Battery pack to power a camera

Hi

I am looking to power a digital camera. It originally used 2 x AA batteries, but I have dismantled it and intend to power it from a battery pack that takes 6 x AA batteries. This is for a timelapse project and I'd like the battery life to be significantly longer than just using the original 2 batteries.

I have attempted to use a voltage divider with two resistors but had no luck.

Can anyone point me in the right direction, as I am lost.

I had a little fight with my Canon Powershot A570is a while ago. It seems to like electricity more than average cameras do. It has some sort of typical problem, but what can you do, second hand device, no garantee.

So, same thing as you. I use CHDK and timelapse. Power is gone before you get even 10 pictures, if batteries or rechargeable NiMH's are in use. I made a little LM317 based circuit and I use 6V 4,5Ah sealed acid battery. LM317 creates suitable amount of temperature, and in cold weather it is even a good thing, when it is in the same enclosure with the battery, under it.

LM317 is simple, but it is not most efficient way. What camera, and how much current it takes if/when display is blank? My camera takes between 200-450mA, depending of the state of the display.

Cheers,
Kari

You don't need any electronics for this.

It currently uses 2 AA batteries in series (3V) it will be quite happy with as many batteries as you like, as long as they give 3V. So, arrange your 6 batteries into 3 pairs in parallel, where each pair has 2 batteries in series.

You can use 'dummy' AA batteries in the camera to break out the wires for this.

Right!

How, and where, and how long your photography session takes, that is the question. If your session is short, and environment is suitable, room temperature(?), parallel batteries, why not.
Energy efficiency swithcing regulators are available, 3V is very common. Depending of the camera model, it propably takes 3,3V without problems. Ebay is one place to look for. That is something I need to upgrade for myself.

Cheers,
Kari

Forget AAs. If you are building an external pack then use a pair of D sized cells. If you use decent ones you should get many hours of photography from them. Using cells in parallel is no substitute for using larger cells.