Standby Battery

[IvanKane]

I need a second opinion?

Can I use 12v Lead Acid Rechargeable Battery 7Ah

which is meant for standby, house alarms etc?

 

I asked a guy in Blue Audio Visual: http://www.filmcamerakit.com/index.htm

and he said that it was no good because the electricity is not stable enough. He offered to sell me a battery for £150, a "proper" one. What do you think?

[Bernhard Zitz]

I used a 12V 7.0AH lead-acid on a eclair npr with aaton alcan 54 motor. It worked fine. Only on a real cold winternight outside it had some problems. It's not that "the electricity is not stable enough", but when using a lead-acid, voltage drops continuesly, while Ni-cads or Li-ions keep more or less the same voltage till they're emtpy...

 

lead acids are cheap and have no memory-effect, but take ages to charge. It's good for DIY-style on lowbudget. If you buy a "proper" one, go for Li-ion, they're 14.4V but should work on a 12V-device.

 

cheers, Benu

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

Yes, it's fine. The main downside is that they're 12 rather than 14.4 volts, so if you have a fussy camera that needs more than 12 to run properly, you won't get long out of it - the voltage starts to drop off immediately. They're also heavy and can't be fast charged, at least not in any way I'd consider safe.

 

However, they are extremely cheap, and you do see them on pro sets - usually built into a little flight case (thus doubling the cost of the unit, but whatever).

 

The only advice I'd give you is to resist the temptation not to fit proper connectors. It's one of those invisible benefits as if you do make a point of fitting 4-pin XLRs to them, you'll never make a mistake to justify it...

 

Phil

[Stephen Williams]

Hi,

 

Yes, it's fine. The main downside is that they're 12 rather than 14.4 volts, so if you have a fussy camera that needs more than 12 to run properly, you won't get long out of it - the voltage starts to drop off immediately. They're also heavy and can't be fast charged, at least not in any way I'd consider safe.

 

However, they are extremely cheap, and you do see them on pro sets - usually built into a little flight case (thus doubling the cost of the unit, but whatever).

 

The only advice I'd give you is to resist the temptation not to fit proper connectors. It's one of those invisible benefits as if you do make a point of fitting 4-pin XLRs to them, you'll never make a mistake to justify it...

 

Phil

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Hi Phil,

 

I use sealed lead acid batteries. You can get 2,4,6,8,12 Volt cells from Conrad, so you can make up any voltage you want! The slight complication is charging odd voltages, but I am sure you can point us to a cheap soloution!

 

Stephen

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

SLA is complicated to charge. Here is a reasonable charger I know works, and here is a potentially much better one I don't know about.

 

Be aware that while sealed lead-acid is about a quarter the cost, with proper care NiCd can be recharged between three and five times more. Ergo, at absolute worst, NiCd is only just barely more expensive over the life of the device.

 

Phil