Stay away from Chinese AC adapter for camera

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mjkzz
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Stay away from Chinese AC adapter for camera

Post by mjkzz »

While testing the Pentax 105mm lens as tube lens, I used a Chinese AC adapter for my Canon 550D, in the middle of stack, I heard some popping sound from the adapter, then the camera went dead. I have had it for about a year, really liked it but now, it is not only dead but also damaged my camera.

I know someone warned us last year around the time I bought it, so here is another warning.

Image

mawyatt
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Post by mawyatt »

Ouch :shock:

Hope the camera just blew an internal fuse and nothing more :cry:

Best,
Research is like a treasure hunt, you don't know where to look or what you'll find!
~Mike

Deanimator
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Post by Deanimator »

While I don't anticipate an immediate need for such an adapter, do you know of a brand which IS reliable and safe to use?

lonepal
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Post by lonepal »

Hi;

That's tough!

I have exactly the same adapter for my 100D.
Sometimes I hear weird noises from it and I am also worried if it damages my camera one day.

I should stop using it!

Dummy battery is very good but I think we should use a reliable power source.
Regards.
Omer

Lou Jost
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Post by Lou Jost »

One can never be sure that any brand is safe, but I can contribute one data point: my TetherTools power supply and dummy battery for my Olympus PEN F has gotten very heavy use for more than a year and never failed, nor does it make any noises at all. TetherTools make devices for many other brands as well.

I don't trust talkative electronics; electronics should be seen and not heard. If your device is audibly complaining to you, please obey it and liberate it from its duties.
Last edited by Lou Jost on Mon Apr 16, 2018 6:11 am, edited 1 time in total.

ChrisR
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Post by ChrisR »

I reported "one of those" killing my Canon 600D/t3i.
I plugged it in while switched on, which was a mistake, but death is unreasonable I think. I now just get "Error 70" from the camera unless I use the all auto C mode - then it works fine, though that's useless to me.

A voltage + current limit wouldn't be very hard to build in to the dummy battery.
TBH I'm not sure whether things like this are better grounded or isolated from ground on the -ve side. Philosophies varied, the last time I looked a few decades ago.

The price Canon charge for their adapter is high, £120 for each of my Canons - they're different.
An AC adapter for the 1Dx is £360. :evil:

In the UK, Ex-Pro do a range of adapters with swappable leads for different fittings.
Their 1DX Mk IV kit is a tenth the Canon price.
http://www.exprodirect.com/ex-pro-repla ... r-kit.html
Chris R

ray_parkhurst
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Post by ray_parkhurst »

Similar thing happened to me. Killed the camera. I only use batteries now...swap them out when they run out...put in a new on before a long stack.

Deanimator
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Post by Deanimator »

ray_parkhurst wrote:Similar thing happened to me. Killed the camera. I only use batteries now...swap them out when they run out...put in a new on before a long stack.
Likewise.

I have an OEM Canon battery and a third party for my T4i. Since the third party battery doesn't report battery level, I'm probably going to get another Canon battery.

mjkzz
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Post by mjkzz »

Though the 550D had shutter assembly replaced, it has 250K shutter clicks, it is still pain to part it :-(

The popping sound could be some capacitor going bad, I will open it up some other day, it was so reliable, almost wanted to recommend it to other. The brand is no-name brand, I think it is better to get original Canon ones or some other reliable brand, these no-name brand stuff are just too risky.

mjkzz
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Post by mjkzz »

mawyatt wrote:Ouch :shock:

Hope the camera just blew an internal fuse and nothing more :cry:

Best,
Will take it to repair shop, hope it is what you said. If not, I have seen some funny video about how to get clean shots by washing the camera in soapy water . . . so a video like that might sound feasible.

mjkzz
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Post by mjkzz »

ChrisR wrote:I reported "one of those" killing my Canon 600D/t3i.
I plugged it in while switched on, which was a mistake, but death is unreasonable I think. I now just get "Error 70" from the camera unless I use the all auto C mode - then it works fine, though that's useless to me.

A voltage + current limit wouldn't be very hard to build in to the dummy battery.
TBH I'm not sure whether things like this are better grounded or isolated from ground on the -ve side. Philosophies varied, the last time I looked a few decades ago.

The price Canon charge for their adapter is high, £120 for each of my Canons - they're different.
An AC adapter for the 1Dx is £360. :evil:

In the UK, Ex-Pro do a range of adapters with swappable leads for different fittings.
Their 1DX Mk IV kit is a tenth the Canon price.
http://www.exprodirect.com/ex-pro-repla ... r-kit.html
Point taken, I always try to avoid plugging in power while the dummy battery is inside the camera.

Yeah, for 120 pounds for the Canon original, I think I will get a Canon 1100D, which has larger pixel size, for that price. This camera is mostly used for testing, etc

But I would stay away from cheap one, this one worked so well for a year, almost daily basis, stop working is one thing, damaging my camera is another

GaryB
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Post by GaryB »

Sorry to hear that. Power supplies can be very iffy, I was testing 12v adapters for my LED conversion and one of them measured over 16v. I don't think my LED's would have been very happy but that's very small 'taters compared to a camera.

Having said that, camera makers should shoulder some of the blame, a power supply for a camera should not cost an arm and a leg. Those prices are a ripoff.

mjkzz
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Post by mjkzz »

GaryB wrote:Sorry to hear that. Power supplies can be very iffy, I was testing 12v adapters for my LED conversion and one of them measured over 16v. I don't think my LED's would have been very happy but that's very small 'taters compared to a camera.

Having said that, camera makers should shoulder some of the blame, a power supply for a camera should not cost an arm and a leg. Those prices are a ripoff.
I am not sure the camera vendor should be responsible as the camera is really designed for battery usage where you have less power issues (ground loop, etc)

ChrisR
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Post by ChrisR »

A thought - if one used a battery base, which has two of those batteries...

Replace one battery with the charger, leaving the second in place,
the second battery would absorb spikes and excess voltages from the charger

maybe.

Mike W are you there???!
Chris R

mawyatt
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Post by mawyatt »

ChrisR wrote:A thought - if one used a battery base, which has two of those batteries...

Replace one battery with the charger, leaving the second in place,
the second battery would absorb spikes and excess voltages from the charger

maybe.

Mike W are you there???!
Hi Chris,

Yep I'm here :D

First off the camera should be somewhat protected from over voltage and current. The convenience of AC power for studio stacking is obvious, both for the lighting (strobes) and camera.

I don't know exactly how the battery base with dual batteries work, but suspect it's has a default mode which "looks" at the primary battery 1st, then switches over to the other backup battery when the primary drops below a voltage threshold. Thus if the primary battery has enough voltage then it supplies power until it's voltage drops below the threshold, then the backup supplies power. So if this is the mode the two batteries can't be in parallel, but isolated by some means (MOSFET).

Your idea of using a battery while it's recharging might work as the battery will certainly act as voltage limiter, however if the battery is somehow disconnected the charger could produce an over-voltage state without the battery to limit the voltage.

I carefully selected 3rd party AC power modules for my Nikons, with the only issue that the later Nikon bodies (D500 & D850) require the later version of the EN-15 battery and same for power module. The batteries have a chip that communicates with the camera, so the AC power module must "mimic" this to work. If you have Nikon, look for modules that guarantee operation with D500 & D850, they will be backward compatible (work with D800).

I could design a simple overvoltage protection circuit for those folks interested, over current is a little more complicated but possible also.

Anyway, hope this helps.

Best,
Research is like a treasure hunt, you don't know where to look or what you'll find!
~Mike

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