Kodak DCS ,NC charger substitute.

Discuss older Nikon-based Kodak digital SLRs, including DCS 100, DCS 200, NC2000, DCS 400/600/700-series, etc. Ask questions, post general comments, anecdotes, reviews and user tips.
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I ♥ DCS
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Kodak DCS ,NC charger substitute.

Post by I ♥ DCS »

I new the DCS wolrd but a found a strange thing.Most DCS and nc 2000 cameras sold on ebay without the charger and other accessories.Somewhat understand the accessories but neglect the battery charger is ridiculous.
So does anyone have a specific of substitute charger?
NikonWeb
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Re: Kodak DCS ,NC charger substitute.

Post by NikonWeb »

Welcome to the vintage Kodak DSLR forum. Unfortunately, many of the old DCS charges are probably lost or thrown away over the years. eBay is probably the best place to find a charger these days. Here's the text printed on the original charger label:

ELPAC POWER SYSTEMS
MODEL: MI2815 POWER SUPPLY
INPUT: AC 95 - 250V 47 - 63Hz 0.6A
OUTPUT: 15VDC 1.90A

Good luck!

Jarle
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Re: Kodak DCS ,NC charger substitute.

Post by Ashley_Pomeroy »

A few of the older posts at DPReview and one of the articles here mention recelling the old battery packs, because apparently they contain regular rechargeable AA batteries connected together with some electronics. This applies equally to the early DCS cameras (including the NC2000) and the later models which had slide-out battery packs. It would be fascinating if somebody has an old forum post or diagram that explains how to do this.

I have tried cracking open one of my DCS 560 battery packs - it no longer holds a charge - but despite jamming a screwdriver into it I couldn't get it open! It looks as if it just slides open, but no. I could see some cells inside, they were green.

As I understand it the DCS 200 and 315/330 used standard AAs. Of that lot it would be interesting to see if the DCS 330 is any good, but it doesn't seem to have attracted the same following as the other models, perhaps because it looks a bit toy-like.

I remember reading somewhere that the charger for one of the Nikon F5's battery options - it took AAs, but also a rechargeable battery pack - would also work with the D1 / D1x batteries, and I wonder if there's something similar for the old Kodaks. An old video camera charger, perhaps, with the exact same specification.

EDIT: That would be the MH-19, a two-battery charger that charges up the F5's battery pack and also batteries for the D1(h/x), D100, and D200 with an adapter. But it's no cheaper than the standard MH-16 charger, so my dreams of picking buying ten of them for $100 and selling them on eBay again for $100 a piece is shattered.
Stan Disbrow
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Re: Kodak DCS ,NC charger substitute.

Post by Stan Disbrow »

Hi,

No, the Nikon battery chargers are very different than the Kodak ones, so there's no good way to make one work - short of redesigning the entire thing, that is!

The later Kodak 5xx, 6xx, & 7xx series all use the same charger. This consists of a simple AC-DC power supply that plugs into an separate battery charger base where all the charge control circuitry is inside the charger base.

The Nikon chargers all contain the control circuitry inside the power supply housing, so you plug into the battery pack directly.

The Kodak packs have six cells in them, an overcurrent auto-resetting circuit breaker and a thermistor (sends pack temperature to the charger control circuitry). They're pretty basic. The very early packs were NiCd, but were replaced with NiMH and those are about all we'll see at this point.

The older Kodak cameras (prior to the 5xx series) all had NiCd battery packs built inside the camera body itself. As I recall, also six cells with a circuit breaker and thermistor. Those use just an AC to DC power supply - the Elpac one mentioned already. The charge control circuitry is part of the Kodak board inside the cameras.

If one opens up the camera, the pack is easily removed. One can take that to any of these battery specialty shops - I use Batteries Plus - and they can rebuild the pack. I used to do this myself, but it's actually cheaper to take the pack into the store than it is to buy the cells retail and rebuild them myself.

Elpac was a maker of small DC power supplies for all sorts of portable electronics makers, not just Kodak. The ones Kodak used were not specific in any way to Kodak, unlike the later (5xx and newer) units. So, they're always available on eBay - all you have to do is watch for a week or so and one will turn up.

The charger power supplies and actual charger units for the later Kodaks seem to have dried up, unless one buys another camera that comes with a charger in the bundle. I see a lot of chargerless cameras out there, too. I think a lot of them were separated from their chargers and the chargers sold off first for some odd reason.

I know I'm guilty of that myself. I have three Kodak bodies: a 560, a 760 and a 720x and only one charger at this point. I had two chargers, but one went to Jarle some time back when he picked up a 720x without a charger. I also picked up my 720x sans charger. For that model, I bet they were once used in photojournalism and things got split up and sold in lots to then eventually find their way separately to eBay.

Battery packs for the later model Kodaks are readily available on eBay, so I would not fool with rebuilding them at this point. The last few I picked up off of eBay within the last year were priced some 25% less than the cost of rebuilding.

Note, too, that there are *two* power supplies out there for the newer Kodak units. One is used with the battery charger, and the other is used to power the camera without needing a battery pack (i.e. studiio use). The camera power supply and the charger power supply are not interchangeable. I see the camera power supplies on eBay all the time, so if anyone needs one of those they are out there.

later!

Stan
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nikonnl
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Re: Kodak DCS ,NC charger substitute.

Post by nikonnl »

Hi,
concerning the availability of new batteries for older Kodak DCS cameras one could try batteryupgrade.com. They sell new batteries from DCS 520 and up. Volyageconverters.com in Canada is selling all kinds of AC-adapters. Of course you can make an AC-adapter yourself, as long as you know the input voltage and ampere of the camera. I once had a Mannesmann/Multiblitz flash-set with older wet batteries. Respecting the 110/220 Volt-area and the input/output data of the set I bought a transformer and the right plugs. Again, respecting the capacitor I had a great studio flash. For older Nikon D-SLR's like the D1-series you can find cheap (and more powerful) batteries on the german ebay (like blue-handy or akku-kaufhaus; since I live in Europe).
Regards,
Nico

http://www.nicovandijk.net
D1/D1X/D1H/D2H/D2X etc.
sfpeter
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Re: Kodak DCS ,NC charger substitute.

Post by sfpeter »

I power my DCS 315/330/620X on a Quantum QB2 external battery, and the DCS-420 I briefly had was able to work with a QB5+, but it needed to have the internal battery present with at least somewhat usable cells as it's feeding through the AC charger port. It's a little clumsy having to keep the battery clipped on your belt and watch out for the cord, and every time you power the camera on you get the "date/time incorrect" message, but otherwise the Quantum batteries work pretty, easily giving several hundred shots on a charge.
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