Sony Battery Charging Question (NP-FS10/DSC-P5)

[Simian Brain]

Hi All.

I recently acquired a Sony DSC-P5 with NP-FS10 battery, but no charger
or AC adapter. Since I am super poor I would like to jury-rig an old
3.5 V AC adapter to charge battery / power the camera.

The problem is the battery and camera have 3 power prongs. The pins on
the battery read + C - on the contacts. Anyone have any suggestions
as to how I could rig a charger until I can purchase one?

Thanks!

 

[Jerry G.]

You have to be careful that the current is properly controlled. The third
pin is usually for the temperature sensing to avoid damaging the battery, or
causing a safety issue with it. On some batteries, the third pin is also for
the charge status reference. These batteries can explode if severely
overcharged.

You would have to research out the proper charging current, and overhead
voltage for the battery, and then make the necessary circuit to control the
current. It would be best to have a safety sensing for the battery charge
condition.

If the battery is rated at 3.5 V, the overhead voltage will be higher by
usually about 50%. The charge current will have to be controlled for the
specific battery. The dedicated charger will have an auto-cut-off when the
battery is charged. Many of these chargers go in to a sustain or maintenance
type mode when the battery is charged. The chargers for these types of
batteries are rather sophisticated, and not a simple DC current source.


--

Jerry G.
=====

Hi All.

I recently acquired a Sony DSC-P5 with NP-FS10 battery, but no charger
or AC adapter. Since I am super poor I would like to jury-rig an old
3.5 V AC adapter to charge battery / power the camera.

The problem is the battery and camera have 3 power prongs. The pins on
the battery read + C - on the contacts. Anyone have any suggestions
as to how I could rig a charger until I can purchase one?

Thanks!

 

[Simian Brain]

You have to be careful that the current is properly controlled. The third
pin is usually for the temperature sensing to avoid damaging the battery, or
causing a safety issue with it. On some batteries, the third pin is also for
the charge status reference. These batteries can explode if severely
overcharged.

You would have to research out the proper charging current, and overhead
voltage for the battery, and then make the necessary circuit to control the
current. It would be best to have a safety sensing for the battery charge
condition.

If the battery is rated at 3.5 V, the overhead voltage will be higher by
usually about 50%. The charge current will have to be controlled for the
specific battery. The dedicated charger will have an auto-cut-off when the
battery is charged. Many of these chargers go in to a sustain or maintenance
type mode when the battery is charged. The chargers for these types of
batteries are rather sophisticated, and not a simple DC current source.

Well, I was thinking more along the lines of using the camera's
charging circuitry to charge the battery while temporarily running the
camera on the adapter. There is a third prong on the adapter socket on
the camera, so I assume it corresponds directly with the third prong
on the battery. If that is the case, then running the camera at
whatever voltage and current the battery puts out ought to be enough,
or am I assuming too much?

 

[none]

Hi All.

I recently acquired a Sony DSC-P5 with NP-FS10 battery, but no charger
or AC adapter. Since I am super poor I would like to jury-rig an old
3.5 V AC adapter to charge battery / power the camera.

The problem is the battery and camera have 3 power prongs. The pins on
the battery read + C - on the contacts. Anyone have any suggestions
as to how I could rig a charger until I can purchase one?

Thanks!

I'm not familiar with the NP-FS10 batteries but will try and help if
you can give a bit more info.(I have a ton of the NP-XX 6volt nicads
that were used with the Sony 8mm camcorders that I use for powering
various electronic devices.)
Give me the voltage and mAh rating of the battery as well as what type
of battery it is, Nicad, Nimh, lion etc....

On another note using an AC adapter is problematic at best.(You could
use one to trickle charge the battery up if it's a nicad, not so if
it's a Lion.
If Nicad try using one with the same voltage rating as the
battery(slightly higher can be used as well.) with a low to mid mAh
range.
I use 6-7.5 volt wall-warts to charge 6volt clusters of nicads. The
milliamp rating varies from 300 to as much as 750. Wouldn't advise
going any higher though and you do have to limit the time on the
charger to avoid cooking the batteries.(Nicad tolerates overcharging
to a degree as do Nimh to a lesser degree.)
If they're Nimh use a very low charge rate, certainly no higher than
100mAh and keep a close check on the temp of the battery.

Your best bet is to look on E-bay for an adapter/charger or try your
local Goodwill or thrift shop for one.