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External PSU for EOS

nightvision

By nightvision
in DIY Astronomer

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nightvision

nightvision

Posted
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Has anyone ever built an external power supply for a Canon EOS? I was thinking of using my spare battery as connection a device but the compartment door seems to have a sensor on it, this kills the camera on opening. May have to drill a hole for wires.

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Bizibilder

Bizibilder

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There is a supplier who makes these (This is a useless reply as I can't find the reference!!!) specifically for the Canon range - they are designed to fit into the battery compartment and get power from your 12v battery.

Edit:

Found 'em!!

http://www.astronomiser.co.uk/canonpowerpro.htm

Astronomiser are the folk you need.

Another edit:

About the same price as a new Canon battery - not bad!

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MG1

MG1

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Has anyone ever built an external power supply for a Canon EOS? I was thinking of using my spare battery as connection a device but the compartment door seems to have a sensor on it, this kills the camera on opening. May have to drill a hole for wires.

DOnT drill anything!

There's a little rubber grommet that flicks up out of the way to enable the proprietary fly cable to come out of the canon mains adaptor. I suggest you use this.

Good astronomer link though. I tend to get through 3-4 battery charges in a session. They got quick in the cold, but the canon outlasts the hannel by almost 200%

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brianb

brianb

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I tend to get through 3-4 battery charges in a session. They got quick in the cold, but the canon outlasts the hannel by almost 200%

Interesting - I bought a couple of cheapo BP-511 clones from 7dayshop for my 40D & I reckon they outlast the genuine Canon ones by 50%.

If you're a heavy battery user, the battery grip is worth having as it takes 2 standard batteries giving 3-4 times the life of a single battery in cold conditions.

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MG1

MG1

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Yeah I use the grip on the 5d but decided to keep the weight down on the scope. I've found during normal temp shooting, the difference isn't that great, but in the cold the HL-E6 clones just don't seem to cut the mustard. It's also showing battery condition as worsening compared to the original.

I think I read somewhere that they've made quite a few changes with these later batteries to improve performance.

Still as I tend to be on a powered pitch I have plenty of time to charge one shoot one....but am looking at 12v power in the longer term.

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nightvision

nightvision

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Thanks for the pointer on the rubber flap! Still finding my way around the 300. On tests I noticed the battery warmth making the darks noisey on that side so it will be one less thing to cool down with peltier box and also make the camera a bit lighter.

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MG1

MG1

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Thanks for the pointer on the rubber flap! Still finding my way around the 300. On tests I noticed the battery warmth making the darks noisey on that side so it will be one less thing to cool down with peltier box and also make the camera a bit lighter.

Oh heck....if you're going for a cooling mod then drill away! :D

Let us know how you get on with that.

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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I make my own. But unless your happy with "electronics" and confident that you can build a supply that wont damage the camera then buying a product like the astromomiser one is the way forward..

I buy the cheapest batteries I can find on ebay and use them to make the dummy cell battery connector..

I have found that the colder the camera the higher the voltage needed to keep it "happy"... typically about 0.3-0.4V in the "winter" higher when the outside temp is below zero to give the same battery level indication that you would see around 15-20c in the "summer"

The Voltage stated on the batteries tends to be at the lower end its worth checking the voltage when they come off the charger berfore deciding what voltage to set you PSU to.. I tend to have mine set for a nominal voltage with a small ammount of adjustment either side

I have always had the regulator electronics outside the camera to minimise the heating inside the camera body...

A LM317T circuit in a small dicast box is all that needed.. use the box as the heatsink...

You can ignore the T terminal on the cannon batteries as its used during charging to make sure the pack temp is within limits...

Billy...

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MG1

MG1

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Billy, how easy is this? I really fancy having a go at it and if you're able to help that would be great. Maybe we could start a DIY thread on this as I'm sure others would be interested too.

Don't worry if you dont have time. After SGL I'm planning a few projects over the summer and that would be a better time to get started.

Just a thought

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nightvision

nightvision

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Thanks for the tips Billy, that's exactly what I planned to do, batteries are only about £6 on Ebay and then connect the shell to a regulated supply.

Bought a digital aquarium temp sensor (£3 on ebay Digital LCD Fish Aquarium Water Terrarium Thermometer on eBay (end time 04-Apr-11 11:35:03 BST) ) to track cooling progress, remote sensor will go inside the dummy battery, eventually plan to feed data back to the laptop.

Just designing a simple auto-guide interface; parallel port to the early 494 Autostar using photo-relay chips.

Plan to to do some VB to access the other buttons on the controller.

Tony.

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MG1

MG1

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I tend not to give "advice" on PSU projects... Just incase someone gets it wrong and kills their kit...

No probs...completely understand. I'll google for information and fry my kit that way instead. At least I'll only have myself to blame. Cheers

EDIT: Just realised that sounded a little snappy....didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea... Sorry Billy maybe we can have a chat at SGL.

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MG1

MG1

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Can you post some pics of the finished article ryan?

I struggle to visualise from the diagrams....I should be able to as I spend all day around technical drawinngs of various bits of buildings, but for some reason I struggle with scale at the level of electronics.

Cheers

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RyanParle

RyanParle

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Can you post some pics of the finished article ryan?

I struggle to visualise from the diagrams....I should be able to as I spend all day around technical drawinngs of various bits of buildings, but for some reason I struggle with scale at the level of electronics.

Cheers

I don't have any pics of it yet, I'll take some over the weekend and get them posted up here. if i get round to it I'll also create a digram of the strip board to help make it easier to understand.

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