Click Frame for BP-511 Type Camera Batteries by enif

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

Canon BP-511 type camera batteries are very common, as the are used by a wide range of Canon photo and film cameras, such as the EOS, PowerShot G, and MV series. The BP-511A is a 2-cell Li-Ion battery with a nominal voltage of 7.4V and a usable voltage range between max. 8.4V when fully charged and about 6V when empty. Besides the two Li-Ion cells the battery also contains a small PCB which protects the cells against overcharging, deep discharging and short circuits. The capacity of the BP-511A is 1390mAh, but many compatible variants are also available with capacities ranging from 800mAh (BP-508) over 1100mAh (BP-511) up to 3500mAh (BP-535). Besides the original products from Canon, many compatible third party batteries and chargers are sold at a much lower price.
Given the easy availability, the high capacity and the fully built-in protection circuitry, these batteries are also ideal for use in DIY project. The 8.4V full charge voltage and the flat Li-Ion discharge curve mean that these batteries can almost always be used instead of conventional 9V batteries. However, in order to use these batteries in you own project, it is necessary to somehow connect the battery to your electronics...
The goal of this project is to provide a battery holder in the form of an adapter frame which allow the easy integration of BP-511 type batteries into hobby projects. The frame has locking slides which fit the rails on the battery and a "clip click" mechanism hold the battery firmly in the frame. The provided SCAD file is fully parametrized and commented. Two ready-to-print STL versions of the battery frame are also provided: one with a closed back which can also be used as battery cover, an the other one with openings and screw holes for mounting the battery onto some carrier.
The concrete reason which made me start this project were my digital multimeters, which just did not work long enough on those little 9 Volt block batteries, especially the rechargeable ones. So I was looking for some way to replace these by something rechargeable which has higher capacity. As I had still some old BP-511 and BP508 batteries lying around from my old Canon MV600 video camera, I checked them out and was surprised to find out that they already contain inside the battery all the protection circuitry needed to make safe use of Li-Ion batteries in DIY projects, and besides their voltage range was an ideal fit for replacing to replacing the 9 Volt PP3s. Even old batteries which you no longer use with your camera because of degraded capacity can still be very useful for powering your DIY projects.