-4040 and
go through the voicemail prompts (1,3,3,1) you'll get to the parts
ordering line. Just order the DC Coupler DR-100 for the PowerShot (they
asked if I had the S10) this way you don't have to cut up your original
coupler. The coupler costs $18.99, so if you want to build an external
pack without buying a full DK-110 kit, this would be the way to go.

For about the same price (retail) you can have either 1 rechargeable
battery that'll last about 50-100 shots, or a belt pack that'll give you
over 1000 shots on a single charge (see below). Of course the 110 kit is
the only way to charge the Nimh batteries, and you can leave the camera
plugged in with the coupler for constant power (which is recommended by
Canon if you need to do the firmware upgrade)

Enjoy

David S

ps here's another link:
http://www.nescobatteries.com/

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=879704&a=6682208

The original 'Empire' pack hung down quite a bit from the belt and gets
in the way when sitting down especially on roller coasters. The new 6V,
3AH battery is from Nesco Battery Systems, part # NSL630 and only weighs
2 lbs. The new battery with the Tamrac pouch works great. There's also a
bit of extra room in the bag to put in any excess cable and the dummy
battery when not in use; such as when I put in a regular battery and
sucker the usual bystanders into taking our pictures. (I set the camera
to continuous mode and tell the shooter to hold down the button and count
to 15 while everyone gets settled, this way I get some very natural
shots.)

The wiring that came with the original battery kit used RCA jacks for
connectors with the center as the positive lead, and had a 10 amp fuse
wired into the positive line. I just trasferred it over to the new
battery since the terminals are the same. I spliced RCA jacks into the
line of the dummy battery that came with the DK110 kit. I'm waiting for a

respone from Canon to see if I can get just the dummy battery without > having to buy the full kit. I'll post the results later.

Instead of using any of the thin web belts I used a Bianchi International
web belt. It has a stiff plastic core which spreads the weight around
nicely. I dont recommend the thinner materials since they have a tendancy
to buckle under the weight, and then the other side digs into your hip.
Another alternative would be the thicker web belts you can get at a dive
shop, (the kind used for weights). Now if I could just find a yellow belt
with a Bat buclke.... ;-)

The charger I picked up for $50 is from Xenotronix and is quite nice
since it has a red/yellow/green led to show charger status; red for
fault, yellow for fast charge (which takes the battery to about 75%) and
green for a 'float' charge, basically a trickle charge. The manufacturer
recommends leaving the charger connected all the time till the battery is
needed thus ensuring maximum power. This is perfectly ok for this type
of battery, since it's designed for emergency lights, exit signs, etc.
which always have a trickle charge going to them.

Sorry I didn't measure how long it took to charge. I plugged it in and
went to work and it showed a green light when I got back.

Enjoy

David S

PS Here are some battery links if you want to build your own kit (usual
disclaimers here)

http://www.gsbattery.com/sla/index.html

http://www.powerqualityinc.com/6vspecs.html#6V7AH

http://www.computer-comfort.com/store28/merchant.ihtml?pid=1634642133&step=4

Well as it turns out, my 3lb external battery pack had been on the shelf
a little too long so I wasn't getting as many shots as I'd hoped.

I've now gotten a smaller gel pak and run some tests. The new battery is
only 2 lbs and is rated at 3AH. I charged it over night and held the
shutter button down till I got the low batt signal.

Here's what I got on a single charge on S10 with 340 microdrive:

LCD on, flash on every shot, all shots in superfine mode.
Large size: display showed 236, I got 218
Mediem size: display showed 348, I got 380
Small size: display showed 715, I got 686

Total of 1284 shots on a single charge. I also let the camera erase the
340 drive at the end of each test.

The battery was only $20 at Fry's!
If anyone wants I'll post pics of the new battery rig in the next day or so.

 

[David S20661]

I'm pretty sure the charger 'charges' at a higher voltage but I don't have its value handy at the moment. It's on loan to a friend for the holidays. the model I got was designed for charging 6v batteris only (no switch) The Xenotronic charger was designed to charge the battery to about %75 then trickle charge the rest of the way. It was also designed to 'float' i.e. you can leave the battery attached to the charger indefinitly till it's ready for use. It's takes about 24 hours to get a good solid charge. I'll post back when I find out the specs on the xeontronic. I should have posted that info with the pictures...

Later

David S

The only thing I can think of is that the charger is not charging
the battery enough. I looked at the Canon DK-110 label and it
states that it charges its batteries at 7.2 volts (!?). I'm
guessing that the "deluxe" charger I bought is only charging at 6
volts, hence the undercharge.

Do you know if the Xenotronix "auto senses" or do you manually
select the voltage to charge at? and if so, do you select 6 volt or
7.2 volt?

Thanks for any input anyone may have on this.

Jason

Ok, here's the link

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=879704&a=6682208

 

[David S20661]

Hi Phil, the bulge is a magnet to help out with rf noise from the DK-110 base. I left mine on, and put in the coupling close to the end of the wire (furthest away from the bulge/battery). The capacitor is actually inside the dummy battery, again, it's also probably there as a buffer of sorts. There's certainly not enough power in it to finish writing an image if the battery gets disconnected. As far as where to cut, I guess it's up to you. I left the RF thingy in place, you may want to remove it (it does get a bit annoying) but it's there for a reason, just make sure you leave enough cord if you want to try differnt connectors.

later

david s

I have the DK-110 kit and want to be able to modify the DR-100
coupler to also use it with an external battery. Should I cut the
cord upstream or downstream of the large black bulge? Is that the
capacitor somebody mentioned in another post?

 

[msj]

Hi Davis,

The Ferrite bulge is a ferrite core on the wire (power line to dummy batt.) which is used to suppress the noise what so ever, i think to have it cut off from the line while having it running un external larger battery pack would be fine ......at least lightet cable (without a bump).....)

Sulhan
(proud Owner of a S10).....

later

david s

I have the DK-110 kit and want to be able to modify the DR-100
coupler to also use it with an external battery. Should I cut the
cord upstream or downstream of the large black bulge? Is that the
capacitor somebody mentioned in another post?

 

[David S20661]

Oops, faulty memory.... I found out the Xenotronic charger does charge at 6v/1A. Now I remember. the bigger chargers had different amperage ratings for different batteries. Like 1.5A output to charge the lager batteries (like the 10Ah batteries). You may want to check your output, for batteries between 3-7Ah, a 1A chager should be ok. A smaller chager like a 1/2A may not have enough juice to fully charge your battery, or more likely it'd be like putting it on a trickle chagre, and you'd probably need a week to get a full charge.

Hope this helps.

DS

Later

David S

The only thing I can think of is that the charger is not charging
the battery enough. I looked at the Canon DK-110 label and it
states that it charges its batteries at 7.2 volts (!?). I'm
guessing that the "deluxe" charger I bought is only charging at 6
volts, hence the undercharge.

Do you know if the Xenotronix "auto senses" or do you manually
select the voltage to charge at? and if so, do you select 6 volt or
7.2 volt?

Thanks for any input anyone may have on this.

Jason

Ok, here's the link

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=879704&a=6682208

 

[David S20661]

Thanks for the reminder, I should've remebered that! Yep, Ferrite, that's it!

Thanks

DS

The Ferrite bulge is a ferrite core on the wire (power line to
dummy batt.) which is used to suppress the noise what so ever, i
think to have it cut off from the line while having it running un
external larger battery pack would be fine ......at least lightet
cable (without a bump).....)

Sulhan
(proud Owner of a S10).....

later

david s

I have the DK-110 kit and want to be able to modify the DR-100
coupler to also use it with an external battery. Should I cut the
cord upstream or downstream of the large black bulge? Is that the
capacitor somebody mentioned in another post?