Have You Considered DIY Battery Replacement for Your Camera?

[BillTre]

TL;DR Summary

Plug in power source for battery replacement in gadgets.

I saw an advertisement for this today:

in B&H (photo suppliers) for $79. Too much for me, also many digital cameras have sockets to supply plug-in power from a power source which costs less.

I was considering making something like this by 3D printing a shape to fit into the battery compartment, putting in contacts, and wiring it to an appropriate power source, and making a hole to the battery compartment for the cord (so it could be closed). (Never got to the project.)
Since this is for a canon camera, it has several contacts (I don't know why) and electrical requirements unknown to me.

I am interested in cheapper battery replacements for simpler things (like automatic fish feeders, small lights).
I really dislike using batteries for a variety of reasons and am just wondering if anyone has done this or thought about it.

 

[berkeman]

Is this 5V level power? If so, is USB communication going on over the recharging link? If so, you will need to figure out how to do that in your DIY projects, right?

 

[BillTre]

The one pictured above is for a digital camera. I am not actively looking for that.
I am not thinking of USB communications.
The extra contacts may have something to do with reading battery power levels, but I really don't know. The camera companies usually provide plug in versions at a reasonable price. These are satisfactory for me.

Those I am interested in possibly doing would mostly be replacements for various numbers of conventional ~1.5 V batteries, in series. So 1.5, 3.0, 4.5 V etc. I can usually find cheap power sources for these when I look for them (either by ordering them or going to electronics thrift shops in town).

I would just like to reduce my battery use:

• no replacing batteries periodically
• no batteries leaking
• no battery disposal
• no replacement battery expense.

 

[hutchphd]

The auxiliary connections to the battery in question are to access each cell (This Li-ion battery has two cells...during charging they must be treated individually, hence the extra contacts. Some other batteries carry extra contacts for temperature monitoring).
In general response to your question yes one can do what you propose and I have done numerous such kluudges (before the advent of 3D printing !). Mostly be aware that sometimes batteries are asked to supply a short burst at high current and your replacement may have trouble doing that. Also batteries are very stable with no AC noise.
Enjoy.

 

[Borek]

I believe there is more to it. We are a Canon family with several Canon SLRs, so there is always plenty of Canon made batteries and Canon made chargers around. I can't put a random LP-E6N battery into a random LP-E6N charger, despite being made by the same company they are not always compatible (I even made some markings on them to not waste time checking). I believe there is some logic built into them and there is some kind of communication going between the battery/charger/camera, if you don't know the protocol they can be not able to recognize each other.

 

[hutchphd]

Yes I believe there are all kinds of shenanigans used particularly by the camera people to discourage aftermarket batteries. I think some of the early cell phones did similar things.
That being said the OP was asking a much simpler question...

 

[Rive]

I believe this kind of thing goes by the name of 'battery dummy'.

 

[BillTre]

Yes I believe there are all kinds of shenanigans used particularly by the camera people to discourage aftermarket batteries. I think some of the early cell phones did similar things.
That being said the OP was asking a much simpler question...

Nevertheless, I find it quite interesting.