Battery pack. Which one?

If you would like to post, you'll need to register. Note that if you have a BCG store account, you'll need a new, separate account here (we keep the two sites separate for security purposes).

StarTracker50

StarTracker50

Well-known member
Supporting Member
Marketplace
Member's gallery
OK All,

This is a science project. An interesting thing happened to me while I was photographing the eclipse. Since I knew for a fact that my puny Z8 battery would not handle four plus hours of recording ( shot over 2000 frames), I attached a big block charger (GOOLOO 4000A Peak Car Jump Starter) that is powerful enough to start a car, but has plenty of output ports, even a USB C, which is what I used to hook up to my Z8.

Well, what happened I believe, is that the current drain to charge the Z8, battery + the drain to take pictures was so small that the charging block ASSUMED it was not being used, and kept turning itself OFF every 10-15 minutes or so. Fortunately, I noticed this early on, and avoided a disaster. I kept turning it back on, and the internal battery took care of any periods when it was off.

On the other hand, my (EC Technology Portable Charger 22400mAh) External Battery Pack, High Speed Power Bank, attached to my GoPro did fine for the whole time. Matter of fact, I've used it overnight for Night-Lapse photography and had a bunch if charge left over. I just wasn't sure it was powerful enough for the Z8, and I was already using it for the GoPro.


So, having said all that, have any of you:

1. Used the Z8 or Z9 in this mode?
2. Have you had good luck with a charging block where it hasn't turned OFF during a long photography session?

If you have, any recommendations would be much appreciated.

Regards,

Eddie
 
Member's gallery
i suspect the one which turned off isn’t usb PD and thus wasn’t working

the z8/z9 usb power options are to power the camera from usb OR charge the battery. thus, if the camera was turned on, then it would be powering the camera and it wouldn’t be a trivial drain so wouldn’t turn off based on insufficient draw

and optimal supply will supply 20v @ 3a

IMG_2085.jpeg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
 
Member's gallery
John, thank you. I hadn't thought of the PD aspect of the power supply. I do have an output port that delivers 5, 9, or 12V, but was afraid to use it because I didn't know what it would do to the Z8. I had set it up for battery charge, thinking that as long as the battery stayed charging, the camera would continue to function, but I guess that drain is actually lower than running the camera? Also this charger does not have the logo for USB PD.
 
Member's gallery
generally speaking it should be pretty safe to plug a usb power source into the z9!pd port.

usb and usb pd negotiate power levels so you shouldn’t get more power than the camera can handle or anything, but it also doesn’t mean it will find a combination that actually will work for the camera

most pd supplies will offer a variety of voltage/ amperage combos and they will attempt to agree on the highest value that works for both

often a device will be able to operate on a variety of combinations

generally speaking if a device doesn’t say PD it probably doesn’t do PD

note also not all cables can handle all power levels, so you’ll want to use a cable that is known to support pd. for this application you probably only need 15 watts or so, but at higher power devices you need to start paying attention to the specific power capability of the cable

and of course you need the pd setting in the camera enabled to run the camera from usb
 
Member's gallery
i didn’t try to verify these all could really power the camera, but the little plug lit up for them all. all these power sources did different voltage/amp combos

anker prime 200
IMG_2687.jpeg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.


nitecore 10,000
IMG_2688.jpeg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.


nitecore 20,000
IMG_2689.jpeg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
 
Member's gallery
John Navitsky said:
note also not all cables can handle all power levels, so you’ll want to use a cable that is known to support pd. for this application you probably only need 15 watts or so, but at higher power devices you need to start paying attention to the specific power capability of the cable
Click to expand...
And yes, both my ~3ft cables support 240W. Pricey little meter you have there! ❤️
 
Member's gallery
Member's gallery
I've bought the Anker 26,800mAh one. It will charge an 18D battery in about 1.75 hours from about 20% when i connect it to the MH-33 charger that came with the Z9 but I also bought a 60wPD USB C TO USB C (6 inch) cable to use with it.

I get able 5 or 6 full charges per fully charged battery bank. This shows me to charge a battery is it on the field without needing to plug it into the Z9 and have to deal with that while shooting
 
Member's gallery
Member's gallery
I use the Anker 537 Power Bank (PowerCore 24K for Laptop) which has a capacity of 24,000 mAh. It has 2 usb c and 1 usb a ports. It can fast charge and has PD (power delivery) support with 45W capacity for one usb c and 20W for the other. I can charge my MacBook Air M1 and my Nikon Z8 at the same time when used with PD cables.
An important specification that often only appears in the small print or in the even smaller print on the back of the device is the power capacity rating, quoted in Wh (Watt hours) which for this device is 88.56 Wh.
Very large power banks may not be allowed on a plane and it seems that where they are above 100Wh and less than 160Wh, permission may be required from the airline. I have just looked online for the rules and am still confused. Suggest you check if flying with one of the very large power banks.
 
Member's gallery
All, I use 3 Nikon batteries in my Z8 and rotate through them when I need to. I rarely use more than 2 on a shoot. I am easily able to carry them in a Velcro carrier attached to my belt and don’t have extra stuff hanging on the camera. I don’t do much video. So I must be missing something. What is the advantage of using a big, bulky external PD device?
 
Member's gallery
Suggested uses of bulky external PD device: My Anker 537 weights 500 grams.
  1. If you are off grid for many days without access to mains power or the USB port in a car, you can use the PD device to recharge multiple batteries. You could probably charge about 5 or 6 EN-EL15C batteries. You can do this by plugging the device into the USB C PD socket on your camera and can even recharge batteries while on the move ie hiking. You could buy multiple EN-EL15C batteries but that would be a very expensive option as my Anker 537 battery bank costs about the same as one Nikon battery.
  2. If you are doing a long time-lapse you can run your camera directly from the battery bank and be fairly certain that your camera will not run out of power during the time-lapse.
  3. If you are shooting video you can record continuously for a longer time by running your camera directly off a battery bank, if you have a big enough memory card.
  4. If you use a battery bank to power your camera you can reduce the risk of overheating when shooting stills at a high rate over a long period or when recording raw video.
  5. Security and peace of mind for those with a 'worse case scenario' disposition.
If you have ready access to a power supply and can easily recharge your batteries, the possible advantages listed about may no longer all be relevant.
 
Member's gallery
Michael Bisset said:
Suggested uses of bulky external PD device: My Anker 537 weights 500 grams.
  1. If you are off grid for many days without access to mains power or the USB port in a car, you can use the PD device to recharge multiple batteries. You could probably charge about 5 or 6 EN-EL15C batteries. You can do this by plugging the device into the USB C PD socket on your camera and can even recharge batteries while on the move ie hiking. You could buy multiple EN-EL15C batteries but that would be a very expensive option as my Anker 537 battery bank costs about the same as one Nikon battery.
  2. If you are doing a long time-lapse you can run your camera directly from the battery bank and be fairly certain that your camera will not run out of power during the time-lapse.
  3. If you are shooting video you can record continuously for a longer time by running your camera directly off a battery bank, if you have a big enough memory card.
  4. If you use a battery bank to power your camera you can reduce the risk of overheating when shooting stills at a high rate over a long period or when recording raw video.
  5. Security and peace of mind for those with a 'worse case scenario' disposition.
If you have ready access to a power supply and can easily recharge your batteries, the possible advantages listed about may no longer all be relevant.
Click to expand...
Thanks, Michael. Got it now.
 
Member's gallery
Jadiehl said:
What is the advantage of using a big, bulky external PD device?
Click to expand...
Jim when I shot the last eclipse 2024, (see my pics) I couldn't afford to be changing batteries at a critical time like Totality when several different things could be happening in the span of a few minutes. Also, my time-lapse video on my GoPro was continuous shooting for over four hours. I had a power pack for that as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top