First draft of external ML battery power -

Max Iso wrote:

techjedi wrote:

Cool setup and idea, particularly using commodity power banks.

There are also a number of options to use the Sony video camera NPF series batteries like the NP-F970 which is 6300mAh and already runs at the Sony stills camera native voltage (7.2V stated, 8.4V full charged). You could discard the voltage regulator and have the choice to add a second battery in parallel for around the same size as your current setup for over 12000mAh.

These NPF batteries are used by so many non-Sony devices these days, there is a good chance you may already have some.

You could wire to your existing dummy batter with some soldering work. You may also be able to find an existing dummy battery to NPF sled for the G9. Here is one for earlier Panasonic cameras that may or may not be compatible out of box:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NP-F970-to-DMW-DCC12-Dummy-Battery-Adapter-DC-Couple-for-Panasonic-GH3-4-5/382926784263?hash=item5928370707:g:qMAAAOSwbxlcx8zX

Thx for the suggestion jedi. Incidentally i also have an old Panasonic camcorder battery, but only 2800mAh at 7.2v so not really worth using but the thought did cross my mind as i have seen people using those sleds in other discussions.

But my techy skills don't quite reach that far yet so i hadn't looked much further. Electrical stuff always confused me for some reason and only recently have i decided to learn more about it, voltage/amps/polarity and such. I will definitely keep it in mind as i may not end up with just one solution.

You can do it. Its actually pretty easy. While undervolting wont damage a device, negative voltage will, but its really easy to just get a volt meter and you can test the polarity before trying.

If just soldering a single battery, its as simple as matching up the red/black to pos/neg as with the old battery. Use the voltmeter in DC volts mode to check the old reference dummy battery terminals. Then connect new battery and check again. If you see negative voltage, you have the polarity wrong, if its positive, you are good to go.

Regarding multiple batteries, its like this:

• wired in series doubles voltage at the same amount of available current.
• wired in parallel keeps the voltage the same, but doubles the available current (or current hours (aH)) for this application.
• Parallel is the easiest to wire, you just connect all the reds together and all the blacks together and its done.
• Series wiring goes from battery to battery across the terminals and then back to source. (search for a diagram as a better example).

At the end of the day, again, you can prototype your configuration, then use a volt meter to check it with little worry of damaging anything. As long as the voltage registers correctly on the volt meter, the device will only draw the current it wants up to the battery limit, the battery wont deliver too much current.

Batteries do have a voltage curve where, at full charge, they are about 10-15% over the stated voltage when tested without load. Once under load, the voltage drops to about 5-10% over stated voltage and slowly drains to 5-10% below the stated voltage before failing to power the device with current.

For example a device that says it needs 1.5V will work when the battery is at up to around 1.8 V fully charged and then down to around 1.2 V. Some low-current devices might even still be able to use the battery down to 1.1 V.