I forgot to mention that you could also snake some really thin wires or some sort of flat conductor (that can handle 2-3 amps of current, maybe double up a bunch of thin wires together?) through the gap between the film door and camera instead of opening up your camera. Just make sure they're thin enough to not let light leak through.
How well does using AA batteries over the 600 batteries work? Motor sounds slow, but not sure of how much your batteries were used before filming, and the condition of your camera. Also, good call on feeding the wires through the strap hole. For some reason, I never thought of that. Beats drilling through the body.
In this video I used rechargeable NiMH batteries which are nominally 1.2v but they can be 1.4-1.5v fresh out of the charger. With regular 1.5v batteries, it's slightly slower than an original 600 battery. You could always use 5 batteries to slightly overvolt the camera. I find that an ejection time of near 1s is ideal. For feeding the wires through the strap hole, some cameras don't have that option and you would need to fish some thinner wires elsewhere like the viewfinder or other seams. I find that 24-28 AWG or any wires that can handle 2-3 amps with an outside diameter less than 1.6mm to work. I don't like permanent modifications to my cameras and actually the wires going into the battery contacts are tied instead of soldered.
@robertw1469 with voltage that low, have you noticed any difference with shutter speeds? I can't imagine the shutter taking much power, but I figured it's still worth the ask. Also, I've tried this with CR2023 batteries (the circular flat ones) thinking a flatter battery would be nicer. I put 4 batteries in it. 2 in series each for 6v (3v each) and the other 2 in parallel with the first 2 to bring up the mAh in order for them to last longer. Using my multimeter, I was at 6v, but for some reason, it would not power my camera. I'm not sure why. Maybe the current was too low? My pos multimeter wouldn't test for current for some reason. So soon I'll try AA batteries.
@@AnAvgJoe With those voltages (4.8-5v) no, I haven't really noticed any difference with shutter speeds and the photos I took looked normal. I did notice that with almost dead 600 batteries (around 5.4v), the camera will seem to work but after taking a picture the shutter clicks and then it dies (nothing else happens). I assume that the battery cannot keep up with the requested current and so the voltage sags a lot and is not enough to power the camera. I'm surprised you're using button cell batteries to power a Polaroid camera as those batteries are meant for low current devices (looks like a max of 100-200ma from a google search). Polaroid cameras use around 1-2 amps for the shutter and motor while over 2 for flash recharging. Have you checked the voltage of the batteries while connected to the camera? I assume the voltage would be quite less than 6v and that the current measuring fuse in your multimeter is blown (like mines). You could get a rough estimate of the current capabilities of a battery by its capacity (usually mAh) or Google it. If you really want to use compact batteries, IDK if AAA batteries are powerful enough (maybe lithium ones like a CR123, but they're pricey), else you can reuse a 600 battery (which misses the point of this mod) or a lithium battery pouch + voltage regulator (which is risky if you don't know how to properly wire them). I used NiMH batteries in this video because I've heard they have much better current output than alkalines.
Great video, I just modified a Sun600 box cam with AAA batteries. I noticed the camera is a little bit slower with the external batteries but it still works great.
I forgot to mention that you could also snake some really thin wires or some sort of flat conductor (that can handle 2-3 amps of current, maybe double up a bunch of thin wires together?) through the gap between the film door and camera instead of opening up your camera. Just make sure they're thin enough to not let light leak through.
How well does using AA batteries over the 600 batteries work? Motor sounds slow, but not sure of how much your batteries were used before filming, and the condition of your camera. Also, good call on feeding the wires through the strap hole. For some reason, I never thought of that. Beats drilling through the body.
In this video I used rechargeable NiMH batteries which are nominally 1.2v but they can be 1.4-1.5v fresh out of the charger. With regular 1.5v batteries, it's slightly slower than an original 600 battery. You could always use 5 batteries to slightly overvolt the camera. I find that an ejection time of near 1s is ideal.
For feeding the wires through the strap hole, some cameras don't have that option and you would need to fish some thinner wires elsewhere like the viewfinder or other seams. I find that 24-28 AWG or any wires that can handle 2-3 amps with an outside diameter less than 1.6mm to work.
I don't like permanent modifications to my cameras and actually the wires going into the battery contacts are tied instead of soldered.
@robertw1469 with voltage that low, have you noticed any difference with shutter speeds? I can't imagine the shutter taking much power, but I figured it's still worth the ask. Also, I've tried this with CR2023 batteries (the circular flat ones) thinking a flatter battery would be nicer. I put 4 batteries in it. 2 in series each for 6v (3v each) and the other 2 in parallel with the first 2 to bring up the mAh in order for them to last longer. Using my multimeter, I was at 6v, but for some reason, it would not power my camera. I'm not sure why. Maybe the current was too low? My pos multimeter wouldn't test for current for some reason. So soon I'll try AA batteries.
@@AnAvgJoe With those voltages (4.8-5v) no, I haven't really noticed any difference with shutter speeds and the photos I took looked normal. I did notice that with almost dead 600 batteries (around 5.4v), the camera will seem to work but after taking a picture the shutter clicks and then it dies (nothing else happens). I assume that the battery cannot keep up with the requested current and so the voltage sags a lot and is not enough to power the camera.
I'm surprised you're using button cell batteries to power a Polaroid camera as those batteries are meant for low current devices (looks like a max of 100-200ma from a google search). Polaroid cameras use around 1-2 amps for the shutter and motor while over 2 for flash recharging. Have you checked the voltage of the batteries while connected to the camera? I assume the voltage would be quite less than 6v and that the current measuring fuse in your multimeter is blown (like mines). You could get a rough estimate of the current capabilities of a battery by its capacity (usually mAh) or Google it.
If you really want to use compact batteries, IDK if AAA batteries are powerful enough (maybe lithium ones like a CR123, but they're pricey), else you can reuse a 600 battery (which misses the point of this mod) or a lithium battery pouch + voltage regulator (which is risky if you don't know how to properly wire them). I used NiMH batteries in this video because I've heard they have much better current output than alkalines.
@@robertw1469 Ah, ok. Good to know, thanks! I'll definitely just go the AA route instead. Thank you for your input! I greatly appreciate it!
Great video, I just modified a Sun600 box cam with AAA batteries. I noticed the camera is a little bit slower with the external batteries but it still works great.