First draft of external ML battery power -

Discussion has been around for years of course, even before ML was around other cameras needed more power for long duration video. I just want something more than the typical ML battery will offer so a few years ago i started looking. Today i decided to move forward and get a full working setup going.

Attached to my G9 i have a cheap $7 walmart USB pack with 6700mAh, a 5v-9v converter cable, and a G9 dummy battery with DC input. The dummy battery is in the grip and i can keep the internal battery in place for more juice total. This power bank is a cheapo and after voltage conversion offers about 4500mAh, giving just over 6000 total in this setup, but it gives a 2A output which is what matters. It's all mounted on a metal K-Tec shoe plate.

Of course this setup is ugly and messy as i didn't work out a pretty scheme for the wires since i won't be using them long term. In the near future i'll pick up a power bank that has a DC out jack to hook straight to the dummy battery. For now this is a working prototype for me showing others the idea in case they haven't seen it before.

For anybody looking to try, make sure you have between a 7-9 volt and at least 1.5 amp charge. I have used a 1 amp phone wall plug (with the 5-9v converter) just to see what happens, it works for single stills shooting but when i shot burst or video, the camera instantly powered off as the power draw was over 1A (it's something like .8 or .9 amps for single stills.

Feel free to show or share your setup if you use one or have suggestions, here's a few pics as is the first go.

When i eventually choose my permanent power bank, it will likely be much larger capacity (they go up over 50,000mAh) so it might not be attached at the top, i'll have to see when i get there. Even with the Olympus 75, this setup isn't very heavy, it's considerably lighter than my D300 with grip and plastic macro lens.

Looking forward to tinkering and seeing what i can do with this.

Zoc wrote:

Doesn't that camera have USB charging? Why do you need the voltage converter?

Well there's two reasons i would rather go this rout. The first is it's "safer" IMO to power it from the battery well with a dummy battery since the wire can pass through the trap door and be fairly secure, while the USB plug sticks out and can easily get snagged and really mess up the camera. With the battery the worst that can happen is the wire gets ripped from the battery box, which was $20.

The other reason is even if you power it with the USB 3 input, it still has to be between 7 and 9 volts, so it won't matter where the power enters the camera, it still needs the same volts and amps. Now if you have a power source that outputs 7 to 9 volts you don't need that converter, but my power banks are all 5v USB output.

In the future i will buy different models that output higher voltage, for now i would have to use that converter cable.

Donald B wrote:

Thanks, you just saved me $100. I have a big shoot coming up and was going to buy a3rd battery for my em12 or make a power supply up. The problem is finding 9v 5 amp supply.

so after reading your post I will use 1 of my 6000 mah rc race car batteries only cost me $3 for the plug as I have the oly battery grip with a standard female fitting. It’s only a back up as the oly battery lasts for 2.5 hours and a battery charges in 1.5 hours so my 2 batteries should do. But it’s better to have a backup.

Don

Good deal don. Funny yesterday i was just looking at those RC batteries, i found some as high as 6500mAh. There was 3 or more different connectors but it seems there are DC adapter plugs for anything out there so that's no issue. And i don't think you will have to worry about it not supplying enough amps as those RC toys are high draw so the batteries are made to supply that peak power, more than enough for a camera.

Also if you have a battery grip you could leave the one battery in the camera, and use the RC battery on top of that so you won't have to swap anything till they are both dead, and if you have another RC and camera battery charged, you have two sets total.

Hope it all works out well!

Tethertools offers two kinds of stretch velcro wraps to secure a battery and it's Case Relay adapter together on a tripod. (The Relay device allows uninterrupted changes of external battery, I went that route for a less involved but more expensive external power supply [g])

That is to suggest - a 4" or 6" cold shoe adapter and a velcro wrap might just complete your rig.

Electric Shock wrote:

This is yet another example of just how backwards the camera manufacturers are.

The G9 uses at most 1.5A. The USB port of the G9 is so pathetically underpowered that it can't even deliver more than 1A. The remainder must be supplied by the internal battery.

What a joke in an era of USB-C ports that can charge laptops, and yes, smartphones, at 80W or more!

Trying really hard to take a shot at my G9 eh? Good luck with that, it stomps holes in your phones. Good thing your phone can charge during use bc new models can't change batteries anymore Now that's a joke and one that isn't funny...

Bob Tullis wrote:

Tethertools offers two kinds of stretch velcro wraps to secure a battery and it's Case Relay adapter together on a tripod. (The Relay device allows uninterrupted changes of external battery, I went that route for a less involved but more expensive external power supply [g])

That is to suggest - a 4" or 6" cold shoe adapter and a velcro wrap might just complete your rig.

Roger that Bob. I actually started my research with the tether tools version, saw them first then kept looking at other options. I did buy my shoe plate with that setup in mind, which would be easy to turn into a velcro setup but the issue is the same, balance.

I already have a pair of 16kmAh power banks and they are fairly solid, similar in weight to one of my flashes with batteries installed. My plan is to go even bigger (maybe a 25kmAh to 50kmAh model) when i decide the final design but that weight isn't something i want on top causing so much imbalance.

So my idea is to figure out a cheese plate rig that can attach to the tripod mount to keep the center of gravity low. The total weight isn't an issue, i just want it to be better balanced for comfort. Im imagining something like a power bank sandwiched between two cheese plates, attached to the tripod mount of my battery grip.

If this idea works out well i'd buy two of everything, including the battery grip, and just swap out the entire grip+plates whenever i needed fresh power bank. A 50kmAh power bank is somewhere near 30k when output at 7-9v, which is something like 15 of my OEM G9 batteries. So it's like having an extended battery grip rig that carries 15 batteries instead of 1. I like it.

Max Iso wrote:

Discussion has been around for years of course, even before ML was around other cameras needed more power for long duration video. I just want something more than the typical ML battery will offer so a few years ago i started looking. Today i decided to move forward and get a full working setup going.

Attached to my G9 i have a cheap $7 walmart USB pack with 6700mAh, a 5v-9v converter cable, and a G9 dummy battery with DC input. The dummy battery is in the grip and i can keep the internal battery in place for more juice total. This power bank is a cheapo and after voltage conversion offers about 4500mAh, giving just over 6000 total in this setup, but it gives a 2A output which is what matters. It's all mounted on a metal K-Tec shoe plate.

Of course this setup is ugly and messy as i didn't work out a pretty scheme for the wires since i won't be using them long term. In the near future i'll pick up a power bank that has a DC out jack to hook straight to the dummy battery. For now this is a working prototype for me showing others the idea in case they haven't seen it before.

For anybody looking to try, make sure you have between a 7-9 volt and at least 1.5 amp charge. I have used a 1 amp phone wall plug (with the 5-9v converter) just to see what happens, it works for single stills shooting but when i shot burst or video, the camera instantly powered off as the power draw was over 1A (it's something like .8 or .9 amps for single stills.

Feel free to show or share your setup if you use one or have suggestions, here's a few pics as is the first go.

When i eventually choose my permanent power bank, it will likely be much larger capacity (they go up over 50,000mAh) so it might not be attached at the top, i'll have to see when i get there. Even with the Olympus 75, this setup isn't very heavy, it's considerably lighter than my D300 with grip and plastic macro lens.

Looking forward to tinkering and seeing what i can do with this.

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

Strange.

This had been explored and well discussed on M43 forum a few years back before Panasonic camera took USB power directly.

There were a few suggestions, some reported well and I had researched from market at that time. They were:

1. Usual dummy battery, voltage converter,
2. A dummy battery which has built in voltage converter, or
3. A special USB power bank which is capable of 8~9V output & a dummy battery.

A 5V power bank of 2A output is needed for 1 & 2.

During the discussion, some voltage converter might be not reliable.

However, when G9 and GX9 can take USB power directly (not charging battery only of GX85), basically I stopped the pursuit because I expect newer cameras can simply plug in  5V USB power bank, no more converter, nor specially output power bank etc. Those discussion had been died down gradually.

A search on M43 forum should find those discussion.

BTW, if I do it I shall use a sling/backpack with build in  USB port. It can make the setup looking more tidy 😊. If mounting the setup on a tripod, I shall use Velcro Tape to secure it in place.

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.

alcelc wrote:

Strange.

This had been explored and well discussed on M43 forum a few years back before Panasonic camera took USB power directly.

There were a few suggestions, some reported well and I had researched from market at that time. They were:

1. Usual dummy battery, voltage converter,
2. A dummy battery which has built in voltage converter, or
3. A special USB power bank which is capable of 8~9V output & a dummy battery.

A 5V power bank of 2A output is needed for 1 & 2.

During the discussion, some voltage converter might be not reliable.

However, when G9 and GX9 can take USB power directly (not charging battery only of GX85), basically I stopped the pursuit because I expect newer cameras can simply plug in 5V USB power bank, no more converter, nor specially output power bank etc. Those discussion had been died down gradually.

A search on M43 forum should find those discussion.

BTW, if I do it I shall use a sling/backpack with build in USB port. It can make the setup looking more tidy 😊. If mounting the setup on a tripod, I shall use Velcro Tape to secure it in place.

So i couldn't remember if i actually tried going from a 5v power bank directly to the G9 USB-c when i first got this idea, so i tried yesterday. Same blue 5v bank in the photos, used the USB-c wire from my SD reader, hooked it up and it wouldn't work.

Im no master of this battery stuff so i could be wrong but i wouldn't think i matters where the input line is, the camera needs at least 7v to run, right? (and no more than about 9 or we risk frying it). Im assuming that's why it didn't work, 5v doesn't overcome internal resistance.

I would have tried using my 9v converter cable but i don't have a DC to USB-c adapter on hand so i have no way to get the charge into the USB-c port. Im assuming that would work though, or if my power bank was 7-9v as well.

Not have G9.

Just re-confirm on GX85 (1st Panasonic MILC which can take USB power for in-camera battery charging) that a 5V 2.1A output USB power bank can charge battery internally.

I tried with 2 power banks, a 10000 mAh ASUS and a 20000 mAh from MaxPower.

But GX85 uses regular micro USB port.

AFAIK for models supports USB power supply (to charge battery or direct power supply), the camera has voltage converter inside to step up those usual 5V power bank. Similarly a reason to put in a 5V to 8+V voltage converter in case dummy battery be used. In your case I guess might either be a not reliable voltage converter, or a power bank issue.

I think our lovely member Michael Meissner has excellent knowledge on this issue. Might worth to look up his previous threads on this matter.

LOL i don't know why you attack Nikon so hard, im not fond of them as a brand in the least, they just happen to have older cheap models available. Personally i'd rather use a 7D but they weren't listed at $150 with 7000 clicks so i didn't buy one.

It's just very coincidental you post anti Nikon words in every thread i see you in, even when nobody else had brought up anything about Nikon, hmm..... But hey don't let me stop you, if you think somebody out there cares go for it!

But in the name of keeping things on track im going to refrain from responding to you from here on. Enjoy your trolling though.

alcelc wrote:

Not have G9.

Just re-confirm on GX85 (1st Panasonic MILC which can take USB power for in-camera battery charging) that a 5V 2.1A output USB power bank can charge battery internally.

I tried with 2 power banks, a 10000 mAh ASUS and a 20000 mAh from MaxPower.

But GX85 uses regular micro USB port.

AFAIK for models supports USB power supply (to charge battery or direct power supply), the camera has voltage converter inside to step up those usual 5V power bank. Similarly a reason to put in a 5V to 8+V voltage converter in case dummy battery be used. In your case I guess might either be a not reliable voltage converter, or a power bank issue.

I think our lovely member Michael Meissner has excellent knowledge on this issue. Might worth to look up his previous threads on this matter.

Hmm it may very well charge through the USB-c with a 5v, there's no way to tell without letting it sit with a dead battery for several hours and see if it charges. But i just hooked up one of my bigger  power banks which is a popular brand (Rav Power) and is 5v@2.1A and it still didn't work to power the camera with USB-c.

In fact it gave me a message on the camera screen saying "USB power supply is unavailable. Power supply is insufficient for the connected device." We know 2.1A is more than enough, which means it's the 5v issue. Maybe tomorrow i will hit up radio shack and see if i can find a DC to USB-c adapter to test it out with the 9v converter just to see if it works.

I am still using older hardware and have no experience on USB-C yet.

As per wiki some older gear might not really USB-C compatible including cables etc. Have you tested your power bank on other USB-C gear like phone etc?

alcelc wrote:

I am still using older hardware and have no experience on USB-C yet.

As per wiki some older gear might not really USB-C compatible including cables etc. Have you tested your power bank on other USB-C gear like phone etc?

Yes all 3 function fine, my daughter uses them for her phone regularly, me for mine as well.

Thanks.

Could you sure your dummy battery, or the voltage converter are ok?

Had you tried to plug the power bank, using the Panasonic supplied USB cable, directly to G9. Without a battery inside G9, could it be powered up? It could tell would any problem with the USB power of G9.