I would appreciate it if anyone can tell me if I can use the 6 v Unity ProPower Pack iv or other battery packs from Thomas-distributing.com for my Canon S20? I have purchased the AC power adapter from Canon, which comes with a "coupler" that serves as power supply in jack. The Canon NiMH battery is rated 6 v, 650 mAh. While the Unity ProPower Pack iv is rated 6 v,2,700 mAh. Will the high capacity damage the camera? Thanks.

Qun

-- Qun Li (qunli3@yahoo.com), July 11, 2000

Answers

You probably saw Thomas' compatability table at http://thomas-distributing.com/maha-powerbank-chart.htm

so you probably saw that the S10 was listed but not the S20,

so you are probably wishing someone would reply with a better anwswer,

so you think I'm talking to myself - well I do that a lot.

-- bill (this_old_house@pobox.com), July 11, 2000.

Qun--the UPPP will be fine. The capacity measured in milliAmphours* tells you that the pack will give you about 4 times as many photos as the Canon battery. Excess VOLTAGE COULD damage a device but seldom surplus capacity. [In this case, 'surplus' means more than you might need, in contrast to 'excess' which means more than you should have].

*An Ampere (amp) is a standard measure of current flow; an Amphour is one Amp flowing for one hour. A 'mil' or 'mill' is one-thousanth, so a milliAmphour is one-thousanth of an Amp flowing for one hour.

If you want to learn more about cells, batteries, the myth of NiCd 'memory effect' [and lots more things having to do with digicams and other things electronic], go to www.dansdata.com, the list of Articles, and read about building a powerpack for your camera. You don't have to build it to LEARN.

-- jeffrey behr (behrjk@uswest.net), July 12, 2000.