DIY ac power to dslr.

[Cosmic]

Hi all,

Any ideas why one should pay around $250 for a AC adapter to a nikon, its only supplying 9.0 VDC and 4.5 A. Surly this cant be right. Anyone care to give me their thoughts on a diy jaycar equivalent power supply for next to nothing. Can not be a hard thing to do, or is there a catch?

Crazy if you ask me.

http://www.camerasdirect.com.au/nikon-eh-5b-ac-adapter-for-nikon-slr-digital-cameras?___store=default

then you need this,

http://www.digidirect.com.au/accessories/camera_chargers/nikon/nikon_ep-5b_power_supply_connector

[raymo]

I bought my AC adaptor for my Canon on ebay for just a few dollars, and it has worked just fine for ages. Maybe they do one for Nikons, worth a
look.
raymo

[Cosmic]

I tried everything to get it at a normal price, my 550d ac adapter was like $60. China is one option, but I'm impatient. The above links are what is required to power the Nikon, coming in at $250 on average. No way!

My plan as it stands is:

Buy a jaycar 12VDC 3A Car Power Adaptor $30

Using A spare car battery to power it.

Strip the EN-EL15 Rechargeable Battery, remove the Li-ion with caution.

Select and 7.5volts on the car adaptor, the car battery should have enough apms to power the camera till xmas :) recharge as needed.

That's the plan anyway. I'm sure down the track this post may come in useful to someone else in my situation. I'll post pictures once complete.

[miker]

Daniel, wher did the 4.5 Amp figure come from? That sounds quite high to power a dslr.

Michael

[Cosmic]

Thats what Nikon supply as standard kit 4.5 amp rating...not much load on the adapter that way as the battery at best has max output of 2.5a. I'm going to use a car battery..big amps in that, devices only draw what they need. So its best to have bigger amps, but the volts must be spot on..close anyway.

The price that Nikon and other suppliers want is daylight robbery, that's why I'm going to go down this path. Should be good, getting sick of taking my dslr out of the cold box every session. This way its a sealed deal and it can stay where it is :)

[ZeroID]

I've got a wee 230 Volt AC adapter with switchable voltages from 3 to 12 DC. It has a 7.5 V output and I've got an older Canon battery for the 450D. ( No external connection for it ) Camera only needs about 150 ma or so, this one delivers about 450, heaps.
Why go 240 to 12 to 7.5 ?
Jaycar or someone will have these universal wall wart adapters. About $15.00.

[DavidTrap]

I bought the dummy battery only and cut the connector off. I soldered it to a Jaycar 5amp regulator that supplies 9V. The D800 can accept 7.4 to 12V.

Works fine for me

DT

[raymo]

You may be impatient, but $57.50 will get you an AC adaptor for your
D800 on ebay.
raymo

[Cosmic]

Thank you all for the input...just waiting on a dummy battery. Tried with a normal battery, no good wont take AC power. I think the ac power dummy batts have a noise cancelling circuitry inside them, also built to handle ac adapter voltage ect.

[tlgerdes]

Writing to flash cards is power intensive, while sitting idle or taking a shot might only be low power, writing the data to flash can burst to 3 or more AMPS for about 1/2 a second.

[ZeroID]

On BYE I don't write to flash, goes straight to PC over USB.

[Cosmic]

I doubt it very much, the Nikon battery is only rated to 1900mha no way could it pump out 3000mha just to write some data to a microchip.

SanDisk has a maximum of 100mha for writing, just for example.