GH2 BATTERY: DVX100 Battery with a GH2?

A

aresek1234

New member
Hi Folks, I haven't tried this yet, but just thought I'd throw this out there, it's a bit DIY but fairly straightforward.

I've been looking for a longer running alternative to the GH2 battery, (DMW-BLC12, 7.2V, 1200 mAh) and I have a bunch of the great, long lasting DVX batteries (CGA-D54, 7.2V, 5400mAh) lying around, including a few purchased from the dvxuser shop.

To my mind, it would seem you could wire the DVX battery on a battery plate to the GH2's DC coupler and power the camera that way, since they take the same voltage. Obviously the wiring between the battery plate and the DC coupler would have to be done with care, so as to not cross the wires and brick your camera.

I imagine I'm not the only one with these batteries lying around, so it seems like a great low cost solution if it would work. So, does anyone with greater electrical experience than me have any ideas about this? Would love to hear if you think this would work or not. Thanks
 
aresek1234 said:
Hi Folks, I haven't tried this yet, but just thought I'd throw this out there, it's a bit DIY but fairly straightforward.

I've been looking for a longer running alternative to the GH2 battery, (DMW-BLC12, 7.2V, 1200 mAh) and I have a bunch of the great, long lasting DVX batteries (CGA-D54, 7.2V, 5400mAh) lying around, including a few purchased from the dvxuser shop.

To my mind, it would seem you could wire the DVX battery on a battery plate to the GH2's DC coupler and power the camera that way, since they take the same voltage. Obviously the wiring between the battery plate and the DC coupler would have to be done with care, so as to not cross the wires and brick your camera.

I imagine I'm not the only one with these batteries lying around, so it seems like a great low cost solution if it would work. So, does anyone with greater electrical experience than me have any ideas about this? Would love to hear if you think this would work or not. Thanks
Click to expand...

Sadly, even though the GH2's BLC12 battery is 7.2V -- the DCC8 coupler takes 8.4VDC input -- so your CGA-D54 battery probably won't work. Other guys, like Phil Hover, have soldered together solutions using Lithium-Polymer batteries from the RC vehicle world.

Because the DCC8 coupler is hard to find, at least one person has lashed together a DC coupler made of wood (!) and an existing 8.4V Sony camcorder battery (see this thread).

Still others, like me, who aren't interested in soldering or woodwork, use the DCC8, an inexpensive AC adapter and a Lithium-Ion battery (see my blog entry on this here).

It has been really liberating to be able to stop worrying about running out of power in the middle of a shoot. Good luck.
 
Thanks, brunerww for the input and for pulling those links together. I appreciate it and I'm sure others will as well.
 
I was the person who made the coupler from a block of wood. But now I got emails from Panasonic Parts and Adorama that they shipped the coupler. So it looks like you will be able to buy them.

But you need to feed the coupler with 8.4 to 9.3 volts. Lesser voltage will result in a message "This battery cannot be used".

Good luck.
 
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