Bescor 12V 7A lead acid battery w/ 4-pin XLR plug compatibility with Eclair ACL II

[Henry Knapp]

Hello. I recently purchased an Eclair ACL II that did not include an original battery. The majority of posts discussing this topic seem to recommend 12V NiCd or NiMH batteries. I found a Bescor lead acid battery with a female 4-pin XLR plug matching the camera. This would require a male to male 4-pin XLR cord that I have also found. Does this amperage have the potential to damage the electronics within the camera? Is there any reason that this wouldn't work? The previous owner is uncertain. The battery does seem heavy and a bit expensive, maybe it is just impractical. Any thoughts would be appreciated, I just haven't seen any other discussion of this potential solution and am fairly electrically illiterate. Thanks. 

Edited November 12, 2022 by Henry Knapp

[Heikki Repo]

As long as it's 12V no worries. The 7A is actually 7Ah, the capacity. It also means that it should be able to supply higher amount of amps if the cameras needs it, for example when shooting 75 fps. Sealed lead acid works great for high speed, though it's also rather heavy... remember to charge the battery in a ventilated area.

Now, the only question I'd ask is how old is the battery? Is it still good?

[Aapo Lettinen]

yes sealed lead acid (gel, agm, etc) work perfectly with film cameras and they can usually supply so much current if needed that one does not need to worry about it in any shooting situation if the voltage is just right for the application.

It is very easy to make a adapter cable to get 4-pin XLR on them so I would not worry if a battery does not have the xlr originally installed as it is easy to make xlr cable for it even at home and it costs only couple of bucks to do. Use a good quality xlr connector like Neutrik though, the Chinese cheap xlr's are not good and have play/fit very loosely which is frustrating in a power connector. The Neutrik or other good quality ones are precise and fit firmly without any play and are not exactly expensive for a good quality connector so it is a no brainer to get a good quality connector for this use.

I would be wary with used batteries as it is pretty easy to permanently damage lead acid battery (and most other batteries too) by leaving it in storage for a long time with low charge so that the battery will be drained out completely sitting in the storage for months/years. That is relatively common with typically irregularly used camera batteries, people may have not shot footage with the camera in years and the used externally good looking battery may be completely unusable for having stored empty for so long (no one generally remembers to regularly load and refresh camera batteries if having a long break shooting their material and they just forget about it having so much other stuff to do)

so I would get a completely new lead acid battery instead if in any way possible because, well, they are so cheap that it costs the same than a used one. The XLR cable can be arranged easily and should not determine the purchase decision by my opinion ?