It’s perhaps not fair, but even if you have the best idea for a compelling video, few things will make people switch off than poor lighting. Good light and plenty of it is the order of the day when it comes to video production, and luckily there are many affordable options out there. Affordable, that is, right up to the point where you need batteries for remote shoots, in which case you’d better be ready to open the purse strings.
When [Dane Kouttron] ran into the battery problem with his video lighting setup, he fought back with these cheap and clever cordless tool battery pack adapters. His lights were designed to use Sony NP-F mount batteries, which are pretty common in the photography trade but unforgivably expensive, at least for Sony-branded packs. Having access to 20 volt DeWalt battery packs, he combined an off-the-shelf battery adapter with a 3D printed mount that slips right onto the light. Luckily, the lights have a built-in DC-DC converter that accepts up to 40 volts, so connecting the battery through a protection diode was a pretty simple exercise. The battery pack just slots right in and keeps the lights running for portable shoots.
Of course, if you don’t already have DeWalt batteries on hand, it might just be cheaper to buy the Sony batteries and be done with it. Then again, there are battery adapters for pretty much every cordless tool brand out there, so you should be able to adapt the design. We’ve also seen cross-brand battery adapters which might prove useful, too.
Awesome writeup!
I really liked how simple the process is. I have one of these light fixtures and was thinking of something similar. Seems really simple and straightforward. Awesome work!
Awesome work!
I love how simple this is, i have the same light-stand. Looks like the parts are also fairly easy to come by to copy this!
I’ve got a Viltrox 200t which has a similar looking setup. So, critical point – the sony packs in question may be expensive, but they’re also simple, which means I’m still happy to have that as a standard and just never buy the real sony packs. And at least for mine, there’s enclosures that can hold cylindrical batteries and go into those slots. I have one such which is for AA’s, and two of those would work, but I would rather either use 14500’s and rewire it slightly / add blanks to the adapter (which would mean pitiful battery life), or find or make some that take 18650’s or 21700’s or something. You lose the BMS of the drill batteries by just throwing bare cells at it, but if you really want cheap and standard, bare cells are the way to go.
The sony stuff is 2s lithium ion each and the panel puts two in series for 4s aka a range of 16.8 to about 12 volts, or about 14.5-ish nominal and there was no special communication or anything going on. You can wire up a power supply directly to those pins (skip the jumper in between) if your barrel jack broke like mine did. Since this person’s particular light supports such a high input voltage, a laptop power supply or usb-pd power would work fine even without PPS capability. So you could use a usb power bank if you want ease of use, or bare cells, or come up with your own ideas. Oh, and you can probably just run the power thru the barrel jack if you want; they likely have the same limits. Would still advise the diode though, potentially.
Thanks for the feedback, you’re right the sony battery formfactor does have it’s positives.
I tried out the offbrand sony packs, but ive had issues with them not surviving a fall. For whatever reason the mounts on these particular light stands are fiddly, and both sony and offbrand packs seem to dislodge if the light stands get moved. When they fall it’s pretty bad, either the plastics fail or the mating connection points get smushed. The power tool packs, while bulkier, do take a beating.
Ah, interesting. I haven’t dropped mine, but that’d do it. The power tool packs do absolutely expect a greater level of abuse.
The Sony branded packs are pricy, but so are the DeWalt branded ones!
Off-brand Sony packs are cheap and – whilst nowhere near the claimed capacity – very good capacity for the price.
That’s pretty sweet that the XLsemi buck converter has such a wide input voltage range. Lucky! Now you have me checking my camera accessories’ dc-dc’s. I’d gladly switch over to power tool batteries :D
A very important thing to note with DeWalt batteries, there’s not low voltage cutoff. They put that circuit in the tools.
By pure chance I’m about half way through 3D printing an adapter for one at the moment, and my next task is to tackle the cutoff circuit.
Power tool batteries are an excellent source of power, but it’s really important to understand what is and isn’t included saftey/BMS wise with each manufacturer.
There’s a really good teardown for the DeWalt packs here…
https://www.sevarg.net/2016/09/11/dewalt-20v-max-30ah-battery-pack/
It feels like so many DC devices have defaulted to 12V. A higher voltage, with a lower current, improves battery life and should be applauded.
20V is a step in the right direction. I’d prefer 40V (the input limit of the DC-DC chip), and there are plenty of 40V batteries for power tools.
I’ve been looking into the adapters for batteries lately, and I’ve noticed all of the brands have ready made adapters to wire in Aliexpress. When looking to the Lidl Parkside batteries, there is even a bracket that contains that cheapo DC-DC converter panel and screw terminals on it. Talk about handy precise voltage where ever you need it.
Really cool, I had no idea NP-F existed, it seems like one of very few widely accepted cross brand lithium standards. I’m surprised it’s not used outside of photography.
I wish more products would just pick a random other product and copy it rather than invent new battery types and connectors.