Camera Battery Supply

[Psychlist]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this but it does involve an audio visual item.
Please excuse my total ignorance of electrics/electronics.Does a 3.2Ah battery supply 3.2 amps for 1 hour or 1 amp for 3.2 hours?Or nothing like that!
Specifically,if I cut off the car adapter of this camera which is 5 volt 500mA & attach straight to a 6 volt 3.2Ah battery,would it work or damage it?If it works without damaging it,how long would the battery last before needing a charge?

 

[bernardgreen]

3.2 amps for 1 hour or 1 amp for 3.2 hours?

In theory Yes..... In practise No

The rated capacity of most batteries is the capacity when discharge at a specified rate often quoted in hours

For example 3.2 Ah at 20 hours rate would provide 0.16 amps for twenty hours ( for 20 * 0.16 = 3.2 ) before the voltage dropped to the end point

The same battery discharged at 1.6 Amps would probably be at the end point voltage in less than 2 hours. The higher current creates some neating in the battery which wastes enegry

The same battery discharged at 0.016 Amps would probably be at the end point voltage in less than 200 hours. The natural leakage inside the battery loses some of the energy.

The end point is the voltage below which the battery is at risk of being damaged due to being over discharged.

which is 5 volt 500mA & attach straight to a 6 volt 3.2Ah battery,would it work or damage it

Putting 6 volts into a device design to operate on a 5 volt supply is very high risk of damage. The device may be designed to able to reduce the 6 volts to 5 volts in which case it will be OK Or might be designed to depend on the supply voltage being 5 volts and unable to cope with a 6 volts supply.

I would suspect this very low cost camera has a minimul design and thus depends on the supply being 5 volts.

 

[Dave54]

Either use a higher voltage battery and a 5V output voltage regulator circuit off ebay (most of them need the input to be a couple of volts over the required output voltage)
Or get something purpose made for whatever the job is you want it for. Most of the time (at least in my experience) "repurposing" things like this ends up as more trouble than it's worth.

 

[Psychlist]

Thanks for the replies,chaps.The reason for not using a 12 volt battery with the existing adapter is simply down to weight.I want to use it on my cycle with the battery in my backpack.Looks like I'm going to have to do some Spider Shepherd exercises then.

 

[flameport]

I cut off the car adapter of this camera which is 5 volt 500mA & attach straight to a 6 volt 3.2Ah battery

If the camera has a USB socket for the 5V power, then just buy a powerbank such as this one: http://www.ebuyer.com/723832
and plug the camera in using a standard USB lead.

 

[motorbiking]

18650 lithium Ion Power bank option is the best approach. You can buy them in 1,2,3,4,6 and 8 cell options. I use a twin cell bank on my bike which powers my garmin and phone on endurance races (up to 24hrs riding)
I also have a 4 and 8 cell unit in my sailing grab bag, that will power/recharge a handheld radio, iphone, torch and ipad for about a week.

those in the link are a bit pricey..
If you have an old laptop battery you should find 4-8 18650 cells at around 2.5Ah then ebay for the 18650 holder/supply are about 3 quid. Search for "18650 USB power"