Non-Thumper, Non-bike lekky question

[guest27]

Hi all, especially those of you who understand the lekky pixies

I have an oldish digital camera (a Minolta DiMage 7 Hi if you wondered) and it eats batteries.  Now it is possible to plug a 6v powersupply into it if you are using it to feed the puter etc.

My understanding is that if I give it a DC supply of 6v or there abouts and the supply does not supply enough amps, the supply will suffer and the camera will not work.  Is there an issue of supplying 6v with the potential of too many amps?

I have a couple of 6v power supplies and am happy to plug them into the camera to see if they are man enough, but not if it will damage the camera.  Simulaly if I pick up a 6v gel battery from Maplin, will the potentail 5.5Ah damage the camera or will it just draw what it needs.

Final thought if not a gel battery can i use a set of 'jump' leads from a NiCad / NiMh charger to a stack D cells or the like to charge them, and then use this - like the gel - as an external and 'portable' power source?

Simple questions and I think I know the answers, but I do not want to make a mess of a pretty good camera.

R

[guest288]

in theory, electicity is like a water system in your home; the volts (pump) push the amps (water) round the circuit but your camera (a tap) will only let a certain amount through, is what it needs- it's the amps that power anything not volts- the problem starts when you try and draw too many amps through a small power supply... Don't forget low amps at high voltage through a transformer = high amps low voltage
Hope this helps

[guest27]

So I need sufficient amps to drive the camera, but if volts are too low, the amps will not get through and if the volts are too large, it will blow the gaskets.  The spec of the mains adapter - which I do not have - is 6V 2A - so am I close in thinking - any power supply I nail together has to be capable of delivering 2A and would need to be in the 5 to 7V range?  Too conservative?

R

[crackedhead]

Amazon have a power supply for the camera just over a tenner.

[guest288]

I would think your 6v 2amp supply would be ok as I doubt your camera needs as much as 2amps. With regard to batteries, you can have various capacities all at the same voltage (like bike batts) but the capacity difference will enable your camera to last longer on the batteries.

[Steve Lake]

yup, basically correct, but ideally you want it to be 6v, not thereabouts.... but why don't you try http://cpc.farnell.com/

find a 6v 2a psu (unregulated)......shouldn't cost any more than a tenner

[guest27]

It is not a psu I want but a larger, or longer lasting battery pack, plug it in through the DC in socket and avoid having to hack about in battery compartment.  Bung 'battery' in bum bag or like run flex to camera.

Thus I or No1 son can carry it around for ages taking hundereds of pics without running through £££££ or duracells or having to constantly change and recharge AA NiMh.

Cheapest option would probably be a lead acid gel pack, safer option may be a NiMh pack and better charger than I have.

R