Batteries for XL2

David M. Geary · January 1st, 2005, 10:33 PM

I may be mistaken, but I don't think you can power the camera from mains with the CH-910. I have this setup and I use it on my backup XL1s, my memory tells me it is powered via battery only. It does do a nice job with the big Lion's and you can pick up generics (6000ma) from B&H for approx. $60-$80 ea. The charger runs $140 so you can get the same backup time for around $300 which is $150 cheaper than the AB battery alone. One drawback is the mount design is basically a clip on and it does rattle a little if moved.

TingSern Wong · January 1st, 2005, 11:57 PM

You are right. The mains is only for charging - I didn't know that until your post - and that prompted me to test it out. Which means, even with batteries in place, if mains power is supplied, the camera don't get power at all. To feed the camera, you have to turn off the mains supply. Yeeps!

Looks like my AB Dionic 90 and Gold Mount adaptor is now going in for good - 90 AH versus 6 AH for Canon LiON is a vast difference in power.

On a different note - I noticed the battery consumption is a lot higher if you turn off and on the camera while shooting versus leaving it on in between scenes - provided it don't exceed 5 minutes (camera turned off itself automatically once on 5 minutes idle time).

TS

David M. Geary · January 2nd, 2005, 12:45 AM

I found out about the mains the hard way, but I have never had time to test it to make sure it was not just my charger. I was planning on shooting a wedding for my wife's cousin in a very remote town in Rajasthan, India. I did not have time to recharge my batteries the night before, so I packed the CH-910 and a voltage adapter and planned on using an available extension cord. I could not get it to work, and only had enough battery power for about 1hr (approx. 12 hrs short of the weddings duration) I felt bad at first, but I had a much better time at the wedding with my camera in it's bag. When I got back from India, my first purchase was the Anton Bauer Dionic 90 and a new Titan charger.

TingSern Wong · January 2nd, 2005, 01:05 AM

Titan charger - did you get the dual slot version or single slot? The single slot is interesting - because you can actually power up the camera from AC - or so, that's what the brochure says.

I use dual Dionic 90 batteries and one dual 2722 charger. And the QR-XL-1C adaptor for Gold Mount. Looks like (thanks to you and this post) my CH910E is going to be out of camera "for good". Can now dedicate the Canon LiON batteries to power my LCD panel :-).

TS

David M. Geary · January 2nd, 2005, 01:13 AM

It was a toss up, but I went with the Titan twin. Your correct, the Titan 70 will also power via mains which was very tempting. I also have an AB Proformer battery that I use to power my 7" Panasonic LCD via an AB Gold Mount adapter so I went with the Twin. If I used one of the Nebtek adapters to power my LCD with the Canon batteries I may have opted for the Titan 70 (which is actually cheaper). I use the CH-910 and two BP-945's with my XL1s now and I leave the AB Dionic 90 mounted to the QR-XL-1C on my XL2.

Don Carmical · February 2nd, 2005, 04:14 PM

I have a shoot in the remote mountains for 7 days. Has any body used these solar cell mats for recharging your batteries. Wilderness areas frown on small generators.. I have found a company called Brunton that sell such an item. just wonder what input was out their... also we will be on horses, weight is a problem.

Dave Eanton · February 2nd, 2005, 07:49 PM

For long trips, I normally take my portable battery supply that you could buy at any Auto Part or RV place. I paid about $200 for it and it comes with 2 power plugs and a 12V outlet as well. You just charge it before your trip. When your canon batteries are low, just plug them in and charge them up (it's silent). You'll have to test it if you are going for 7 days to see if it will last that long.

Rob Lohman · February 3rd, 2005, 06:24 AM

See my post in the following threads which points to 3 threads
here on DVi that discussed this before:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=37956

Jim Sofranko · April 11th, 2005, 06:17 AM

Anyone know if the Canon BP-945 batteries are interchangable with the DVX100 batteries?? I noticed they are both 7.2v. Thanks.

Chris Hurd · April 11th, 2005, 06:36 AM

Sorry, absolutely not, Jim. Each manufacturer uses a proprietary form factor and a unique footprint. Different models of one series can be used... such as the BP-915, BP-930 and BP-945 for the Canon. But Panasonic batts will not fit a Canon cam, and vice versa (this goes for Sony & JVC too).

Jim Sofranko · April 11th, 2005, 06:41 AM

Yeah, I guess I had some early morning wishful thinking. I don't know what got into me, I should have known better. :-)

Stefan Day · May 21st, 2005, 12:52 AM

I've heard warnings from other XL2 users about using 3rd party batteries with the camera: in that in may 'damage' the camera.

Does anyone have experience using batteries made by companies other than Canon? Do you have sources or have you heard stories about the do's and don'ts regarding battery purchase?

I found a 'Canon BP-945 (equivalent)' made by HiCapacity Power Products for US$44.95. It comes with a 1year warranty. Any words in response?

Stefan

A. J. deLange · May 21st, 2005, 06:52 AM

I've been using "Power2000 for Canon BP-945" since I got the XL2 and have not had any problems with them. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if autopsy showed that these use the same cells as the Canon packs. There are relatively few cell manufacturers.

Stefan Day · May 23rd, 2005, 06:58 PM

I've read through a lot of the posts on the MiniDV tape situation and the relationships of the different tapes to manufacturers, to the camera, the cameras heads etc. I am VERY new to digital video and am very interested to dive into educating myself about the different inter-related factors- Battery Power being a very basic foundation. Does anyone have a direction to point me in to learn about Batteries? different manufactures, cross-compatability?

David Lach · May 23rd, 2005, 11:45 PM

In related news, trans fat may kill you ;-)

Seriously though, what kind of damage are we talking about? I think we would hear about it a bit more if this was a serious concern with the XL2. And 3rd party vendors probably know better than to make your camera explode when using their products. Not a very good way to stay in business.

Been using several Power-2000 myself for a few months now. Flawless operation of both the batteries and the camera, not a glitch to be found. Well except for the tapes, but that belongs in an other forum.

Sometimes I wonder just how much of these warnings is reality based and how much is brand originated and perpetrated myths. Like in typical fashion, the vendor stating in the manual something along the lines of "make sure to only use our accessories to insure optimum performance" (yeah right).

February 2nd, 2005, 04:14 PM	#81
Don Carmical Tourist Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Cabot Arkansas USA Posts: 3	charging the battery? I have a shoot in the remote mountains for 7 days. Has any body used these solar cell mats for recharging your batteries. Wilderness areas frown on small generators.. I have found a company called Brunton that sell such an item. just wonder what input was out their... also we will be on horses, weight is a problem.

February 3rd, 2005, 06:24 AM	#83
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	See my post in the following threads which points to 3 threads here on DVi that discussed this before: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=37956 __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

April 11th, 2005, 06:17 AM	#84
Jim Sofranko Major Player Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: West Shokan, NY Posts: 217	XL / DVX batteries? Anyone know if the Canon BP-945 batteries are interchangable with the DVX100 batteries?? I noticed they are both 7.2v. Thanks.

April 11th, 2005, 06:36 AM	#85
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	Sorry, absolutely not, Jim. Each manufacturer uses a proprietary form factor and a unique footprint. Different models of one series can be used... such as the BP-915, BP-930 and BP-945 for the Canon. But Panasonic batts will not fit a Canon cam, and vice versa (this goes for Sony & JVC too). __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

May 21st, 2005, 12:52 AM	#87
Stefan Day Regular Crew Join Date: May 2005 Location: Rhinebeck, New York Posts: 57	3rd Party Batteries on the XL2? I've heard warnings from other XL2 users about using 3rd party batteries with the camera: in that in may 'damage' the camera. Does anyone have experience using batteries made by companies other than Canon? Do you have sources or have you heard stories about the do's and don'ts regarding battery purchase? I found a 'Canon BP-945 (equivalent)' made by HiCapacity Power Products for US$44.95. It comes with a 1year warranty. Any words in response? Stefan __________________ wooohoooo! let's make some movie!

January 1st, 2005, 10:33 PM	#76
David M. Geary New Boot Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 14	I may be mistaken, but I don't think you can power the camera from mains with the CH-910. I have this setup and I use it on my backup XL1s, my memory tells me it is powered via battery only. It does do a nice job with the big Lion's and you can pick up generics (6000ma) from B&H for approx. $60-$80 ea. The charger runs $140 so you can get the same backup time for around $300 which is $150 cheaper than the AB battery alone. One drawback is the mount design is basically a clip on and it does rattle a little if moved.

January 1st, 2005, 11:57 PM	#77
TingSern Wong Major Player Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Singapore, Rep of SINGAPORE Posts: 749	You are right. The mains is only for charging - I didn't know that until your post - and that prompted me to test it out. Which means, even with batteries in place, if mains power is supplied, the camera don't get power at all. To feed the camera, you have to turn off the mains supply. Yeeps! Looks like my AB Dionic 90 and Gold Mount adaptor is now going in for good - 90 AH versus 6 AH for Canon LiON is a vast difference in power. On a different note - I noticed the battery consumption is a lot higher if you turn off and on the camera while shooting versus leaving it on in between scenes - provided it don't exceed 5 minutes (camera turned off itself automatically once on 5 minutes idle time). TS

January 2nd, 2005, 12:45 AM	#78
David M. Geary New Boot Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 14	I found out about the mains the hard way, but I have never had time to test it to make sure it was not just my charger. I was planning on shooting a wedding for my wife's cousin in a very remote town in Rajasthan, India. I did not have time to recharge my batteries the night before, so I packed the CH-910 and a voltage adapter and planned on using an available extension cord. I could not get it to work, and only had enough battery power for about 1hr (approx. 12 hrs short of the weddings duration) I felt bad at first, but I had a much better time at the wedding with my camera in it's bag. When I got back from India, my first purchase was the Anton Bauer Dionic 90 and a new Titan charger.

January 2nd, 2005, 01:05 AM	#79
TingSern Wong Major Player Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Singapore, Rep of SINGAPORE Posts: 749	Titan charger - did you get the dual slot version or single slot? The single slot is interesting - because you can actually power up the camera from AC - or so, that's what the brochure says. I use dual Dionic 90 batteries and one dual 2722 charger. And the QR-XL-1C adaptor for Gold Mount. Looks like (thanks to you and this post) my CH910E is going to be out of camera "for good". Can now dedicate the Canon LiON batteries to power my LCD panel :-). TS

January 2nd, 2005, 01:13 AM	#80
David M. Geary New Boot Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 14	It was a toss up, but I went with the Titan twin. Your correct, the Titan 70 will also power via mains which was very tempting. I also have an AB Proformer battery that I use to power my 7" Panasonic LCD via an AB Gold Mount adapter so I went with the Twin. If I used one of the Nebtek adapters to power my LCD with the Canon batteries I may have opted for the Titan 70 (which is actually cheaper). I use the CH-910 and two BP-945's with my XL1s now and I leave the AB Dionic 90 mounted to the QR-XL-1C on my XL2.

February 2nd, 2005, 07:49 PM	#82
Dave Eanton Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: CANADA Posts: 56	For long trips, I normally take my portable battery supply that you could buy at any Auto Part or RV place. I paid about $200 for it and it comes with 2 power plugs and a 12V outlet as well. You just charge it before your trip. When your canon batteries are low, just plug them in and charge them up (it's silent). You'll have to test it if you are going for 7 days to see if it will last that long.

April 11th, 2005, 06:41 AM	#86
Jim Sofranko Major Player Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: West Shokan, NY Posts: 217	Yeah, I guess I had some early morning wishful thinking. I don't know what got into me, I should have known better. :-)

May 21st, 2005, 06:52 AM	#88
A. J. deLange Major Player Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: McLean, VA United States Posts: 749	I've been using "Power2000 for Canon BP-945" since I got the XL2 and have not had any problems with them. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if autopsy showed that these use the same cells as the Canon packs. There are relatively few cell manufacturers.

May 23rd, 2005, 06:58 PM	#89
Stefan Day Regular Crew Join Date: May 2005 Location: Rhinebeck, New York Posts: 57	If I wanted to be well versed in Battery Technology? I've read through a lot of the posts on the MiniDV tape situation and the relationships of the different tapes to manufacturers, to the camera, the cameras heads etc. I am VERY new to digital video and am very interested to dive into educating myself about the different inter-related factors- Battery Power being a very basic foundation. Does anyone have a direction to point me in to learn about Batteries? different manufactures, cross-compatability? __________________ wooohoooo! let's make some movie!

May 23rd, 2005, 11:45 PM	#90
David Lach Major Player Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Montreal, QC, Canada Posts: 570	In related news, trans fat may kill you ;-) Seriously though, what kind of damage are we talking about? I think we would hear about it a bit more if this was a serious concern with the XL2. And 3rd party vendors probably know better than to make your camera explode when using their products. Not a very good way to stay in business. Been using several Power-2000 myself for a few months now. Flawless operation of both the batteries and the camera, not a glitch to be found. Well except for the tapes, but that belongs in an other forum. Sometimes I wonder just how much of these warnings is reality based and how much is brand originated and perpetrated myths. Like in typical fashion, the vendor stating in the manual something along the lines of "make sure to only use our accessories to insure optimum performance" (yeah right).