Using AA batteries with A1

ian2u

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I would like to use the A1 with AA batteries - trekking for 4 weeks with no electricity in Himalayas. Anyone know of how to do this? External battery pack and adaptor of some kind? Only batteries you can get are AA ones.

Otherwise will have to get the 7Hi but since this is not much cheaper than the A1 doesnt seem like a good idea.
Thanks
Ian
 
Doesn't the A1 have an optional battery holder-grip which will hold
either the proprietary batteries or AAAs?
Thanks, I found that - BP400 uses AA but not sure if it will take AA lithiums disposables, since these are OK in real cold weather.
 
I would like to use the A1 with AA batteries - trekking for 4 weeks
with no electricity in Himalayas. Anyone know of how to do this?
External battery pack and adaptor of some kind? Only batteries you
can get are AA ones.
Otherwise will have to get the 7Hi but since this is not much
cheaper than the A1 doesnt seem like a good idea.
Thanks
Ian
Ian

You might be on a loser here. Non- rechargeable AA batteries do not work with the 7xx, or at least not sufficiently well to be useful. Indeed, the power characteristics of non-rechargeables mean they are a poor match for (most? all?) digital cameras and will fail after relatively few photographs so I would be very surprised if you rig up a pack that would be practicable. Solution - lots of Li-ion packs (eg DPS9000 or the Minolta one) and switch off the LCD, or a camera with minimal power requirements, or film.

How are you going to store your photos? If you are taking enough pictures to flatten a few Li-ion packs you'll need a lot of memory. Portable storage devices are battery powered too.

Hope for your sake that someone posts saying I'm talking rubbish.
--
Sandy
 
I would like to use the A1 with AA batteries - trekking for 4 weeks
with no electricity in Himalayas. Anyone know of how to do this?
External battery pack and adaptor of some kind? Only batteries you
can get are AA ones.
Otherwise will have to get the 7Hi but since this is not much
cheaper than the A1 doesnt seem like a good idea.
Thanks
Ian
I'm not sure the 7Hi will solve your problem even if you did buy one, but, FWIW, you can get a 7Hi from Buy.com for $599 ($699 with $100 rebate).

--
Do not take counsel of your fears.
 
In your situation I'd look for a solar powered charger. Sorry I don't know where because I don't have this problem, but you might consider charging rates and probable sunlight, weight, location on your pack while you're hiking, etc.

I"ve seen the Ray-O-Vac ads for recharging their AAs in 15 minutes. If you get into a town that could have electricity you could recharge quickly now and then.

You may need to carry a portable storage device, too - or if you don't need one it may be because you won't be taking scads of pictures -- ?? in which case consider film. It's a tradeoff against carrying and caring for film cassettes. Film could be a better choice because a portable HD will need to be charged at times, too.

I'd look into "outdoor photographer" magazine for ads supporting your needs, and then contact their editors for some tips. You might even get a story assignment.

Don D
I would like to use the A1 with AA batteries - trekking for 4 weeks
with no electricity in Himalayas. Anyone know of how to do this?
External battery pack and adaptor of some kind? Only batteries you
can get are AA ones.
Otherwise will have to get the 7Hi but since this is not much
cheaper than the A1 doesnt seem like a good idea.
Thanks
Ian
 
You might be on a loser here. Non- rechargeable AA batteries do
not work with the 7xx, or at least not sufficiently well to be
useful. Indeed, the power characteristics of non-rechargeables
mean they are a poor match for (most? all?) digital cameras and
will fail after relatively few photographs ....
Think you might be confusing disposable alkaline AAs and disposable lithium AAs. Lithium batteries will give you lots of power and hold up in the cold.

--
bob
Latest offering - 'Two Hours in Delhi'
http://www.pbase.com/bobtrips
Shots from a bunch of places (esp. SEA and Nepal).
Pictures for friends, not necessarily my best.

http://www.trekearth.com/members/BobTrips/photos/
My better 'attempts'.
 
You might be on a loser here. Non- rechargeable AA batteries do
not work with the 7xx, or at least not sufficiently well to be
useful. Indeed, the power characteristics of non-rechargeables
mean they are a poor match for (most? all?) digital cameras and
will fail after relatively few photographs ....
Think you might be confusing disposable alkaline AAs and disposable
lithium AAs. Lithium batteries will give you lots of power and
hold up in the cold.
True, they are better than alkaline but I assume the object is to supplement supplies while travelling in the Himalayas and I wonder whether the lithium non-rechargeable AA's will be available there. The A1 battery pack uses 6 AA's so the problem with the 7xx that won't work off 4 alkalines is addressed. But, even so, will they last sufficiently long to be an advantage over carrying already charged rechargeables?

--
Sandy
 
The DPS900 can be charged using the supplied cable, from a car cigarrette lighter outlet.

Mike
I would like to use the A1 with AA batteries - trekking for 4 weeks
with no electricity in Himalayas. Anyone know of how to do this?
External battery pack and adaptor of some kind? Only batteries you
can get are AA ones.
Otherwise will have to get the 7Hi but since this is not much
cheaper than the A1 doesnt seem like a good idea.
Thanks
Ian
Ian

You might be on a loser here. Non- rechargeable AA batteries do
not work with the 7xx, or at least not sufficiently well to be
useful. Indeed, the power characteristics of non-rechargeables
mean they are a poor match for (most? all?) digital cameras and
will fail after relatively few photographs so I would be very
surprised if you rig up a pack that would be practicable. Solution
  • lots of Li-ion packs (eg DPS9000 or the Minolta one) and switch
off the LCD, or a camera with minimal power requirements, or film.

How are you going to store your photos? If you are taking enough
pictures to flatten a few Li-ion packs you'll need a lot of memory.
Portable storage devices are battery powered too.

Hope for your sake that someone posts saying I'm talking rubbish.
--
Sandy
 
How about taking along a solar charger? There is a variety of them available, some of them quite light and compact.

The need for some sort of storage bank is a very good tip. So you'll need quite a few batteries.

Bill
 
True, they (disposable lithiums) are better than alkaline but I assume
the object is to
supplement supplies while traveling in the Himalayas and I wonder
whether the lithium non-rechargeable AA's will be available there.
No, they won't be available on the trek. Possibly in Kathmandu but I wouldn't count on it. They are readily available around here though.

(BTW, charging on the Jomsom trek is no problem. And a PHD that uses AAs works fine - lots of downloads using lithiums.)
The A1 battery pack uses 6 AA's so the problem with the 7xx that
won't work off 4 alkalies is addressed. But, even so, will they
last sufficiently long to be an advantage over carrying already
charged rechargeables?
Well, as I understand it the A1 battery has a 1500 mAh capacity. I don't have any figures on the disposable lithiums but believe that they have 4-5 times that capacity. (Someone should dig up this data before I mislead people ;o)

So the decision, as I see it, hinges on the cost/weight of more A! batteries versus using disposable lithiums.

If the standard A1 battery will deliver 600 pictures per charge then one might get 2,000+ pictures from lithiums. That's a lot of return for a small package of batteries and at a reasonable cost ( $15-18). The cost of the additional battery pack needs to be included in the calculations.

Two thousand images is the equivalent of 55+ rolls of 36 exp.

--
bob
Latest offering - 'Two Hours in Delhi'
http://www.pbase.com/bobtrips
Shots from a bunch of places (esp. SEA and Nepal).
Pictures for friends, not necessarily my best.

http://www.trekearth.com/members/BobTrips/photos/
My better 'attempts'.
 
How about taking along a solar charger? There is a variety of them
available, some of them quite light and compact.
If you look carefully at the performance of solar chargers you will see that they take a long time to charge batteries. And you have to keep them pointed at the sun, not an easy thing to do while you're walking.
The need for some sort of storage bank is a very good tip. So
you'll need quite a few batteries.
PHDs can do quite a bit of downloading per charge. And the ones that use AAs can be powered with disposable lithium AAs.

--
bob
Latest offering - 'Two Hours in Delhi'
http://www.pbase.com/bobtrips
Shots from a bunch of places (esp. SEA and Nepal).
Pictures for friends, not necessarily my best.

http://www.trekearth.com/members/BobTrips/photos/
My better 'attempts'.
 
Well, as I understand it the A1 battery has a 1500 mAh capacity. I
don't have any figures on the disposable lithiums but believe that
they have 4-5 times that capacity. (Someone should dig up this
data before I mislead people ;o)

So the decision, as I see it, hinges on the cost/weight of more A!
batteries versus using disposable lithiums.

If the standard A1 battery will deliver 600 pictures per charge
then one might get 2,000+ pictures from lithiums. That's a lot of
return for a small package of batteries and at a reasonable cost
(
$15-18). The cost of the additional battery pack needs to be
included in the calculations.

Two thousand images is the equivalent of 55+ rolls of 36 exp.

--
bob
http://www.trekearth.com/members/BobTrips/photos/
My better 'attempts'.
I've been puzzled by the low capacity of such as the DPS9000 relative to NiMH yet the DPS9000 lasts so much longer. The answer is that their capacities are measured in different ways - or so I read somewhere. The link I gave ( http://www2.konicaminolta.jp/ ... ... dimage/dimage-a1/07_2_1.html )

provides some comparative information but doesn't cite lithium disposables. However, it seems lithium disposables have 2-3 times the capacity of alkaline disposables under high drain situations (which are the relevant ones).

IF all this is correct, they would provide 200-300 pictures - rather less than NiMH and under half of the NP400.

I'm still concerned about storage of all these images. LOTS of memory cards, or low quality images or a digital wallet with the same battery problems.

--
Sandy
 
How about taking along a solar charger? There is a variety of them
available, some of them quite light and compact.

The need for some sort of storage bank is a very good tip. So
you'll need quite a few batteries.

Bill
Steve's Digicams has a review of a couple solar chargers here...
-Gene
http://www.steves-digicams.com/icp_solar.html
The larger solar charger at Steve's site will charge 4 AAs in 12 hours of sunlight. I live with solar. I've lived with solar for 14+ years. You don't get 12 hours of usable sunshine per day.

For solar panels to really work they need to be pointed at the sun. All the time. For most bang from panels some people use solar tracking racks that move throughout the day to follow the sun. Even then one gets about 6 hours of usable sun on a summer day. When the sun is low in the sky one just doesn't get much power.

Strapped to the top of your pack a panel is only going to be aimed right at the sun 'now and then'. You aren't going to walk west in the morning, east in the afternoon. Those time that you're walking into the sun the panel is going to be in the shade. I'm going to guess that it's going to take 2-4 days to charge a single set of batteries.

--
bob
Latest offering - 'Two Hours in Delhi'
http://www.pbase.com/bobtrips
Shots from a bunch of places (esp. SEA and Nepal).
Pictures for friends, not necessarily my best.

http://www.trekearth.com/members/BobTrips/photos/
My better 'attempts'.
 
Not everyone walks all day, every day. I've charged batts with a charger atop my kayak during trips, and have left a charger+batts at a campsite while "exploring" somewhere else during the day. It's true that it may take more than a day to fully charge batts. Perhaps I never get beyond "topping off" the charge - but that's better than no batts at all!
 

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