EX3 & Working Sold State Drive (SSD)

GuyB said:
I decided to try it again today with a 80GB 2.5" HDD in a chassis, and Bob's your uncle it worked like yours did. I'm not sure what I did wrong before but I'm doing it right now. The chassis is actually just a cheap Taiwanese generic by Welland.

I've also found a 12v to 5v DC power adaptor (to suite a card cigarette lighter) that has the right plug for my HDD. Ironically it is the adaptor for the NextoDi Video Storage unit I still have to finish the review off. Powering this of my Dolgin EX-V battery plate works a treat.

I've got to update my web page with this info. Change to a SSD and I have a completely mobile solution.
Click to expand...
We now offer a 5V configuration for the EX-V adapter. The model EX-V5V. It has a high efficiency 14v to 5V converter inside the plate (no heat dissipated), so the 5V cable is ready to just plug in the HDD 5V jack. The plate can have up to 2 cables, so the 2nd cable can be a 14V carrying the BP-U60 voltage for powering the EX1/EX3 camera or any other 14V device.
www.dolgin.net/EX-Vadapter.htm
 
DIY Switching Regulator

DIY Switching Regulator

The adventure continues. With all the interest in more efficient switching regulators, I decided to search out yet another DIY option for powering the EX1/3 SSD(s). I tried to narrow my search for a Canadian supplier and I discovered the Aimtec switching regulator. Designed in Canada, less than a year old, manufactured in far east and available from several distributors around the globe. I ordered my pieces from DComponents in the US at $20.85. It shipped in 3 days from Montreal Canada and it just arrived this afternoon.

The AMSR1-7805-NZ is a pin-for-pin replacement for the linear 7805 regulator and has 88-93% efficiency depending on the input voltage. So for the Sony BP-U30/60 battery delivering between 12-16 volts output that translates to a 90% efficiency rating for a 5 volt output. As you can see from the attached photo is easily fits inside the Dolgin power adaptor.

It will take a day or so to measure the actual battery life with the AMSR1-7805-NZ switching regulator powering the Corsair SSD.
 

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BP-U30 Battery Life with Aimtec Switching Regulator

BP-U30 Battery Life with Aimtec Switching Regulator

Just completed measuring the Sony BP-U30 battery life with the Aimtec AMSR1-7805-NZ switching regulator. The regulator is very efficient and does not throw any heat whatsoever. The battery lasted for 22 hours of recording. So if need be this little battery will run two Corsair SSD's to fill them and have juice to spare
 
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Is there no power to any pin of the express adapter comming from the camera?
I mean, the sxs-card needs power or not?
 
yes but not much, so its a fine line knowing what they power circuits in the EX can safely delivery as you couldn't assume that the slot is fully Express Card compliant.
 
If I look at the pins 14 or 15. It might be just enough to power a memory card like the FileMate 3FMS4U64M-WR 64GB ExpressCard 34 with Mini USB 2.0 External Solid state disk (SSD).
A capacitor might even bring it up to 5volt. I don't know how much power the memory card draws.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161318
The camera doesn't recognize this card but the card has a usb port as well.
I have this card and I will power it externally with 5 volt and connect it to the
ExpressCard usb adapter of the Sony Harddiskrecorder.

Express card 34 pin lay out
1 GND Ground, Return current path
2 No Data --
3 No Data --
4 No Data --
5 No Data --
6 No Data --
7 No Data --
8 No Data --
9 No Data --
10 No Data --
11 WAKE # Request the host interface return to full operation
12 +3.3VAUX Power, Auxiliary voltage source
13 PERST# PCIe Reset
14 +3.3V Power
15 +3.3V Power
16 CLKREQ# Request that REFCLK be enabled
17 GND Ground, Return current path
18 REFCLK- PCI Express reference clock
19 REFCLK+ PCI Express reference clock
20 GND Ground, Return current path
21 PER0- PCI Express x1 interface , Input/Output
22 PER0+ PCI Express x1 interface , Input/Output
23 GND Ground, Return current path
24 PET0- PCI Express x1 interface, Input/Output
25 PET0+ PCI Express x1 interface , Input/Output
26 GND Ground, Return current path
 
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Unfortunately those specs only detail the voltage, not the current. You need both bits of info. Its a shame there isn't a 5v pin but there are ways of converting 3.3 to 5v I', just not up with the efficiency of such conversions.

The real problem is the current though. Can these rails supply the required current to power the SSDs without burning out the power source (aka your camera!). I wouldn't even assume that any Express Card spec for the min current on those pins is being met by the camera, after all it does not advertise itself as an Express Card camera.
 
I'm pretty convinced that trying to pull an extra 350mA out of the SxS slot would toast the camera, because:

If the supply rail to the card from the camera is 3.3V, you'd need to add a DC to DC convertor to up the voltage.

As the drive and case combo uses about 1.75watts, the current draw from the camera would be 530mA at 3.3V - over half an amp.

Well you never know, but I'd say considering how hot the camera gets under normal shooting conditions, and the fact that Sony advise not to cover the vents around the centre of the unit - that things are already close to the edge.

Who's willing to test this one out?

Paul
 
Paul, your estimates of current draw are pretty much bang-on with a DC-DC upconverter. I've made acutal measurements for continuous USB idle/reading/writing with the case and SSD.

Idle=208 ma
Reading=275 ma
Writing=345 ma
All @ 5 volts.

The camera is clearly not designed to provide this power. Now if newer SSD's were actually more power efficient that would be another story. However, so far all of the latest SSD's are going for speed and that comes with a healthy demand for more current. Cheers!
 
It'll be interesting to see how the guys at efilms in Sydney have dealt with all this, they announce a complete system to buy on Monday.

Paul
 
SSD Mount

SSD Mount

I have completed the mount of my SSD and its Battery supply on the DeMaagd EX3 Shoulder Mount. I used the existing tapped holes on the shoulder mount. It allows easy removal of the SSD for off-loading. The SSD Battery supply can also feed power to the EX3 as well as power the SSD with the necessary 5-volts. One approach of many possibilities that none-the-less fits my needs.
 

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E-Films HDR Recorder

E-Films HDR Recorder

Ross Herewini has just announced their version of the USB Card and cable that will fit their HDR Hard Disk or Solid State Disk enclosure. There is also some preliminary news about drawing power from the camera. At this time, there is nothing on their web site but has posted a pdf document over at the DVInfo forum.
 
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