{"id":66,"date":"2011-03-08T14:17:42","date_gmt":"2011-03-08T14:17:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.daveakerman.com\/?p=66"},"modified":"2011-03-08T14:17:42","modified_gmt":"2011-03-08T14:17:42","slug":"the-big-cell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.daveakerman.com\/?p=66","title":{"rendered":"The Big Cell"},"content":{"rendered":"

For still pictures I’ll be using my Canon IXUS 50, a tiny camera that takes excellent photos and weighs a fairly low 135g. \u00a0However a test a couple of weeks ago showed that it only manages about 600-700 shots on a single battery charge (with display off – that makes a big difference), over a period of less than 2 hours. \u00a0I would like more shots and I need more time than that, so I’ll be using external Lithium cells to run the camera. \u00a0Like many Canon cameras it doesn’t have a power socket, but instead you’re supposed to buy the special Canon power adapter that comes with a dummy battery that slots into the camera.<\/p>\n

A cheaper option is to take apart an old battery and use the casing! \u00a0So that’s what I’ve done here:<\/p>\n

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The wires run through a hole that Canon incorporate into the camera battery cover, and is normally plugged by a little rubber cover.<\/p>\n

Using this “battery” I tested the minimum voltage the camera will work at (3.1V) and how much current it takes (lots!). \u00a0I also determined that switching the display off saves about 60% of the power requirement.<\/p>\n

In the balloon payload, these wires will run to a simple regulator that protects the camera when the batteries are new. \u00a0It may be that the camera would be OK anyway, but Canon don’t specifiy a maximum voltage (though I do know their adapter puts out 4.3V – less than the Lithiums I’ll be using), but I’m not about to risk destroying the camera to find out!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For still pictures I’ll be using my Canon IXUS 50, a tiny camera that takes excellent photos and weighs a fairly low 135g. \u00a0However a test a couple of weeks ago showed that it only manages about 600-700 shots on a single battery charge (with display off – that makes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.daveakerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.daveakerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.daveakerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.daveakerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.daveakerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.daveakerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68,"href":"http:\/\/www.daveakerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions\/68"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.daveakerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.daveakerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.daveakerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}