Tagged with blc12 - Personal View Talks http://personal-view.com/talks/discussions/tagged/blc12/feed.rss Tue, 05 Nov 24 19:35:23 +0000 Tagged with blc12 - Personal View Talks en-CA Replacement for the stock battery for G7, GH2, possibly the new G85 http://personal-view.com/talks/discussion/15833/replacement-for-the-stock-battery-for-g7-gh2-possibly-the-new-g85 Sun, 02 Oct 2016 11:32:48 +0000 DrDave 15833@/talks/discussions Actually, a good replacement for the stock battery. Maybe more. For G7, GH2 &c. possibly the new G85

I use a lot of the BLC12 Batteries. I buy the Panasonic ones; they aren't cheap but they last the longest and don't turn the camera off with no warning.
However, I do buy aftermarket batteries for testing from time to time. They often have very high ratings, and they never work very well.
A few years ago, I bought the DSTE "1600mah" battery. It had about 70 percent of the stock battery's power, and the stock battery is 1200 mah. So that's 840mah, or about half the advertised capacity.
A few weeks ago, I purchased the 1700 mah version at this link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MEAMBQU
It weighs 55 gm as opposed to the stock 50gm. Previous clones weighed 46 and 48 gm.
Now before you get excited, the extra weight is probably ballast, since you can't squeeze more cells into a battery, as a general rule.
However, after extensive testing, this battery is equal to--not better--but equal to stock. The only difference is that the shutdown curve is a bit steeper.
So it isn't "1700" mah, but it is basically a stock battery.
This was quite a shock, but I repeated the tests several times. In one test, I simply turn on the camera and record video until the battery croaks, and measure the time. Both the stock battery and the DSTE run the G7 for two hours of video, sometimes a few minutes more, sometimes a few minutes less. So, finally, an inexpensive option. At least for this batch. Also, see my post on the cheap external battery that will run your camera all day.

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DIY Adaptor for GH2/FZ200 battery to power USB of GoPro 3 http://personal-view.com/talks/discussion/5393/diy-adaptor-for-gh2fz200-battery-to-power-usb-of-gopro-3 Thu, 06 Dec 2012 03:17:05 +0000 trevmar 5393@/talks/discussions The internal battery in my GoPro 3 only powers the camera and LCD for about an hour. I need longer shoots than that, so I built a lightweight (38 gram / 1.3oz) adaptor to allow me to use my spare FZ200 / GH2 batteries to power the camera via its USB power input. A single BLC12 battery runs the GoPro/ Touch-LCD combo at 2.7K-cine protune for about 2 hrs before the internal battery kicks in for another hour. Together the GoPro 3 will now run at 2.7K for 3 hrs, long enough to fill the 64GB SDXC cards I am using :)

I used an LM3485 3Amp switching regulator evaluation board because 1) I had one lying around, and 2) they are nearly 100% efficient, and don't get warm. The battery holder is a tray from a BLC12 charger I bought off Ebay, and the LED voltage display is also off Ebay (it draws a negligible 10ma and allows you to guesstimate how much battery charge is left). Photos of the rig below.

It would be much easier to just have bought an external USB battery pack, but they are heavy and bulky. This way I get double use out of the batteries I already carry around with my rig.

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