Portable Camera Power
3 May 2020
The idea was to create a second purpose for the Li-Ion car jumper battery pack we bought by using it to power our video camera. Unfortunately, the 12V outlet on the pack will not stay on continuously and I didn't find that out until I had built the system and started testing it. So, this project was unsuccessful in its original purpose. However, the adapter is fully functional so maybe I will be able to find another purpose for it.
This is the battery pack. The original idea was to power the camera via the USB-C since the total wattage was high enough. Had I been able to go this route, it would have been a more elegant solution However, I wasn't able to find a good source of information to find out how to do that. So, I went with using the 12V outlet.
In the center is the 12V battery connectors for jumping a car battery. Not the best solution for our application, but it's better than nothing. Note the varying lengths of the cables on the positive and negative connectors.
This is the adapter housing assembly. There are four parts, positive jack, negative jack, voltage regulator housing and, cover. Besides holes for the wires to go through, many of the holes are for air flow for cooling the voltage regulator.
The four printed parts. Besides having a plus and minus symbol on the jacks, I opted to go with color coding because I happened to also have black and red PLA.
The completed adapter. Soldering this was a challenge since the PLA melting temp is much lower than the solder melting temp. The soldering was done by hoping it would reach melting temp before the heat was transferred to the PLA too much. This was only partially successful. After the soldering was done, I had to quickly use a pair of pliers to readjust the PLA and hold it in position while it cooled. You can see some of the melted PLA next to the positive and negative contacts.
Another picture of the completed adapter with the cover in place. Now all I need is to find another use for it.