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Powering GH2
  • 381 Replies sorted by
  • @Vitaliy_Kiselev

    Any chance of Lanparte adjusting their v-mount battery shoulder unit to fit with the gh2 aswell?

  • @Alfi666

    This is great, please can you let us know how did you fix it ? I have a genuine DC coupler ...

  • Attaching some pictures of GH2 running on Sony NP-F batteries... if anyone is curious.

    GH2_NP-F_1.jpg
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    GH2_NP-F_2.jpg
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  • @5thwall

    This great. Please let us know what you find out. I'm also interested in this solution to work with zoom H4n. I'd rather pay for something that works out of the box than doing DIY.

  • @SisterCities I finally took the Jag Battery out on a shoot on Friday. It lasted the whole day without running out of power. So I was very happy. As I've said before, my only complaint about the unit is that I can't also power the Zoom H4n because of the ground loop issue. I need to contact the company about that and see if they are still trying to fix the issue. One of the nice things about the unit is that you can mount stuff on top of it because of the 1/4-20 screw holes.

  • voltage was ok. But I think the Amperes where too low. I now installed a higher capacity 12v-limiter (from which I step down to 9.2v with .4v resistors). Now it works.

  • Yeah I got it working too using the 5v/9v/12v battery But I have 3 of these 8.4v batteries and 8.4v just isn't enough voltage to fool the camera. I was wondering if there was any way around that, or if it could be used with the GH1. Can't test it, since I sold mine. And I noticed that the hack has "3rd Party Battery" option for GH1 but not GH2 :(

  • @Turbodog @escapehatch

    Hey, escapehatch got it working kind of your way but with other parts based on that video some post up. I´ve got to do it myself already.

  • I'm glad I found this thread. I bought some of the Chinese 5v/9v/12v batteries to power B4 video lenses with a 12v to Hirose 12-pin cable. I was afraid that 9v would damage the GH2 so instead I bought this 6400Mah battery to power the GH2:

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/230715509234?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

    The battery puts out a perfect 8.4v in and out of the DMW-DCC8, but when I hook it up to the GH2 I get the dreaded "this battery cannot be used" error. So 8.4v is not enough!! And all along I could have just used the 5v/9v/12v that I already had !! ;(

    My voltmeter shows the a/c adapter (OEM) giving 8.8 - 8.9v out the DMW-DCC8.

    So now I'm stuck with this bike battery. I don't suppose there is any trick to get it to work.... anyone? 8.4v is so close to perfection! If not, will it work on a GH1? I sold mine a while back but maybe someone else could use it.

  • neveraholiday, check the voltage at the end of your cable. Maybe you have a bad connection.

  • Nobody has an idea?
  • can anybody help me? I have a external v-lock battery 14.7V that I tune down to 9.2V. As recommended in this thread. The output at the battery plate is measured 9.2V. When I plug the battery-replacement of Panasonic, the DMW-DCC8, the measured output on the top of that adapter is approx. 5.8V. When I stick it into the GH2 and power on, nothing happens. Any ideas? Thanks!
  • i am pretty new to he GH2.
    On Ebay i bought a Blumax 3rd party.
    http://www.ebay.de/itm/250909894441?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
    (was unable to find in english, but its there for sure)

    EDIT: Mine wont show the Power metering,
    but i read there are working blumax 3rd party ones with Metering.

    We may able to find working 3rd party ones soon.

    One thing, i guess it would be may the easiest and cheapest to empty one of this and connect a emptied charging adapter.
    The Electronics have to simulate the original electronics , if this is the case, it should be possible to use some external cells.
    Have to test and open one, when we found one, posible a 2s 7.4V may work connected over this electronic, or if he needs single cell sensing al RC Lipo can do over his ballancing plug.
    Eliminating the need for over 8.4V.
    Maybe

    This would electrically the most easiset and with some luck the internal metering work.
    All guesses, but may worth to try.

    Btw, i got some OTB Batts, read they at least should "work", without metering, sure, cam simply shuts down.
    And also have this blumax (damm first i thought he have a working electronic with this batt, but at least this verson deos not).

    I wont tinker with the firmware using this 3rd Partys, dont worry (fingers crossed)
    but are there problems to encounter, like it has been with GH1 and 3rd party batts?
  • @Meierhans GH2 is not hacked...yet, but thanks for the info.
  • Did you maybe check the option "remove 30 min limit" in ptools? Or used any setting uploaded to this forum, since they all have this box ticked... ;)
  • @JackBayer I rigged up that same battery (based on the video) and it has proven to be an excellent solution. Added a little gaff tape and velcro to make it look good and stick to my shoulder support. Notice I painted the positive side white at the connection to prevent reversing polarity.

    In addition, I was surprised to find that it also allows the camera to record clips longer than 30minutes. Does this surprise anyone else? *Note GH2 w/o hack*
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  • I´ve red a bit, seems like Gh2 is quite special when it comes to power supply.
    It detects if there is a AC coupler or battery installed by measuring the voltage, in latter case it does some further checks. Worth to read.

    Will try with the 1.5 A coupler I found above and report.
  • I found this http://www.batteryspace.com/universalexternalportabledvdbattery84v5000mahnimh3hrswallcharger.aspx
    Recharging takes long there.

    But not here, where pretty much the same thing is DIYed:


    If one could be certain about the polarities of the kir from batteryspace, you´d be all set together with the dc coupler, of course.
  • Thanks, thats a number. So 1.5 A should perfectly do under all circumstances. Just wanna make sure.

    I should visit other places more frequently... its just so cozy in here..
  • @Meierhans I'm not sure if it answers your question, power adapter actually feeds the GH2 (something like 740mA, even though it's rated higher).
  • How much ampere does the GH2 pull in worst case? Is a 1.5 A Circuit like this one enough?

    http://www.conrad.biz/ce/de/product/147044/SCHALTREGLER-9V/SHOP_AREA_18976&promotionareaSearchDetail=005
  • @feha

    I cannot recommend any specific battery indicator, as I don't have one yet - so try whichever you like ;)
  • @5thwall Thanks again for all the info. Good luck sorting the ground loop.
  • @SisterCities Also, if you want to power the Zoom H4N, you need to plug it into a step-down adapter. The GH2 battery adapter comes with a step-down attached to it, so you don't need to purchase an additional one.

    I'm going to the electronics shop to try out a ground loop isolator. Hopefully that will help, but it's still an extra cable. Grumble grumble.
  • @SisterCities Looks like they have the sale going on again. So far so good on the battery. Unfortunately can't tell you how long it lasts in the field as my first shoot with it will be in a couple of weeks.

    As I've said before, it's nice that it fits on rails with just a couple of rail blocks. I would like to figure out a way to mount the battery on my monopod.

    It takes about 3 hours to power up from fully uncharged. I've had my camera set up on it for the last week and a half on sticks and using it once a day for tests. I've had to charge the battery once in that time. So, it's nice that it lasts so long, but I would definitely charge it before going out on a shoot if it's been unused for a few days. That probably goes without saying, though.

    The one issue I have is that I am getting a ground loop noise issue when my H4N is plugged into the battery and the line out from the Zoom H4N is fed into the GH2. Jag35 says they are looking into a solution to this for me. This noise only occurs when the line out of the Zoom is plugged into the GH2. Otherwise the Zoom records audio without any issues when the power is plugged into the Jag Battery. It's definitely an issue for me and I'm working on a way to figure it out on my side. Hopefully, they can figure it out on their end, too.