I buiilt my self a power station for the HD1

I taped the charging stand to a tripod and using 4 7.2v rc packs at 3000mah into a 12v socket into a small inverter into the cameras AC adaptor and Base I was able to power the camera for 3 hours with no sign of depletion in sight (I figure with internal pack I could go 6 hours roughly with this rig)

about 2 hours 10 minutes into a session a new ICON appears on the screen. it was a red thermometer with a yellow trangle ! sign next to it.

I have no idea what this is but my gut says overheat warning of some kind ???

I started fanning the camera just in case as I did not want to stop recording for fear I would both miss something important or that it would not start up again :-)

the symbol did not go away but the camera also never stopped and the video turned out fine.

Any Ideas ?? I was thinking cooling fan but that would be audible in the recordings ??

Chris Taylor
http://www.naramlive.com/

If you look at the response curve on your R/C packs, you will see that they don't supply a steady stream at the same voltage. They peak when full at about 8.4 Volts, stablize at 7.2V for some time, then drop to a 6 Volt low before voltage plummets. Given the scenerio you describe, I think it would pay to monitor voltage for a session as this may indicate potential weaknesses of your charging system that could result in an overheat. Your voltages are potentially mismatched to your inverters throughout most of your process.

Have you considered a 5Volt pack like this:
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=5732
This would interface directly with the camera and meets input voltage specifications. At 7200mAh, this won't power out before you do. It would also reduce your pack-with-you hardware and avoid excess electrical conversions; each time you convert you loose considerable energy... it's best to keep the conversions to a minimum whenever possible.

As a side-note, I have not seen the icon but have noticed the camera heats up when recording long sessions.

nah voltage is not relevant since even on the low end I am withing tolerances

I have it rigged up with 4 packs 2x2 series and parrellel

this way I am pumping around 14v into the inverter which is about what my car puts out anyway. remember a car battery can put out anywhere from 11.8 to 15 volts.

this gives me the right voltage range at 6 amps. since the camera draws only about 1100 mah an hours thats about 6 hours of run time when you factor in the internal battery.

the inverter handles regulation of power. No the heat is definately operating heat

Most people here will never encounter this since its not really possible to run the camera for more than 1hr 8 minutes roughly without external power.

When I use the camera it does get quite warm after long uses. not what I consider hot by any means but quite warm. its just interesting that I saw no mention of the overheat symbol in the manual.

it was running for over 2 hours straight in a somewhat warm room when it came on.

Chris Taylor
http://www.nerys.com/

This is mentioned in the manual and in a safety leaflet that I got with my camera. It says that once the indicator comes on, you may continue to shoot. But you will notice the time available goes down, and when it hits zero, the camera will shut down. I suspect it will be the card that gets hottest, they are pushing these to the top end of their performance after all!.