View Full Version : external battery with PMX-EX1


Peter Donaldson
March 28th, 2008, 02:35 PM
I will be using the EX1 on a 5 week expedition at high altitude and will be taking a large solar array. I am still concerned about the daily use of the camera due to cold and would like to use an external battery such as the Kanzen powerhouse 200wh under my jacket to keep it warm. Has anyone got any suggestions or experience with this or other external systems?

Robert Shuster
March 29th, 2008, 10:06 AM
Within about an hour of receiving out first EX1 I had created a simple but super effective external powering system. First I cut the DC side power cord from the charger in half, identified the (+) and (-) conductors and soldered 4-pin XLR connectors on them (recall the EX1 is a 14 volt DC system). I then took a set of 28in rods and ran them through one of our universal rod supports. I then grabbed an extra Anton/Bauer - to - XLR plate, drilled and tapped the rods to accept the A/B plate bolt spacing and bolted it on. The mount is now to the rear of the camera. In my first test I grabbed a Hytron 120 (a big battery, smaller would have worked too) and ran the EX-1 for 22 continuous hours; smaller batteries like a Dionic 90 would run less time proportionately. Cool thing is our Chroizsel, Vocas, Petroff and Cinetech matteboxes line up fine on the other side. So does our follow focus and Cinetech on-camera gear. Balance is great even with our Sony wide angle or 16x9 telephoto (with a 77mm - 72mm step down ring, (my Century tele isn't built yet). IDX and other V-mount solutions should be as easy. Or use a battery belt, or a Pelican battery, or.......

Piotr Wozniacki
March 29th, 2008, 10:13 AM
Robert, could you please attach some photos of your solution? I'm thinking of adapting my PAGlock plates/batteries to work with the EX1 and, in the near future, the Flash XDR box...

Peter Donaldson
March 29th, 2008, 02:37 PM
Hi Robert
Thank you for your interesting reply. I would also like to see a pic of the setup. Just one thing, The external supply from the power source is 12 V DC as marked on the charger and measured by me. The battery is marked as 14.4 V. In the specs it gives 12V as the power requirement. Is this difference just to ensure that the camera is receiving a minimum of 12V from the battery compared to a constant 12V from a charger or could one do some harm by supplying 14 V from a large external battery into the charger port?
Cheers

Clark Peters
March 29th, 2008, 04:40 PM
The Anton Bauer website has a downloadable battery handbook that explains the ins and outs of battery voltage.

http://www.antonbauer.com/downloads/2002Handbook.pdf