How can I keep my camera running all night for time-lapse in a remote location?

erotavlas · Sep 10, 2013

My camera is Sony Nex 5N. Although the battery seems good, the LCD viewfinder does not power save when in Bulb mode. I need to be in this mode because I normally do long exposures at night. Anyway Since I don't have the option of a battery grip like dslr. Does anyone know of any other way to add additional battery capacity to this camera so I can keep it running for as long as possible (4+ hours)? There is an AC adaptor available but I can't imagine urging one of those car booster power packs along with me, the one I have weighs almost 30lbs.

Gavjenks · Sep 10, 2013

Two options I can think of:

1) One of those inverter packs you mention. Some only weigh a few pounds, actually, not all 30. LIke here:
Paul C. Buff - Vagabond Portable Power

2) Bravery, scissors, and a soldering gun should solve your problems too.

Look at your AC adapter, the writing on it. It should tell you what voltage it supplies. Go buy (that number / 1.5) D cell batteries and a holder for them at radio shack (or make one). While you're there buy a pack of those plastic wire crimpy things. Wire up the batteries in series. Cut the wire on the AC adapter on the skinny DC side, and strip it a bit and use the crimpers to wire it up to your D cells. Ta da!

If you want more juice, just make additional sets of D cells and wire them to the first set, with each entire set being in parallel to the others.

If you want to be able to actually plug your phone in again, just untwist the crimpers and crimp it to its own wire again. Or buy another charger. Or, if you're like me and have a huge box in your closet of orphaned AC adapters and stuff, try to find one that has the right sort of mini USB or whatever plug and use that in the first place for the D cells.

If you're even MORE brave, you could even go so far as to draw up a simple circuit using a car or perhaps more responsibly, a lantern battery. This would require you to actually pay attention to amperage too, however, and use some resistors and such to manipulate it and voltage to your will, and ideally a relay for safety, and some consideration for fire risk (e.g. insulater lined ammo can project box). So I won't actually suggest any details about this, but if you know what you're doing, you could figure it out. A LOT cheaper than buying a battery and then having it converted to AC and then having that converted back to DC for no good reason.

Come to think of it, you can probably also just buy some little gizmo somewhere that applies necessary resistances to lantern batteries for DIY project purposes.

christop · Sep 10, 2013

A voltage regulator would be easier and more reliable than resistors. The output voltage with resistors will vary depending on how much current your camera draws at any given moment, while a voltage regulator automatically adjusts itself to account for the variable current draw. You would need a battery source with a few volts higher than the output, meaning a 12V car or lantern battery would be good for a 7.2V (actually up to 9V or so) camera power supply. 9V might even be enough for 7.2V output, but you'd have to check the regulator's datasheet.

erotavlas · Sep 11, 2013

Ok those are interesting suggestions. A couple questions

1) I was looking at those smaller lithium ion portable power packs and they seem to be designed for providing energy for flash. How would they behave under constant drain of energy rather than short bursts?

2) By plastic wire crimpy things did you mean alligator clips? For this D Cell battery option, are there any risks? (i.e. over, under voltages or current etc)

Gavjenks · Sep 11, 2013

The one I posted for instance, is designed for flash, but can also be used for constant draw up to about 120 watts. Which is many cameras' worth of bulb modes. That would work just peachy. It should provide 71 hours of operation divided by however many watts your camera draws.

Not sure how to figure out how many watts your camera draws, but I'd guess around 10 tops in bulb. Which would be 7 hours with the vagabond.

erotavlas · Sep 12, 2013

AC FW50 AC Adapter DC Coupler KIT Compatible W Sony NEX 3 NEX 5 SLT A33 A55 | eBay

What about the Power 2000 AC adaptor and DC coupler kit? It looks like its fairly cheap and also has a plug at the DC end to connect the AC adaptor. Is there anything you can think of that can connect directly to this? Or do I have to find a connector and solder that to the DC power pack?

erotavlas · Aug 21, 2014

I tried putting together 6 rechargeable NiMH AA batteries, and measured the voltage to be about 7.23.
Then I connected them to the Power 2000 AC adaptor and DC coupler kit (above) - just the part that is in place of the battery. My camera turned on, but a few seconds later it said 'Battery Exhausted' and then shut down.

Is this because the voltage was too low? The Sony NP-FW50 battery says that it's range (on the back in small print) is between 7.3 and 7.7 volts. So is the camera expecting voltage in this range? I'm guessing it uses the voltage to determine the charge of the battery and when it drops below 7.3 then it has been depleted.

Anyway I have to find another power source other than the AA NiMH rechargeables, it appears they will not work.

buggz · Jul 13, 2015

You can get a battery pack thing. It has the charge of about 7 batteries, and has a fake battery looking part and then runs a cable into the box. Your Sony has a little flap which allows this cable to run from the closed battery housing to the power box. It is designed for this. You can happily get 5 hours of star trails etc.

Just set and forget. Google them. Your only issue will be fog on the lens. I have also seen several youtube videos showing you how to do this in detail.