Powering an IP camera with a battery

Thread Starter

hooshies

Joined Mar 15, 2013
2
Hello all,

Let me begin by saying that I am a relative noob with circuits and electronics, so please go easy.

I am attempting to power an IP camera using a battery (to make the setup wireless/mobile). With the camera connected to a wall outlet using the supplied AC adapter, I measured approximately 4.9V and 3.2A being drawn during use.

I initially attempted to power the camera with 3 1.2V AA batteries; the camera would turn on, but would not function fully. The second attempt was to connect 6 1.2V AA batteries in parallel (3 in each series) to increase the amps to roughly 3.0 (the batteries are rated for 1500 mA). Same result.

After doing some research, I found a power converter that advertises a regulated 5V 3A output (PDF link). I set up the circuit in the PDF linked, and tested the circuit using various loading conditions. With various voltage inputs (tried everything from 6-20V), the voltage output was consistently 5V, and the amps varied depending on the load.

I then connected the circuit to the camera, and set the power supply to 12V. Again, the camera turns on, but does not function fully (it is an IP camera that has pan-tilt-zoom, and most likely has two internal servo motors for actuating the camera). I have yet to measure the volt/amps being drawn by the camera through the circuit, but I am confident the circuit is working properly, and should be delivering 3A (would the lacking 0.2A make a difference)?

Also, if the 0.2A does make a difference, how can I modify the circuit to allow for higher amps?

I am open to other solutions, granted they are relatively cheap.

Thanks for your help in advance!
 
Last edited:

kubeek

Joined Sep 20, 2005
5,794
First, batteries are not rated in mA but in mAh, which states their capacity and will not have much in common with the current they can deliver.

I am attempting to power an IP camera using a battery (to make the setup wireless/mobile). With the camera connected to a wall outlet using the supplied AC adapter, I measured approximately 4.9V and 3.2A being drawn during use.
That is a bit over 15W of load, and that is a lot. Even if you were to be able to do it with those 1500mAh batteries, the would last probably less than 20 minutes. For how long do you want the camera to run?
 

Thread Starter

hooshies

Joined Mar 15, 2013
2
The camera only needs to run for about 10-20 minutes, so that is not a major concern.

The batteries are rated in mAh, but if I understand correctly, a battery rated for 1500 mAh will theoretically deliver 1500 mA for 1 hour...? If that is the case, would connecting two (or two series of 3) of these batteries be able to deliver 3000 mA?
 
Last edited:

kubeek

Joined Sep 20, 2005
5,794
No, batteries in series would deliver 1500mAh but at higher voltage. You would neet to put them in parallel to get better capacity, this will also lower the internal resistance of the batteries, so the will be able to deliver larger current.
 
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