af100 with V-mount battery

J

johannes83

New member
Hi,

just sighned up to post this question:

I wanted to use my af100 with a Sony BP-90A V-mount battery also because it would stabilise my shoulder rig by bringing the balance point back. As I orderd a view things from trusmt - china (the follow focus T2 is really worth the money by the way) I also orderd for a voltage regulator for this battery. It has among 4 different outputs also one 7,2V output. I checked with a multimeter and its coming out 7,3V. I connected and after switching the voltage regulator to on I switched the camera to on and this happend: the lights of the cam go on, the objective makes some sound as always, the lcd goes on, everything seames to be fine and then within a second it say "this battery cannot be used" on the lcd-display. all lights of the cam start blinking and the cam goes off.

Any ideas? I mean the volage coming out of the power mount is exacetly 7,3V and I really double checked I don't know how many times if I got the + and - right connected. By the way am using the regulag Panasonic connector between charger and cam with a selfmade adaptor to the power mount but I really got + and - right.

Any ideas?

Thanks!
 

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Does the regulator say what kind of current level it supports. The battery obviously could supply plenty of current for the camera, but if the regulator can't pass very much that might be the issue? Just brainstorming.
 
Thanks Chuck for your reply. Well the description for the unit says:

Current capability: up to 2A
Voltage: 7,27V
Voltage noise: <100mV

Let's see; the af100 consumes 12,4W. How does that work? Don't we have to multiply the voltage with the ampere to get the watts? That would be 7,27*2=14,54W and it should from this side be okay. Or am I wrong, because I was just guessing how that works!DSCF6107.jpg
 
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You got the formula right... for DC wattage is simply voltage x current. Looks like you are good with current capacity (provided the device is working properly).

I can't really tell from your description or photo how exactly it's connecting to the camera. Is it just a plug or is it a "battery like" connection. I think recent Panasonic cameras use "smart" batteries that communicate with the camera and if the right signals are not there it refuses to work. If you have something that connects like a battery vs. just a plug maybe the camera is saying "this isn't a panasonic battery so I won't work".
 
I'm also using V-mount BP batteries with my rig with no problems. This may not help you with your set up, but for anybody else who may be thinking of using V-mount batteries, I did purchase the IDX ENDURA V-Mount Plate and the IDX C - PANCAVC cable. The plate has dual 2-pin D-Taps. One D-Tap outputs converted voltage from your BPs to regulated 5V/7.3V (switchable) for the camera, while the other provides power for accessories (on-board lights, monitors, etc..). So far, it works great and there's plenty of juice on a couple of BPL's to last all day!
 
In my setup what goes finally into the camera is the original connector from Panasonic that is supposed to connect the carger with the camera when you want to use the charger as a line adapter. that pice as you can see is connected with a selfmade cable that just connects with the other cable that was delivered with the power plate.

Meanwhile I tried several more times to run the cam with the power plate and sometimes it worked other times it told me again "this battery cannot be used". So in the end I belive it's the power plate that just isn't really stable up to 2A. Also in the description it says "up to 2A". I think this power mount was designed to work with a DSLR that might consume less. Even it's already a replacement, because I told the guys from trusmt that it wasn't working and they sent me a free replacement unit. So two new units didn't work. In the end it might be that the trusmt power mount is just too weak to run the af100...?

Still if anyone knows how to solve the problem, please let me know!DSCF6108.jpg
 
Hey and here are two pics from inside the power plate. Does anybody know if it's possible by changing some parts to get it being stable up to let's say 3A? Would I need to change a capacitor or would it be an inductor to change?DSCF6042.jpgDSCF6043.jpg
 
I think you're right that the plate is under performing. I seriously doubt that you could swap out either the cap or inductor and boost the current output. The whole converter was designed around a given current output so all the components and the way they interact with one another contribute to that. Unless you have experience with power supply design, I wouldn't attempt making a change like that (especially if I was going to then plug it into a $5k piece of equipment).
 
Ugh, green board - here seems to be your problem.

Those v-mount adapters come in two versions. The original that has a blue board and way better electronics, and the knock off (yeah Chinese companies do cheap copies of other Chinese companies products now - go figure) with the green board and - not so good - components.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, sorry.

Frank
 
One other thought. Is the adapter you made rock-solid? that is there are no shorts or opens that occur in it if you move it around and flex it etc.
 
Okay the adapter looks really ****ed up but the inside is nicely soldered. No shorts and the solderings are in shiny silver - no cold solder joints. I believe that the plate is underperforming as you said. However it can still be used for less consuming accessory like EVF, recorder and light since the D-Tap connection bypasses the electronics of the plate and is connected directly to the battery...

Thanks for advises...
 
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