Help please – “non replaceable” lithium battery

[Kerosene]

Anyone know how I can identify and buy a replacement for the battery in my USB pencam?

I’m pretty sure it’s a li-ion… The cam only records about 15 seconds of video now (instead of 5 mins) before I get a low battery warning. I’m guessing this is because I haven’t charged the battery in a few months and it’s died.

Any ideas anyone?

I cracked my cam open and I now see this:

[Kerosene]

OK.. I’ve found out it’s a 3.7v li-ion polymer.

Anyone know where I could find one?

[merc-blue]

3.7Vs… errr.. ur stuffed.. if its 3.6V depending on the size jaycar stock a few rechargeable lthium computer batterys that are rechargeable (no li poly.. ther li ion same shit different smell) the lithium computerbackups u have 4 options 2 cellswith or without axial leads. depending on size weight requierments u might find sumthing thereor try possible the rechargeable digital camera batteries..again li ion not li poly

you could probably find a direct replacement form online ill go through my ‘archives’ of links and post a few this evening

[betty.k]

i don’t think you’re stuffed, there’s plenty of places to get lipo cells. i buy mine here:

http://www.aircraft-world.com/default.asp

look for the etec lipos, you might not find the exact cell but you may be able to make a close match out of the smaller ones. and if you do buy these you need a special solder paste to be able to solder wires to the aluminium terminals. you can buy it there too, a tube will last you forever.

shipping is fast, safe and reasonable too!just don’t come crying to me when you blow $500 you didn’t have on cool brushless micro stuff!

[merc-blue]

betty DW im just pucking up that officialy litiums out put 3.6Vs

[Kerosene]

That battery site has some nice stuff. Is it worth trying a 3.6v and seeing if it will run?

I don’t think the battery would fit in the camera so I’d have to have it taped outside… urghh.

Or should I think about trying to power my cam from my plane battery?

How complicated would this be? … my (stills) camera is powered from my receiver… so I guess it’s possible somehow.

[betty.k]

in general lithium ion cells (shaped like regular cells) are 3.6v and lithium polymer (shaped like foil wrapped chewy) are 3.7v. i don’t think the .1v difference will matter.

have a look at the etec 80mah cells, they’re tiny (about 15 x 15mm) and if you wire 2 in parallel and position them end to end they might be the right size.

i’ve personally never powered a cam from the main power source because in my wireless cam setup i want to reduce the chances of radio interference and voltage drop affecting the camera reception. since your pen cam isn’t a radio cam you might be able to get away with it. you may need a filter and regulator for the cam, but this isn’t my department. i’m outta my depth at this point!

[Kerosene]

What about this one?

http://www.master-instruments.com.au/browse/Model/UBC641730PCM.html

200mah 3.7v li-poly – 31 x 18 x 6mm… I think it might fit.

Now I’ve just gotta find someone who will sell me 1 single battery.. and not make me order 10,000

[merc-blue]

u serious.. MAN I MADE A ASS OF MY SELF.. i was sure li-po were 3.6 oh well

[ph2t]

Kero, be carefull mate. I would check the capacity of the dead cell first.

The inbuilt lipo charger circuitry on the pencam needs to be matched to the battery capacity.

lipoly has a certain restriction on charge rates, you can only charge at 1C.

C = capactiry

eg: a 250mah 3.7V lipo can be charged at a maximum of 250mA

if you swap out the dead lipo for a new one that has a lesser capacity you may (note: may, I’m not %100 sure on the charge rate the internal pen cam circuitry would put out) find that you’re chargeing the replacement lipo at too high a rate.

overcharge lipo = flames

find out the mAh rating on the battery and we’ll take it from there.

cheers mate,

ph2t.

.

[Kerosene]

How can I check the mah?

The specs say ‘Power Consumption: Active 70mah’ – does this mean it’s 70mah?

[ph2t]

that would be it.

just buy this replacement one and it should be fine.

http://www.aircraft-world.com/shopexd.asp?id=2674

space shouldn’t be an issue either.

you could possibly try this larger capacity 250mah one as well.

http://www.aircraft-world.com/shopexd.asp?id=1635

this one would take longer to charge, I take it it charges through the USB port?

cheers dude.

ph2t.

[ph2t]

oh yeah, you might want to take the opportunity to hack a power switch together to stop the batterykarking itthrough overdraining (??)…

ph2t.

[Kerosene]

Thanks for the help everyone. I’ve ordered the 80mah from Aircraft World.

[Kerosene]

.. and can happily report that my camera is now working again.

I used normal solder instead of paste.. so I hope I haven’t damaged anything – it all seems to work ok though.

Hopefully I’ll get some good dogfighting plane videos in the next few days.

[Aaron]

And here I was waiting to read about the entire thing blowing up in some tragic disaster! Nice work!

A.

--
Site Owner Guy.

[jamiekulhanek]

Quote:

Kerosene wrote:

How can I check the mah?

The specs say ‘Power Consumption: Active 70mah’ – does this mean it”s 70mah?

That sounds more to me like the consumption not the battery capacity, however, you can roughly figure out the capacity by the power consumption multiplied by battery life in hours…but since you have fixed it and it works…who cares!

[Author]

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