... waiting until the power bank is empty is the wrong way to go. A backup battery doesn't help either. In order to guarantee a real long-term power supply, you have to change the power bank while there is still enough power available.

... waiting until the power bank is empty is the wrong way to go.

Certainly, if you can influence it.
But I don't always stand by it. I also often leave the camera running on its own.

A backup battery doesn't help either.

It certainly helps in the event of a total loss of photos and damage to the camera.
In my case, the mirror of the reflex camera got stuck because a lot of current is drawn during movement.
There is a reason why the Case Relay has a backup battery.
The backup battery basically does the same thing that the built-in battery does. The voltage drops slowly and the camera shuts down in good time before the battery is completely empty.

... how do you handle that with your „preferred solution for powering my camera“
https://forum.lrtimelapse.com/Thread-pow...-powerbank
do you also use a battery?

This post was last modified: 2021-03-20, 17:20 by c_joerg.

You learn with experience ...
Last time I had batteries in parallel.
[Image: https://live.staticflickr.com/8135/28872...22c6_b.jpg]

Admittedly, not particularly handy. I will now hang two 18620 batteries on the output.

This post was last modified: 2021-03-20, 17:24 by Gunther.

Just to avoid any unsolicited fear for other users... From my experience with Nikon Kameras (dslr and mirrorless) I've already pulled the battery / power hundreds of times during several tests while shooting and not once I've got a corrupted memory card. Yes, the shutter then might get stuck and you need to press the shutter release once to get the camera going again, but never anything bad happened.
However, I can only speak for Nikon. This might be different with other brands.

Of course if you are recording video, the video file might get corrupted when not finalized correctly and also with long exposures the file that is being recorded in the moment the camera goes off will mostly be unusable.

Sent mobile...

From my experience with Nikon Kameras (dslr and mirrorless) I've already pulled the battery / power hundreds of times during several tests while shooting and not once I've got a corrupted memory card. ?

But you can't really compare that to turning off a power bank.
Taking out the battery is no problem with Canon either. There is a switch in the camera that shuts down the camera before removing the battery.
Even removing the power supply is usually not a problem, because you usually don't catch the point in time when the camera is triggered or the card is written.

However, the power bank switched off when there was a greater demand for power. The shutter triggers the shutdown of the power bank. This means that the time that is most unfavorable is almost exactly the point. The probability is therefore significantly greater.

So far I have had data loss and a hanging mirror. The one with the mirror didn't sound good.
There's a DrLapser on YouTube. He had data loss twice with a power bank.

This discussion has nothing to do with the actual topic. One final comment to „I will now hang two 18620 batteries on the output.“
Nobody should recreate that! I consider Li-Io batteries to be connected to a voltage without a charge controller be very dangerous.

This discussion has nothing to do with the actual topic.

You starts with off topic. The topic is ‚Case Relay‘

One final comment to „I will now hang two 18620 batteries on the output.“
Nobody should recreate that! I consider Li-Io batteries to be connected to a voltage without a charge controller be very dangerous.

I'm just talking about 18620 with built in protection electronics. They are short-circuit proof and have an overcharge protection.
That is also what is built into the Case Relay.

This post was last modified: 2021-07-11, 10:58 by storm303.

I forgot to ever come back and share more details and experience with my DIY solution that I lightly mentioned in my last post in this thread.

I have been using this power setup for a while now and it has been so much better and cheaper than the Case Relay that I spent $150 US on. I now have so much battery capacity that I don't need a backup, but I can charge one battery from another if necessary. This whole setup has been reliable from sea level to 13,000 ft (3,950 meters) and temperatures of 10-110°F (approx -10 to 40°C).

For my new timelapse power solution, I'm using TalentCell 12V battery banks (no auto shutoff, they are either switched off or on by the physical switch) that are 11,000mAh at 12V, or 26,400mAh at 5V. For camera voltage I am using inexpensive LM2596 based DC to DC buck converters for a 12V to ~7.6V output and cheap dummy battery adapters. I only needed to adjust the regulators output with a screwdriver on the potentiometer, and solder on the correct DC jacks and receptacles to the circuits and place them in a small plastic case in line of my power cables. The battery banks cost ~$60 US, and the voltage converters a few dollars each (I use circuits based on LM2596 IC but with improved protection circuits). The dummy batteries that were identical to the expensive Case Relay adapter were $15 US and even use better wire. The battery banks have discharge and charge protection circuits built in and while they have a lot of capacity are still quite portable. I can run 12V, 9V, or 5V from the battery bank outputs, and make any voltage needed with the small 5A DC converters inline that took all of four quick soldered wires and a little plastic box to make. The battery banks also charge while supplying power using a Y adapter, from 12V source higher than the current voltage, which allows for longer run time (similar to case relay but more parallel). I have never needed this but it is a useful option. All products available on Amazon or similar retailers.

With this new setup, I've had zero issues with either my Canon R5 or 5D4 and an NMX motion control system with up to 3 motors in all environments, and can run that setup for nearly 7 hours in the cold, or 10 hours at more normal temps while using motion control, longer without motion control. I spent slightly more than the price of one Case Relay with Canon adapter on the whole set of two large battery banks, two dummy batteries, the voltage converter boards, some DC jack pigtails to solder to the DC-DC converter circuits, and some plastic inline boxes to put them on the power cable. It is more flexible, more robust by far, and more customizable.

Flawless performance and I will never look back at the Case Relay debacle.

I just read your ongoing report on the Case Relay disappointment. Seems you have figured out a much better DIY solution though. Any chance you might share an "how-to" build instructions for the rest of us to try? I'd be very interested, as the Case Relay system is marketed nicely, but sound like a risky $150 proposition at best. Many thanks in advance.

– Hans Rupert