Archive 2023 · Carry case for LOTS of batteries

GroovyGeek
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Carry case for LOTS of batteries

The TT battery cases are nice and perfect for carrying a couple of batteries on a short trip. But what about hauling LOTS of batteries on a backpacking trip? My Z6 is quite battery thirsty, so I need to have 10+ batteries for a 7+ day trip. Dabbling with drones does not make it any better because you are now adding 3-5 drone batteries.

This being a ton of weight aside, there is the practical question of how to carry it all. Most photo oriented cases are in needlessly padded, bulky and expensive. In the past I have used cheap toiletry storage pouches from Wally's but those become impractical for the number of batteries in question.

Edited on Feb 18, 2023 at 01:47 PM · View previous versions

Feb 18, 2023 at 11:48 AM

EB-1
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Carry case for LOTS of batteries

I'm not familiar with the Cardy case, but I use three similar to these.
https://www.amazon.com/Neewer-Battery-en-el14-en-el15-Suitable/dp/B01M7V25T6

EBH

Feb 18, 2023 at 12:00 PM

chez
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Carry case for LOTS of batteries

Why not take a power bank rather than all those batteries?

Feb 18, 2023 at 12:01 PM

GroovyGeek
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Carry case for LOTS of batteries

Valid question. Each Nikon battery is 1900mAh and weighs 2.7 oz. A 20mAh bank weighs 12 oz and a Nightcore USB charging unit is 2.3oz, so about half the weight and volume.

This is one of those "duh why did I not think of it" moments. I am now heading to the corner to be ashamed of myself.

chez wrote:
Why not take a power bank rather than all those batteries?

Feb 18, 2023 at 12:31 PM

EB-1
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Carry case for LOTS of batteries

chez wrote:
Why not take a power bank rather than all those batteries?

GroovyGeek wrote:
Valid question. Each Nikon battery is 1900mAh and weighs 2.7 oz. A 20mAh bank weighs 12 oz and a Nightcore USB charging unit is 2.3oz, so about half the weight and volume.

This is one of those "duh why did I not think of it" moments. I am now heading to the corner to be ashamed of myself.

The weight of power bank and charger will almost always be more due to the extra weight of the power inverter and losses in inverting+charging efficiency. The 20Ah power bank will charge maybe 4+ batteries, not 10. Keep in mind that the power bank current capacity is based on half of the voltage of the Nikon battery.

EBH

Feb 18, 2023 at 12:45 PM

GroovyGeek
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Carry case for LOTS of batteries

EB-1 wrote:
The weight of power bank and charger will almost always be more due to the extra weight of the power inverter and losses in inverting+charging efficiency. The 20Ah power bank will charge maybe 4+ batteries, not 10. Keep in mind that the power bank current capacity is based on half of the voltage of the Nikon battery.

EBH

There are no inverter losses with the Nitecore charger, it is a DC to DC charger and it charges two batteries at a time.
https://www.nitecorestore.com/Nitecore-UNK2-Charger-for-Nikon-EN-EL15-p/chg-nite-unk2.htm

But valid point on the voltage. I need to do some tests on capacity and timing.

Feb 18, 2023 at 01:50 PM

EB-1
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Carry case for LOTS of batteries

There are always losses, in this case four main areas.

Battery discharge in the power bank
Battery charge in the EN-EL15c
Inverter (boost) in the power bank (~3.7-5V)
Inverter (boost) in the Nitecore (~5-8.4V)

Between all of those you might get 70% efficiency, but it needs to be determined.
I have observed substantial variability in power banks and my software has shown some weird results, especially at higher loads. If you don't have access to specialized equipment for unit testing then just test the process fully.

I did the math for Canon which has a very similar battery and it just did not make sense due to the weight of the power bank. Risk is also difficult to mitigate; for example a power bank failure would be more damaging to total capacity than individual batteries that are less likely to fail.

EBH

Feb 18, 2023 at 02:44 PM

LCPete
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Carry case for LOTS of batteries

I wouldn’t want to use a power bank instead of extra batteries in that situation
I a similar situation took a load of batteries and found room in my camera bag for them

Feb 19, 2023 at 03:47 AM


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