Stay away from Chinese AC adapter for camera

enricosavazzi · Post by **enricosavazzi** » Wed Apr 18, 2018 1:19 am

Some cameras are quite flexible when it comes to battery recharging. My Sony Alpha 7R II came with two batteries and two chargers. One charges a battery outside the camera, the other connects to the USB port of the camera and (slowly) charges the battery in the camera. The latter charger is not a battery eliminator and cannot power the camera without a battery mounted in the camera.

An ordinary AC USB power supply or rechargeable USB power bank can also be plugged in the camera to recharge its battery.

Sony also has a "dummy battery" power supply that replaces the camera battery, sold separately but not very expensive. It is quite large and heavy for a battery eliminator, so hopefully it is well designed.

ChrisR · Post by **ChrisR** » Wed Apr 18, 2018 1:34 am

Mike, what do you think might actually kill the circuit when the eliminator is plugged in live?
That's If we assume its open circuit voltage is not too high (mine measures only a small excess).
Would you say grounds should be isolated or connected (through a small resistance perhaps)?

(Yes certainly a "crowbar" over-voltage circuit would fit inthe box.)

mawyatt · Post by **mawyatt** » Wed Apr 18, 2018 7:41 am

ChrisR wrote:Mike, what do you think might actually kill the circuit when the eliminator is plugged in live?
That's If we assume its open circuit voltage is not too high (mine measures only a small excess).
Would you say grounds should be isolated or connected (through a small resistance perhaps)?

(Yes certainly a "crowbar" over-voltage circuit would fit inthe box.)

Chris,

Thats hard to say exactly. I would think the electronic design of the camera and battery interface would allow much larger voltages present at the battery terminals. There should be a power MOSFET in series with the battery that gates the power to the camera internals, and this MOSFET should be controlled by a circuit which has an appreciable delay before turning the MOSFET "ON". This same circuit would prevent the MOSFET from being turned ON unless the proper battery terminals are all engaged including ground or battery negative (which should be at opposite ends of the connector). This circuit could also look for a proper battery connection and voltage initially, then turning ON the MOSFET to allow another circuit to verify the battery is legitimate. This circuit would help prevent any camera damage with live battery plug in, which is going to happen in real use regardless of how safe folks are.

BTW a simple way to eliminate ground loops is to use AC 3 wire plugs and one extension box that everything plugs into (common AC source). If you have 2 wire plugs, use a DVM to verify which way to plug in. Also try and make the entire circuit from the circuit breaker a common circuit to only things that don't produce lots of garbage back on the AC lines (things like microwave ovens, blenders & vacuum cleaners are really bad).

My solution was simple, just find & measure a good 3rd party battery eliminator that didn't cost a ridiculous amount like the OEM versions. I recall helping a vendor verify their EN-15 Nikon battery eliminator for use with the D500 when it came out. Many older EN-15 batteries and eliminators would not work with the new D500, Nikon even replaced old EN-15 with new EN-15 batteries at no cost. I got 2 additional EN-15 because the older ones came with my D800 and D800E.

Best,

mawyatt · Post by **mawyatt** » Wed Apr 18, 2018 7:51 am

enricosavazzi wrote:Some cameras are quite flexible when it comes to battery recharging. My Sony Alpha 7R II came with two batteries and two chargers. One charges a battery outside the camera, the other connects to the USB port of the camera and (slowly) charges the battery in the camera. The latter charger is not a battery eliminator and cannot power the camera without a battery mounted in the camera.

An ordinary AC USB power supply or rechargeable USB power bank can also be plugged in the camera to recharge its battery.

Sony also has a "dummy battery" power supply that replaces the camera battery, sold separately but not very expensive. It is quite large and heavy for a battery eliminator, so hopefully it is well designed.

That's good that Sony isn't charging (pun intended) excessive amounts for the battery eliminator, other OEMs should follow Sony.

I wouldn't necessarily equate "large and heavy" as a good indication of a well designed electronic component, it's probably more the reverse. Remember the old "Wall Warts", those were the cheapest 50/60Hz transformers possible and very inefficient, and had little to no regulation nor transient or EMI protection.

The US (CA first) banned them because of their inefficiency, and forced the well designed replacements we enjoy today and a more standardized universal type, especially the USB chargers. Sometimes regulations actually create some beneficial result, but not very often

Best,

mjkzz · Post by **mjkzz** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 2:45 am

I opened it up and did not see any visible fault, no burning marks, all capacitors looks normal, no bloated one, it does have a transformer, so it seems to be well isolated between high voltage and low voltage and should not have ground loop issue.

Anyways, send it for repair, if they can fix it, I will pay 30USD, if they can not, they can keep it for parts

harisA · Post by **harisA** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 12:17 pm

mjkzz wrote:I opened it up and did not see any visible fault, no burning marks, all capacitors looks normal, no bloated one, it does have a transformer, so it seems to be well isolated between high voltage and low voltage and should not have ground loop issue.

Anyways, send it for repair, if they can fix it, I will pay 30USD, if they can not, they can keep it for parts

Who is going to to try to repair the camera for 30$?.This is a ridiculous low price.

ChrisR · Post by **ChrisR** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 5:48 pm

harisA wrote: Who is going to to try to repair the camera for 30$?.This is a ridiculous low price.

I think he means the AC adapter, which was popping

. But they only cost about $10

mjkzz · Post by **mjkzz** » Sat Apr 21, 2018 6:29 am

ChrisR wrote:
harisA wrote: Who is going to to try to repair the camera for 30$?.This is a ridiculous low price.
I think he means the AC adapter, which was popping . But they only cost about $10

I actually meant to repair the camera for $30 . . . last time I had full shutter assembly replaced for $40 for that camera, including labor. There are a lot of "repair" shops in a building where they basically find the faulty part and replace it with "good" one -- most like from another dead cameras.

dolmadis · Post by **dolmadis** » Sat Apr 21, 2018 6:36 am

I actually meant to repair the camera for $30 . . . last time I had full shutter assembly replaced for $40 for that camera, including labor. There are a lot of "repair" shops in a building where they basically find the faulty part and replace it with "good" one -- most like from another dead cameras.

Location ? Online?

Thanks

John

mjkzz · Post by **mjkzz** » Sat Apr 21, 2018 7:45 pm

oh, it is in Huaqiangbei, Shenzhen, China :-)

I have not heard from that shop yet, it has been 3 days, so they probably will take that camera and use its spare parts for others.

ChrisR · Post by **ChrisR** » Sun Apr 22, 2018 2:08 am

Oh OK, that's quite a"resource" to have locally. In London if you suggested a $30/£24 repair for a camera you'd get an "old fashioned look"

.

mjkzz · Post by **mjkzz** » Mon Apr 23, 2018 3:31 am

ChrisR wrote:Oh OK, that's quite a"resource" to have locally. In London if you suggested a $30/£24 repair for a camera you'd get an "old fashioned look" .

Yeah, good resource, and they fixed it, I only have to pay 30USD (200RMB).

mawyatt · Post by **mawyatt** » Mon Apr 23, 2018 6:44 am

Peter,

Lots of times folks equal "cheap" to poor quality/design/workmanship, and mostly correct in doing so. However, sometimes where ones knowledge is involved rather than just a procedure or hunting for the correct answer, cheap can also imply efficient!

I suspect your resource in quite knowledgable and knew exactly what caused the failure (fuse or regulator) from prior experience, and didn't have to do a lot of investigating/testing

That's a great resource to have at your demand

Best,

mjkzz · Post by **mjkzz** » Mon Apr 23, 2018 6:58 am

mawyatt wrote:Peter,

Lots of times folks equal "cheap" to poor quality/design/workmanship, and mostly correct in doing so. However, sometimes where ones knowledge is involved rather than just a procedure or hunting for the correct answer, cheap can also imply efficient!

I suspect your resource in quite knowledgable and knew exactly what caused the failure (fuse or regulator) from prior experience, and didn't have to do a lot of investigating/testing

That's a great resource to have at your demand

Best,

I think you are absolutely right . . . when they quoted me 30USD, somehow I think they knew the issue already and know where to look, else, no one would give out a fixed quote, it is probably a common issue.

But I think the 30USD is well spent, now I have another camera to abuse :-)

ChrisR · Post by **ChrisR** » Mon Apr 23, 2018 11:42 am

When you're passing could you ask them if a 600D would also be $30??!!
It comes up Error 70 if you use other than fully auto mode.
I wouldn't get it to China but if they can mend it then maybe someone else can with the right Youtube video.

I thought I'd recheck - there is hope: http://www.reikanphotography.co.uk/blog ... rom-Err-70