Posted by TheFlaggman on 01/14/08 09:23

On Jan 13, 4:41 pm, "James" <nos...@aol.com> wrote:
> I have an old sony miniDV camcorder that when running on AC power, would
> shutdown if there is a brown out, even if there is also a battery attached.
> I have to pull out the AC plug from the camcorder in order to use the
> battery.
>
> Now, I just got a canon xh a1. This one is even worse: the battery has to be
> charged off the camera. When the battery is in the camera, it cannot use AC
> power. When using AC power, the battery has to be removed.
>
> A better design is the way laptop computers work: you can use AC power and
> charge the battery at the same time, and if the AC power goes out, it
> switches to battery power automatically. Is there a good reason camcorders
> are designed differently?
>
> --
> Posted via a free Usenet account fromhttp://www.teranews.com

It appears that it all boils down to cost of manufacturing and how
much is lost to the profit margin and hence the shareholders'
dividends and of course the MBA's and CGA's bonuses.

The camera has a cheapo jack that you plug the AC adapter into. and
sometimes it just disconnects the battery physically from operating
the camera when the adapter is plugged in. If the camera is on, the AC
adapter will run the camera but not necessarily simultaneously charge
the battery. If the camera is turned off and the adapter is plugged in
it will charge the connected battery in the camera. Because the jack
disconnects the battery from the adapter when the camera is operating,
a power failure will kill the camera until the jack is removed.

What the laptop does is operate the PC boards off the battery all the
time. It also charges the battery whenever the adapter is plugged in,
whether the camera is turned on or not. It just doesn't charge as fast
if the laptop is turned on as it would when the laptop is turned off.
It is a true SUPU operation ( Static Uninteruptible Power Unit) mode.
That is basically the battery runs it no matter what, and the ac justs
charges the battery at the same time; if battery is dead, the adapter
provides enough power to do both jobs. So it is truly a "backup" in
every sense.

It would likely take an increase in the per unit cost of a camcorder
on the order of $5-$15 in order to reconfigure the electronics and add
the few extra parts to do the job. This will cut into the per unit
profit margin; and because of the competitive aspect of the industry,
they would actually have to eat the extra rather than risk raising the
mfrs retail price. So that would translate into probably a 5%
reduction in profit. In that case they would have to settle for a
userous 25% PROFIT INSTEAD OF THE NORMAL GREED DRIVEN 30-45% profit.
They isolate themselves from consumers' suggestions for desired
optional improvements by using call centers, so the only message that
a consumer can give them for improvement is NOT TO BUY IT if it
doesn't meet their needs.

Best solution I have found for this problem is to use one of those
inverters that plugs into a cigar lighter in the vehicle and a long
extension cord to the adapter and camera. That way if a project runs
too long, one can send someone out to run the engine and recharge the
vehicle battery so that the shoot can be completed.

Only problem is that sometimes the ac adapters will create electrical
noise that will get into the audio, even if the tape drive mechanical
noise doesn't.

In short I guess Michael Moore's answer in the movie "SICKO" is the
wartchword for consumers, no matter what the product is; "if you
aren't happy with the product and the company chooses to make customer
service simply a figment of the customers' imaginations, then just
don't buy from Them.... The Bottom Line usually gets the message
across pretty quickly.

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