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jnthn
7th of May 2008 (Wed), 10:03
Howdy,

I am hoping someone might know what the upper limit of the power input range is for the S3 IS. I have built an external battery pack using four 3.7v Li ion batteries (series+parallel) that connect to the 7.4v input jack on the side of the camera. When I measure the output of the pack I get 8.35v (batteries rated 3.7v but full charge and cut-off discharge are 4.2v/2.75v). Will this much over-voltage fry the camera or cause it to simply not power up? I haven't tried plugging it in yet but I am eager to do so.

jnthn
Jon
7th of May 2008 (Wed), 10:09
I wouldn't go past the rated voltage. Did you measure the voltage under load, though?
SimpleGirl2008
7th of May 2008 (Wed), 12:46
Woah. I wouldn't even have tired that.
jnthn
8th of May 2008 (Thu), 09:58
I just tried hooking up the pack to an old hard drive I have sitting around - I measure 7.65v under load, which I fear is still to high. I guess I will work on limiting the output to 7.3v, which is what the wall adapter puts out.

jnthn
jnthn
18th of May 2008 (Sun), 13:42
Well...I soldered two diodes (IN4001 micromini silicon), in series, between the positive side of the battery output and the lead to the camera connector. This reduced the unloaded voltage to 7.3v - perfect. I removed the AA batteries from the camera and plugged my pack in and it powered up the camera. The connector I bought (from a national electronics company that used to be good but now SUCKS) fits but doesn't maintain a steady connection. I am going to chop the connector off of my CA-PS700 Compact Power Adapter and replace it later.
drkilowatt
24th of January 2009 (Sat), 11:25
Your working the the area that I am interested in. I've just received my new SX1 is a week ago and its power requirements are the same as the S3 as far as I can tell. I've been looking for a commercially produced external pack but most are not quite the right voltage and I am concerned about over voltage and insufficient power. If your 7.3v worked then the 7.2v bixnet product might be just great. Did you ever find out the operational power range for the S3? Wouldn't the camera be running off of 6v on th internal batteries? Why is the ext. power supply giving 7.4? Would 6v into that port be sufficient of would the load drop it too far? I'm including my links to products I've found in case they are of interest to you.

Thanks.

http://www.imaging-resource.com/ACCS/DPS9000/DPS9000.HTM

http://www.thomas-distributing.com/maha-powerbank.htm#buy
http://www.imaging-resource.com/ACCS/PB/PBA.HTM

http://www.bixnet.com/misihicabapa.html