Motorcycle GoPro / Gimbal Charging Solution
Discussion
I'm hoping someone can help an electrical numpty work out what is likely very simple.
I have a Feiyu Tech WG3 wearable gimbal which is used with a GoPro Hero 3+. The gimbal will charge the GoPro via a cable but will only last a short while. Also, I found the gimbal batteries didn't last too long either to be fair. A nice solution would either be a direct plug in to the bike battery (as long as it doesn't kill it) or use of a portable power bank housed on the bike, like under the tail. The gimbal has a micro USB port on its base.
I found one description of how this was done on another forum and I've reproduced it below. It makes some sense to me but I have no idea on whether it's best to do the step up thing or just get a 9v power bank or whether I can connect to the bike's battery or not. From the other forum:
"The Feiyu Tech WG3 battery lasts about 4hrs, but if you use the little cable to power the GoPro from it, it is gone in 15min. I made a 5V to 8.4V step up converter that I connect to a EasyAcc Monster USB power bank, gives me 8h of juice, no stops to change batteries anymore. I do have to stop once after 4h of 4k/30 video on a 128GB uSD card. The WG3 micro USB connector takes up to 9V and passes it to the same internal switcher as if it were the batteries (diodes to parallel them), so as long as it doesn't go below 6.5V or so, it can power the gimbal and the GoPro camera. I had to take 5V power from 2 USB outputs from the EasyAcc, as it was shutting down from a single (peaks over 2.4A trigger the protection), specially going down stairs with lots of gimbal fast torque activity. I also tried a 9V power bank (Amazon, XTPower MP-10000 External Battery Pack), which makes the custom made step up converter unnecessary, but preferred the EasyAcc Monster because it has other uses (charge cellphone, GPS etc on multiple day rides) and is the only one I found that recharges itself using two inputs, about 4A, twice as fast as the nearest competitor, and doesn't require me to carry a special charger. I use no battery in the gimbal and leave one battery in the camera (which gets recharged, no way around it)."
To clarify what I already have, here are pics of the supplied batteries with the gimbal, the charger unit, instructions and a power bank I already have here. Any recommendations?
I have a Feiyu Tech WG3 wearable gimbal which is used with a GoPro Hero 3+. The gimbal will charge the GoPro via a cable but will only last a short while. Also, I found the gimbal batteries didn't last too long either to be fair. A nice solution would either be a direct plug in to the bike battery (as long as it doesn't kill it) or use of a portable power bank housed on the bike, like under the tail. The gimbal has a micro USB port on its base.
I found one description of how this was done on another forum and I've reproduced it below. It makes some sense to me but I have no idea on whether it's best to do the step up thing or just get a 9v power bank or whether I can connect to the bike's battery or not. From the other forum:
"The Feiyu Tech WG3 battery lasts about 4hrs, but if you use the little cable to power the GoPro from it, it is gone in 15min. I made a 5V to 8.4V step up converter that I connect to a EasyAcc Monster USB power bank, gives me 8h of juice, no stops to change batteries anymore. I do have to stop once after 4h of 4k/30 video on a 128GB uSD card. The WG3 micro USB connector takes up to 9V and passes it to the same internal switcher as if it were the batteries (diodes to parallel them), so as long as it doesn't go below 6.5V or so, it can power the gimbal and the GoPro camera. I had to take 5V power from 2 USB outputs from the EasyAcc, as it was shutting down from a single (peaks over 2.4A trigger the protection), specially going down stairs with lots of gimbal fast torque activity. I also tried a 9V power bank (Amazon, XTPower MP-10000 External Battery Pack), which makes the custom made step up converter unnecessary, but preferred the EasyAcc Monster because it has other uses (charge cellphone, GPS etc on multiple day rides) and is the only one I found that recharges itself using two inputs, about 4A, twice as fast as the nearest competitor, and doesn't require me to carry a special charger. I use no battery in the gimbal and leave one battery in the camera (which gets recharged, no way around it)."
To clarify what I already have, here are pics of the supplied batteries with the gimbal, the charger unit, instructions and a power bank I already have here. Any recommendations?
Gassing Station | In-Car Electronics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff