NikonWeb.com

Hi, I have acquired a 520 today with eight batteries and a Type III PCMCIA memory card. But it come without a charger! All I can found on ebay are only adapter without the charging dock. I wonder whether you guys know where can I buy a charger. I would also like to know if there is any adapter that can power the camera without using battary.

Cheers,
Frank.

Hi Frank, your Canon EOS1n alias DCS-520 may use the ELPAC 885047 AC-adapter. Try ebay to find one.
Regards,
Nico

www.nicovandijk.net

_________________
D1/D1X/D1H etc.

Hi,

They are almost non-existent any more. Best bet is to buy another 5xx, 6xx or 7xx series unit that is listed as being 'for parts' which comes with a charger. I'm down to one charger for three cameras because I let the other ones go to folks here.

The Elpac adapter won't charge the newer series batteries. The older series DCS units used those as they had internal packs.

There used to be 3rd party charger makers for these, but even those seem to show up but rarely.

Your only other choice is to get an electronics lab bench power supply where you can set both a current and a voltage limit, then use clip cords from the supply to paper clips (or thin washers) stuck in the positive and negative contacts of the battery pack and charge that way.

That one is not for most folks, though. You do need a basic understanding of electronics and the chemistry of NiMH batteries to use safely. Use it wrong, and the pack either doesn't get charged up or blows up....

You can get such a supply from electronics stores, like Fry's, for around $70. Add another $10 or so for the banana plug-to-clip cords.

There are battery analyzers out there that can be programmed to charge and discharge any pack from any thing, They work just as a dedicated charger does, but the charge curve can be altered as one wishes. That would make it as brainless as a dedicated charger once one had the thing programmed up for any given item.

They cost, though. Starting prices are in the $900 (!) range. I have one (yeah, you're all saying 'of course he does'!!), but they are not for the casual person. I just mention it because you do see such things on eBay from time to time in the $100-200 range.

Later!

Stan

_________________
Amateur Photographer
Professional Electronics Development Engineer

I assume you've seen this one: http://www.nikonweb.com/dcs_batteries/

Good luck!

Jarle

Thanks Jarle. Honestly I didn't notice your very informative page on DCS batteries until now.

I had been looking for Maha MH-C777 3 or 4 years ago when my D1X batteries dying on me but had had no luck, the whole series of universal charger from Maha was then discontinued.

Most ebay listings I have seen won't ship DCS camera to where I live, Hong Kong; and even if they do, the postage would be expensive.

Yesterday I found someone selling Maha MH-C777plus on the Taobao, (a mainland China auction site), for around US$25 and claim to have more than 100 units in stock. This price is much cheaper than what the MH-C777plus sold for when it was available.

Anyway, it worth a try and I have ordered one through a friend, hope it works and will let you all know then.

I wonder what voltage should I expect for a fully charged NI-Cd one.

For those who are interested, here is the link for the listing (in Chinese)http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=4438285960

*Don't bother to read the long note in the listing using google translate, it is just some information about charger in general and is not relevant to the item on sale.

Hi,

Nominally, a charged NiCd gives one 1.25v per cell. These are 6-cell packs, so that is 7.5v for the pack. In reality, a NiCd will hit 1.4v right off the charger, so that's 8.4v if you measure it before too much time has passed. The voltage of a fully charged NiCd will sag down in about 6 hours.

A NiMH pack is slightly different in the voltage drop vs. capacity, but they will show 9.0v right off the charger and then drop off more slowly than a NiCd, staying above 8v for a week or so.

In use, the NiCd voltage stays at 1.2v per cell for a long time, until it has around 10% remaining, when it starts dropping like a lemming off a cliff to 1.0v per cell at which time it's done. The NiMH will drop off at a fairly constant rate until it hits 1.0v per cell, at which time it, too, is done.

The total capacity of the NiCd will be on the order of 1200 mAH and the NiMH will be around 1500.

My 760c will fill slightly over 2 GB worth of storage on one NiMH pack, and the 720x just slightly under 2 GB. That's using solid-state flash cards, not the more power hungry microdrives (if anyone is still using those, that is). My 560 is the same as the 760c, which makes sense given the same size imagers. the 720x does not get as far GB-wise as the 760c as it has to fire the camera a lot more to fill that card.

One thing about the older 560 vs. the newer 760 is that the 560 will work with NiMH packs that are no longer up to their original capacity. The 760 will take a couple shots with a worn pack and then tell me to get a new battery. The older packs will sag more voltage after a shot is taken and stored, and I think the newer firmware in the 760 is looking at the battery voltage either much sooner after a shot, or is programmed to look for that extra sag and then call the battery done.

In any case, if one chooses to go the bench power supply route, set the voltage at 7.6 volts and the current limit to 500 milliamps and you'll get almost a full charge (90%) into the NiMH pack without risking production of oxygen and hydrogen in the cell and ruining it.

Keep firmly in mind that a NiMH cell can not take *any* overcharge the way a NiCd cell can. No trickle charging, please! Make sure it cuts off at 90-95% or it will not live for many cycles.....

A real NiMH charger like the Kodak ones we can't get pump more current into a pack, but watch the temperature rise and then back off the current until it winds up turned off. Since the bench supply has no temperature monitor capability, we have to set the current lower and simply take a bit more time to charge then the real charger does. But, it is a cheap solution that works well if you have nothing better.

Later!

Stan

_________________
Amateur Photographer
Professional Electronics Development Engineer

Thanks Stan for the detailed information. The Maha charger has arrived. It works but the comestic is pretty bad, don't know what it has gone through.

Anyway, I have charged two Ni-Cd and both goes as high as 9.5v near full-charge, would it be too high?

I have also tried to charge some of my D1x batties, and interestly they hold much less charge (<500mAh before the charger stop) than those Kodak Ni-Cd.

I don't use my D1x often and all the batties has turned bad except two. But those two are behaving strangely. After a full charge, it will work fine as long as I turn on the camera (battery icon indicate full) But if I turn the camera off even for just two minute and turn it on again, a half-full battery icon will blink, and the camera refuse to fire. Viewing image is fine and the LCD can kept on for a very long time in such state.

My guess is the voltage of the batteries are not high enough but they still hold charges. Is there anyway to improve it? I am also considering recelling those D1x batteries with 18650 Li cells.

Frank

and I just found out that the upper PC card slot in my 520 doesn't work, it can't detect card being inserted, but the lower slot is fine.

Both card slots are working fine now after upgrading the firmware. But I still haven't got hold of any EF lens to really test the camera. Pretty tied up at work recently.