Hi all sony nex users, i just wanna share my mini project for making a DIY AA external battery setup for sony nex-6. I believe it'll work for all other sony as well.
For those who want to use the Sony nex camera system with intervalometer for star trails, long exposures, astro, or whatever reason to need to take thousands of photos outdoor but let down by the battery. fret not.
All you need is approx $30-$40, and you're good to go!
Below is the pic i took basically showing the item you need.
The main item is this, the DC Coupler:
which can be bought from here.
You'll mainly need the battery component, unless you're taking indoor (that's where the AC adaptor it comes with will come in handy).
AC PW20 AC Power Adapter DC Coupler Kit for Sony NEX 3 NEX 5 SLT A33 A55 ACPW20 | eBay
The rest can easily be found at sim lim tower.
Basically, you will need a 5 cell AA battery casing, which can be found here:
1 x 5 AA Battery Size 7 5V Clip Holder Box Case 6" Lead | eBay
This is cos the DC input needs to be 7.5V, and you'll need 5 x 1.5V AA batteries to achieve this. Its next to impossible to find this at sim lim square. trust me i tried. i had to use a 2+3 cell battery holder and solder the wiring and glue them together. waste of time!
1 normal AA 1.5V battery has from 1800-3000mAh. so theoretically, each set of 5 x 1.5V battery has up to 1.5x to 2.5x your stock original battery worth of juice.
In above wiring, i only got the 2 to 1 cable (its in parallel) , meaning i have approx 5X the capacity of the original Li Ion battery. that seems to be enough for me. THEORETICALLY. For those after more juice, just have to get more battery casings. that cable is available in 4 to 1 as well, for a theoretical 10x capacity compared to original.
If you're lazy to solder, or suck at soldering like me, you can use this.
5pairs Male and Femal DC Power Jack Adapter Connector Plug | eBay
You will need to replace the 2 to 1 cable (the 1 portion) with a male lead above, as it comes ONLY with female leads, and the DC coupler/adaptor to the dummy battery is a female lead as well.
Final setup 2 compartment setup(theoretical capacity approx 1.5 to 2.5x stock original Li Ion battery):
Hooked it up, it works. so far have not used the batt to the max, so cannot determine actual vs theoretical capacity. But electricity should be pretty basic science. it should be close to calculated capacity, except for big temperature fluctuations. then again, if temperature fluctuations was a big issue, that would screw up the stock Li ion battery as well.
Possible setups i'm considering in the near future.
Instead of using 5 x AA battery per compartment, i could consider using 2 x Li ion 18650 (AA sized) battery per compartment. That would give me approx 2000-3400mAh per set, but it'll be much smaller and lighter. I chose to go with normal alkaline AA battery initially as it was easier and cheaper to experiment, and more importantly, AA batteries are disposable and easy to purchase outdoors. For the lithium ion, i may have to depend on electrical sources to charge, which may not be readily available.
Hope above helps those NEX users like me who have been **** out of luck looking for longer battery life alternatives.
For those who want to use the Sony nex camera system with intervalometer for star trails, long exposures, astro, or whatever reason to need to take thousands of photos outdoor but let down by the battery. fret not.
All you need is approx $30-$40, and you're good to go!
Below is the pic i took basically showing the item you need.
The main item is this, the DC Coupler:
which can be bought from here.
You'll mainly need the battery component, unless you're taking indoor (that's where the AC adaptor it comes with will come in handy).
AC PW20 AC Power Adapter DC Coupler Kit for Sony NEX 3 NEX 5 SLT A33 A55 ACPW20 | eBay
The rest can easily be found at sim lim tower.
Basically, you will need a 5 cell AA battery casing, which can be found here:
1 x 5 AA Battery Size 7 5V Clip Holder Box Case 6" Lead | eBay
This is cos the DC input needs to be 7.5V, and you'll need 5 x 1.5V AA batteries to achieve this. Its next to impossible to find this at sim lim square. trust me i tried. i had to use a 2+3 cell battery holder and solder the wiring and glue them together. waste of time!
1 normal AA 1.5V battery has from 1800-3000mAh. so theoretically, each set of 5 x 1.5V battery has up to 1.5x to 2.5x your stock original battery worth of juice.
In above wiring, i only got the 2 to 1 cable (its in parallel) , meaning i have approx 5X the capacity of the original Li Ion battery. that seems to be enough for me. THEORETICALLY. For those after more juice, just have to get more battery casings. that cable is available in 4 to 1 as well, for a theoretical 10x capacity compared to original.
If you're lazy to solder, or suck at soldering like me, you can use this.
5pairs Male and Femal DC Power Jack Adapter Connector Plug | eBay
You will need to replace the 2 to 1 cable (the 1 portion) with a male lead above, as it comes ONLY with female leads, and the DC coupler/adaptor to the dummy battery is a female lead as well.
Final setup 2 compartment setup(theoretical capacity approx 1.5 to 2.5x stock original Li Ion battery):
Hooked it up, it works. so far have not used the batt to the max, so cannot determine actual vs theoretical capacity. But electricity should be pretty basic science. it should be close to calculated capacity, except for big temperature fluctuations. then again, if temperature fluctuations was a big issue, that would screw up the stock Li ion battery as well.
Possible setups i'm considering in the near future.
Instead of using 5 x AA battery per compartment, i could consider using 2 x Li ion 18650 (AA sized) battery per compartment. That would give me approx 2000-3400mAh per set, but it'll be much smaller and lighter. I chose to go with normal alkaline AA battery initially as it was easier and cheaper to experiment, and more importantly, AA batteries are disposable and easy to purchase outdoors. For the lithium ion, i may have to depend on electrical sources to charge, which may not be readily available.
Hope above helps those NEX users like me who have been **** out of luck looking for longer battery life alternatives.
