DIY: Battery for long shots

chrimsbroome

Something I made for myself because I got sick of Panasonic rolling out the pathetic 1700mha that cannot handle high dis-charge rates.

The battery was originally for a high performace radio controlled car so it can handle high dis-charge rates. I used it only little but I have also added a LED so I can tell when its running low, which I think is a nice little touch when you are out shooting some cerleberties running away.

Mark_the_Harp

@chrimsbroome Have you seen the price of chips?

Seriously, what a great idea. I'm really intrigued by the LED strip. Where do you get that?

chrimsbroome

I got it from a place called component-shop.uk - thats were I got the battery from too. its just a small chip that has LED's on it, its supposed to be for mounting on radio controlled cars so you know when the car's running low. However it ment to be for the battery pack that is in the pic. I thought let me stick it on the battery so I know when its running low since guessing is not practical when your shooting video / photos.

chrimsbroome

http://www.component-shop.co.uk/html/leads_connectors.html

£6 so its not like you have to get out a morgage lol.

chrimsbroome

Ok now this just OTT:

5000mha that will keep ya going for a whole Day :-)

Vitaliy_Kiselev

@chrimsbroome

I changed topic title to be shorter, ok?

Overal it looks like small bomb :-)

chrimsbroome

Cool,

Year I better not let customs look at it when I am traveling as it might send the wrong message :-)

belfryman

I've attached a coupler to a mini gorilla which works well.

chrimsbroome

How many mha is this mini gorilla? (milli Amps an Hour)

belfryman

Don't know, not my field I'm afraid, just set it to 8.4V and goes for hours but info sheet says 4000 mAh at 8.4v.

belfryman

So a bit less than the dynamite!

dusko0224

chrimsbroome

@belfryman, ok so a bit less than the one I got but enough.
@dusko0224 yes thats the method I use but with an extra LED status.

kujina

I'd thinking that it would be great to make a battery grip to house one of these battery packs, though it would have to be a slightly smaller battery pack.

@chrimsbroome where on component-shop.co.uk is that led strip?

chrimsbroome

http://www.component-shop.co.uk/html/battery_testers.html

there are a few too choose from

LED battery status indicator for 4.8 - 8.4V batteries
4 - 7 cell battery packs.

Ptchaw

@chrimsbroome Top stuff! How are you plugging that into your GH2, with an offical GH2 power adapter? I've seen some people who've made their own after being unable to buy them, out of bits of wood and plastic :P

Planning to make one myself, going to see if I can put a cold shoe fitting on the bottom for mounting on top of the camera. How are you mounting yours?

chrimsbroome

By the DC coupler and the 2 metre cable I got made by the same shop. I haven't really mounted mine yet but I plan to mount to a Follow focus unit or Video tri-pod with some cable ties. Nothing fancy. I am only interested in the power storage for nothing. Its a huge saving compared too buying the original batterys.

kujina

@chrimsbroome the "7-Segment display battery status indicator" on the bottom of the page of the link you gave me above displays the actual voltage of the battery, this would probably be the best way to monitor the charge, though I'm not sure if its compatible with the battery you bought. I believe the battery will stop working on the gh2 when it gets below 8.5 volts (which is still .1 volts higher than its nominal power).

Does that indicator with green to red leds give you a good idea when the battery will stop working with the GH2?

chrimsbroome

Ok, the pic your showing me I am not sure about since I never bought it. The guy at the shop told me that there are only two componet LED battery status that work with the battery I am using. However they may be more that work but I dont know. The one that I am using shows from what I can see Geen, Orange and Red. I have fiddled with it and if you insert it in to the indicator connectors end, but only just so it touches it flickers and you can see that LED light has a red and a orange (if that makes sense). I am currently running it down and see how long it lasts and see if the red and orage LED's start to show that its low.

I could just jump the gun and connect it to the charger and discharge the whole battery so its completely flat. However I just wanna see roughly how long the battery lasts for and as you say will run low and the GH2 still work.

B3Guy

I had this same idea of adding that indicator, but I didn't want to buy it because I am in USA and couldn't find a supplier over here. If someone figured out a correctly sized battery for a grip, put the LED indicator in with it, and designed a plastic grip housing, I feel like they'd make a lot of money! (I would buy one!)

chrimsbroome

I thought of doing a bit of business with it but I dont think people would be too impressed with the salotape finishes and basically a dangleing dead weight lol. Vitaliy thinks its a small bomb, honestly give me some creadit- I guess I carn't send it through customs then lol :-)

kujina

@chrimsbroome any update on how the effectiveness of the LED battery status indicator?

chrimsbroome

Sorry mate I been busy working away as I run a small business, so I haven't had chance to test the battery. All I can say is that its been used a bit and it still full. Unlike the Panasonic were it just seem too drain when you start shooting video for 10 mins to 20 mins. I expect you should be able to get 7-8 hours at least out of it. The best thing is that it can handle high dis-charge output so it doesnt matter if you shoot video for an hour, or do some burst sport photography it will keep the charge all the way through.

Well thats what i gatherd from it so far anway.

I make an effort too video of some birds in my back garden soon as I want too see how long it will last when I take it on holiday.

chrimsbroome

I must admit it feels strange to have a battery that just keeps going. I spent a good 2 hours with and its still was on full green. I even left it recording a wall for another hour and it still was full. O happy days for the custom made battery for my GH2. I will get a 5000mha battery pack for when I go to africa just to be sure I have lots of power and by god I will :-)

chrimsbroome

I faced a problem today with my battery pack. It turns out some users reported what if the battery goes below a curtain valtage. The answer the camera will refuse to work "you cannot use this battery in this camera". However what I do know is you can get at least 8 hours out of it on a full charge. Strangely you can still take photos when that message comes up refuseing to work with the battery. Probally because a hacked GH2 may use a bit more power. I found a link that will help you guys understand the benifits and ways you can understand "what if this happens"

A link which shows a test done on a battery pack like I got:

Always happy to help :-)

drogo

I just finished testing my 5000 mAh 8.4v race car battery on my GH2, and it got over 9 1/2 hours recording time on one charge! It blew me away... and it only takes I think about an hour to re-charge.

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