Electronics: AC Adapter for camera.

Hi,
I have a Kodak easyshare c330 wich burns through batteries to quickly.
I was looking around to see if I had an adapter that I could wire up to power this thing. The ratings for the camera are 3v - 2A .
The closest thing I have for the amp requirment is 1.25A, but its a 12V output. Should the 1.25 be enough to meet the 2Amp requirement?

A problem I am just now realising is being the adapter is 12v output, I wired in a universal power converter wich allows me to set the voltage to 3. But on this device its labeled as "Universal 800mA DC/DC" converter. So I assume this converter is lowering the 1250 to 800? Also does the DC/DC interfere with what im trying to achieve using an AC adapter? It actually lights the LCD up on the camera and it even lit the green and red lights up, but if you switch to use the LCD goes dark.

Any ideas if I can get it working? I thought i read that for cameras anyway, amps are most important. Will 12 v fry the camera or is there a built in control?

reply to post by Mailman


Q: Are you looking to charge the batteries in the camera or power the camera?

Ideally you should have rechargable batteries in the camera and a suitable power source to plug into the camera that will do the charging.

If it recommends 3V 2A then that is 2000mA and 800mA is going to charge them a LOT slower.

DO NOT USE 12V directly into the camera!

I collect all the transformers I can every time I go to the local dump, test them when I get home and now have a box of about 20 spare ones of differing power outputs.

NOTE: most power transformers have different supplies that the labels state so do your own measuring and re-label them. I had a couple that were 12V 800mA and they were actually about 650mA!

Amazing what I can now power that used to take batteries, but cameras have tiny-weeny special connection sockets so finding something to connect directly is usually impossible.

Best advice....get a cheap battery charger and at least 4 of the highest mA batteries you can find (2200mA+). Have 2 in the camera and 2 on charge. I use a charger that plugs into the USB port of my computer.

You can probably do it for under 10 bucks.

Or you could just buy the right lead/transformer/charger for the camera if you already have good rechargable batteries in there.

My camera is exactly the same, and unless the batteries are freshly fully charged it just doesn't want to know. Annoying as hell when you just want to take a quick snap and when you hit the power button all you get is a blinking red light!

Luckily I haven't missed any UFOs, but I did miss a pretty snowfall that thawed before I could get the damn thing working.

Good luck, and don't blow it up.

reply to post by Mailman


If you have a spare USB cable you can make a lead that will give a bit more than 5v, it will be fine to charge that camera.

The 2 middle connections are the data - cross (short) those and the computer wont look for a data transfer but will just provide some voltage,,, The two outside connections are your + and -, the casing it also -. If you have a multi meter it's really very simple to find out which one is which - if you don't you can also use an LED from something for a continuity check.