Camcorder eating battery!

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Roushon

Roushon

Member
Joined 2004
I purchased this Canon DC10 DVD-camcorder about 6
years back. It could record 25 minutes with one battery
(BP-208) when it was new. Now even with a new fully
charged battery it records only about 7 to 10 minutes. The
recording is fantastic as it used to be. But it is eating
battery fast. What could be the reason?

For a solution I thought of purchasing a big size (fitting in
my bag) lithium-ion battery (say 12volt) and then convert
it to the required voltage using LM317 and then feed it to
the camcorder through the dc in (where the AC adapter
power supply goes). Will it work or I will just destroy the
camera?

Thanks for any suggestion.
Roushon
 
Roushon

Roushon

Member
Joined 2004
analog_sa said:
Fake after market battery?

Your solution will work but the voltage drop across the linear regulator will contribute to wasted power. How many volts does the AC adaptor provide?
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply. I did not expect the battery to be fake as I purchased
from some good shop and Canon is printed on it, expensive too! Still it could be.

Just now checked the output of the adaptor with a multimeter: 8.2v, printed
8.4v 1.5A. Have some 2Ah 4.2v lithium-ion batteries, will series and
parallel them to get 8.4v and lots of Ah. Can I connect this directly to the
camcorder?

Thanks
Roushon
 
kevinkr

kevinkr

Administrator
Joined 2004
kta-hifi.net
Paid Member
What was the mAh rating of the original battery? B&H is reputable, but that does not rule out the possibility that somewhere in their supply chain counterfeit batteries were purchased. Also are you sure there isn't something wrong with the camera itself that is draining the battery?
 
Roushon

Roushon

Member
Joined 2004
The original battery also has 850mAh as the new one. Do not know how
to check if the camera has a problem. It is working perfect as it was
when new. The first battery which came with the camera is already dead
(probably expired) and I cannot even charge it.

Regards
Roushon
 
jitter

jitter

Member
Joined 2004
Check the manual to see if it warns against using the camcorder on external power without battery installed. If it doesn't, I see no reason why you couldn't use the other batteries via the external input.

Please let us know if the camcorder works longer that way.
 
Roushon

Roushon

Member
Joined 2004
I will check the manual, but do not remember reading
such a warning. It does suggest using the AC adaptor
to run the camcorder whenever possible. I have also seen
that the installed battery does not drain when the
camcorder is used with the AC adaptor. So I feel if I use it
with the external battery (as I plan) with the internal
battery installed then it will run for a longer time.

I will post the outcome.

Thanks and regards
Roushon.
 
Roushon

Roushon

Member
Joined 2004
Good news!

Just checked the manual. Explicitly written that one may or may not
keep the battery pack installed while using the camcorder with the
ac adaptor. And even if the battery is installed it will not be drained
at all. I will now go ahead and set up the external battery pack.

Thanks for the discussion...

Regards
Roushon.
 
jitter

jitter

Member
Joined 2004
Good to know.
One thing I just thought of... keep an eye on the charge of the external batteries. The camcorder will probably warn for "low power" only on the internal battery as that won't be necessary for an AC adaptor. Chances are you'll drain the external batteries below the "point of no return", and, as you might expect from that expression, then they'll die.
 
Roushon

Roushon

Member
Joined 2004
Thanks!

Thanks for the caution! I also thought about this issue. But found a solution to it. When the internal battery is installed and it is running on ac adaptor, disconnection of the ac adaptor (or voltage droping below 7.4v in the ac daptor) makes the
camcorder automatically start draining the internal battery. So I thought of
keeping a charged internal battery installed for such emergency. This will
protect both the external battery (from excessive discharge) as well as the continuation of the recording. The moment the battery indicator appears on the screen I will know that the external battery needs a charge.

Thanks again.

Reagrds
Roushon.
 
Roushon

Roushon

Member
Joined 2004
Finally my camcorder got a tail...

Some of the big batteries I had were discharged below the
critical level for I kept it connected with the charger for a
long time. So sourced some LG 3000mAh batteries and
got my 8.4v 16Ah. Everything fit inside the camcorder bag
well and working as if it is connected with the adaptor.
Only issue is that it has got a tail now...

Roushon.
 
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