GH2 Chinese DC Coupler for GH2 - experience?

I

Inprogress

Well-known member
Has anyone got experience with these DC couplers you find on ebay (and Amazon) at the moment? Yes the Panasonic one is dirt cheap, but the two places that supply it that is willing to ship it to South Africa (that I could find) uses UPS and the shipping alone is 5 times the price of the coupler - so the Chinese versions are my option cause they have free shipping but at around $25.

I really only want the coupler for use with my constant voltage external battery supply, not really interested in the AC adapter, might use it in other electronics projects.

Thanks.

P.S. An example: http://www.ebay.com/itm/DMW-AC8-DMW...bles_Cords&hash=item3371b3423d#ht_2675wt_1110
 
Got mine a couple of weeks ago. So far so good. It works like it should. Not as heavy duty as you'd think but it doesn't feel too cheap. I've only used it a few times so far.....so with a little more use I'll have a more in depth opinion of it (in about a week or two).
 
Some of our customers who got one of the kits like this, run into trouble plugging in other Panasonic standard things into the coupler (like our Power Plate). They (Ebay vendors) use a different size plug in it, slightly smaller than the Panasonic plug. As a result, they plug into their own AC adapter ok, but if you were to use their DCC8 coupler with anything else, it will not plug in.
 
MMmm, interesting, thank you so much for the feedback. I think I might just order two of them since I want to build a protection circuit into the coupler itself anyway - if I can separate the coupler. I was intending to use a different screw connector and hearing from you adolgin, confirms my intentions.

Thanks again, at least if it works I'll be happy enough.
 
keylight said:
Or you could make your own....

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?245907-GH2-Power-specs-tests-DIY
Click to expand...

Actually I did, made it out of Pratley Putty - was a bit of a mission - I don't like it that much really, it isn't exactly the way I wanted it - based very much on that exact thread you posted keylight. However, now that it is made, I want to include the protection circuitry in the "box" bit, and I am just not up for making another one. I originally made the DIY one cause buying the Panasonic one was just out of the question with the shipping charge.
 
Inprogress said:
Actually I did, made it out of Pratley Putty - was a bit of a mission - I don't like it that much really, it isn't exactly the way I wanted it - based very much on that exact thread you posted keylight. However, now that it is made, I want to include the protection circuitry in the "box" bit, and I am just not up for making another one. I originally made the DIY one cause buying the Panasonic one was just out of the question with the shipping charge.
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I see. So, you'll hack open whatever you buy and add something to give some protection between the camera and battery? What were you thinking of adding? I recently plugged my Panasonic AC adapter into my Panasonic DC coupler and ended up with a fried main board. Cost $325 to get it fixed. The Panny DCC8 is basically an empty box. I seriously hope they do something a little better for the GH3.
 
keylight said:
... I recently plugged my Panasonic AC adapter into my Panasonic DC coupler and ended up with a fried main board. Cost $325 to get it fixed. The Panny DCC8 is basically an empty box. I seriously hope they do something a little better for the GH3.
Click to expand...
Are you suggesting that it will happen with the above mentioned adapter?
 
keylight said:
I see. So, you'll hack open whatever you buy and add something to give some protection between the camera and battery? What were you thinking of adding? I recently plugged my Panasonic AC adapter into my Panasonic DC coupler and ended up with a fried main board. Cost $325 to get it fixed. The Panny DCC8 is basically an empty box. I seriously hope they do something a little better for the GH3.
Click to expand...

I want to add a voltage protection circuit and a polarity protection circuit - that way I know I won't ever give it more than 9V's and I also know I will never be able to accidentally hook up an external battery or AC adapter with reversed polarity - however my circuit discription is self explanatory, I'm gonna stop explaining it now. I totally agree on the adapter - why not, given you can switch polarity on many adapters, why in the world did Panasonic not think about incorporating a protection circuit in the dc-coupler? Suppose it just means that "oh sorry sir, you should've used an approved Panasonic AC Adapter, please pay $325 for a new mainboard"

Living in South Africa, getting my GH2 serviced...I suspect will be futile at best and most likely require me to just buy another one, which I can only get via import. Based on that I should've gone for the Canon's cause you find them just about everywhere. I very much doubt local Panasonic will charge me $325 to replace a mainboard or the protection chip or re-flash the firmware.
 
Inprogress said:
Suppose it just means that "oh sorry sir, you should've used an approved Panasonic AC Adapter, please pay $325 for a new mainboard"
Click to expand...

Actually, I used the Panasonic DMW-AC8. Didn't matter to Panasonic. My camera was 1 month out of warranty so I had to pay.


Ian-T said:
Are you suggesting that it will happen with the above mentioned adapter?
Click to expand...

No. Just letting you know that even the manufacturer's own stuff can have problems. I don't understand the whole point of even making the DC coupler into a empty plastic shell, when they could have put a fuse in it to give some protection.
 
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@ Keylight on "Actually, I used the Panasonic DMW-AC8. Didn't matter to Panasonic. My camera was 1 month out of warranty so I had to pay."

My word, that is plainly wrong, it is their own defect in product design. It doesn't matter if the product is 10 years out of warranty, you did not do anything other than what the user manual indicate using Panasonic equipment. But try and fight that one. I wonder if the smaller companies, those who deal specifically with filmmakers manufacturing only for filmmakers like Panavision or now, Black Magic...for example, deal better with these things.
 
keylight said:
No. Just letting you know that even the manufacturer's own stuff can have problems. I don't understand the whole point of even making the DC coupler into a empty plastic shell, when they could have put a fuse in it to give some protection.
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Gotcha. With that said I totally agree.
 
Inprogress said:
My word, that is plainly wrong, it is their own defect in product design.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more. It's soured me a bit on Panasonic. I love their stuff, but they have a definite problem in the way they operate. I've spent tens of thousands of dollars over the last decade buying Panasonic gear (granted, it was Panasonic Professional not consumer) and It'll be time to upgrade some gear in the next year.

I'm seriously considering moving away from Panasonic. It's not just the $325, but the horrible experience I had dealing with the company just to get them to tell me how much to pay them. It took several hours and a whole bunch of calls.... I was told to pay 3 different prices at 3 different times. What a nightmare.
 
I hope Panasonic is reading this, cause only considering that will make me not buy any of there pro gear. You can make great gear but if you don't give solid service, forget it. If I have to wait weeks to get a piece of hardware back and then on top of that have to struggle to determine the correct price, the piece of hardware might as well not exist for me. I don't mind supporting a company when they provide good affordable tools, but when they don't back it up with good service - no thank you.

I've read about your experience and how you advise others given your experience, and reading how others seem to struggle as well with mis-information - it is for that specific reason that I want to protect my GH2 with the circuits I intend to build into the coupler.

After seeing the Black magic and just doing some light reading on the camera, I'm seriously considering that as my upgrade when the time comes - besides, it is a nice form factor I feel for ease of mount ability in various rigs.
 
Inprogress said:
I hope Panasonic is reading this, cause only considering that will make me not buy any of there pro gear. You can make great gear but if you don't give solid service, forget it. If I have to wait weeks to get a piece of hardware back and then on top of that have to struggle to determine the correct price, the piece of hardware might as well not exist for me. I don't mind supporting a company when they provide good affordable tools, but when they don't back it up with good service - no thank you.

I've read about your experience and how you advise others given your experience, and reading how others seem to struggle as well with mis-information - it is for that specific reason that I want to protect my GH2 with the circuits I intend to build into the coupler.

After seeing the Black magic and just doing some light reading on the camera, I'm seriously considering that as my upgrade when the time comes - besides, it is a nice form factor I feel for ease of mount ability in various rigs.
Click to expand...

Just to clarify, I've never needed to get any Panasonic Pro gear serviced by Panasonic, so I can't speak to that experience, only the experience with the GH2. Oh, and ordering directly from Panasonic's consumer division is also a nightmare.

As for the Black magic, I saw it at NAB and fell in love..... But - I'm thinking I'll probably wait for version 2.0 to make the move. I generally don't like to buy first iterations of product lines.
 
Ditto on version 1 for Black Magic - plus I can't afford it at this stage anyway....tee hee hee.

I have this thing about ratings business/companies: If they skimp on the small things or small clients or small sales, I generally don't trust their service on big clients. However, not buying anything in the short term so school is still out. I ordered my GH2 from Japan - I always have to select the All Languages pack in pTools for any hack or standard firmware - unless I want to learn Japanese.

May I ask.....I'll rather PM cause this is now getting off track completely.
 
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