ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

8 years, 6 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

What didn't work - the belt or the battery? You can get sealed gel lead acid batteries readily enough, or get a battery pack to seat 8 x D cells, or you could try lithium cells and a boost converter, but it depends on the current draw how appropriate that'll be.

8 years, 6 months ago - Ivan Samuel

The battery didn't work. It was a sealed lead one. Just wondering if there's anything online or somewhere in London where I can buy one. Ideally one of those belt ones.

8 years, 6 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

Go to Maplin and look for one the same size and capacity to replace the dead battery :)

8 years, 6 months ago - Ivan Samuel

Thanks Paddy

8 years, 6 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

Just fyi in case I wasn't clear - the actual lead acid battery itself probably wasn't made by whoever, so it might be in some kind of container/cartridge (can't tell without photos), but will probably look something like http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/products/0597807/ inside, and have a directly replaceable battery. There are several sizes and capacities, but once you find the actual battery itself, you can get it from Maplin or RS. Alternatively you can knock up a new holder of some kind, what counts is the voltage and capacity. There's very little real mystery in these things :)

8 years, 5 months ago - Mohammed Tahir

I don't know what kind of power connectors your Aaton S16 has but for the ARRI SR2 S16, I used LiPo (Lithium Polymer) batteries. I've used an XLR to DC jack cable to connect to the battery. If you look up the RC (Radio Controlled) community, they know a lot about this because that's how they power their planes. They're small and lightweight and supply more current than your camera will ever need. You can find them on eBay and elsewhere quite cheaply. But you need to learn a fair bit about them first before using them.

However, what you can do is perhaps take a look at these which doesn't require you to get into the science of it: http://www.tracerpower.com/tracer-lithium-polymer-battery-packs.html. No need today for the heavy lead-acid etc. type batteries anymore - the technology has moved on quite a lot.

I hope that helps.

8 years, 5 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

Just to respond briefly Mohammed, LiPo batteries are great and can handle heavy current, but need much more careful handling. If a lead battery gets into an unhealthy condition, it loses capacity. If a lithium battery gets unhealthy it can run away and overheat and even explode. In a homemade system I wouldn't suggest them unless someone is familiar with the charging characteristics and adds protection circuitry.

8 years, 5 months ago - Mohammed Tahir

You're right, Paddy, you have to be careful. That's why I recommended those in the link I gave. You can buy a LiPo battery "raw" i.e. the ones that the RC guys use (which is where you have to be careful because they come with no protection), or you can buy a battery that uses LiPo technology, with short circuit, over current, thermal, over charging, and over discharging protection all housed in a proper case. They come with their own chargers too, so there is nothing for you to do. I bought some 12V ones once with standard DC jacks (plenty available for CCTV market) and when I opened one, there were three metal cans inside, made by Sanyo, I think, and I suppose you couldn't get them better encased than that.

If you know what you're doing, you can make your own: you can get a battery, the circuit for for all the protection, a case, a LED indicator that tells you the state etc. It's a bit of work but I think there are so many available now with everything done for you that you don't need to do this anymore. Pretty much all the ones I've bought have all the necessary protection built-in. All those power banks that people are carrying around for their phone contain mostly lithium batteries. Then there's your phone, laptop etc. that use lithium technology. They all come packaged with the necessary circuitry to keep it as safe as possible.

I got into this when the batteries for my Marshal monitor died. When I opened one, there was lead acid battery (800mA) in there with a resettable fuse to limit the current to 500mA, if I remember correctly. That was it - very heavy and very little current. I started looking for replacements and that's how I stumbled into the RC world and Lithium Polymer batteries. I started with them completely unprotected (but learning how to handle them first) and now I've ended up in the position where I look for properly packaged ones, with the protection, usage indicators etc. There is no reason to use lead-acid type technology anymore.

8 years, 5 months ago - Ivan Samuel

Awesome, thanks guys, will check it out :)