It's likely that you will need a 2A minimum PSU power supply to get this cam
to work reliably (switchmode PSU is likely much better than a small
transformer type).

I have a HP 215 PhotoSmart cam (bought new) that would barely work with 4
new AA alkaline batteries. The batteries weren't drained, the cam just
refused to turn on after only about 8 shots.
The manual recommended the new Energizer (silvery-looking) batteries that
were about $8-$10 for a 4-pack. The HP AC adapter was about $48, IIRC.

I bought an AC adapter (DigiPower, I think) which is labeled 6V 1.5A, and
it's a SMPS type. The cam worked fine with it, and since I wanted the cam
for eBay ad and webpage pics, using the wired PSU wasn't too bad (PSU came
wih a 10 or 12 ft cable on it).

I thought I'd just make an adapter to hold 4 C cells with a connector for
the exernal power connector on the cam, and the cam would give better
performance.

Cam wouldn't even turn on with 4 new C alkalines connected, and not with 4
Ds.. or 5 Ds.

The external batteries needed to be connected directly to the cam's internal
battery terminals, in a deep well in the cam body.
So I made an adapter from some round nylon stock to fit into the 2x2 AA
battery space, that had leads for the external batteries.
The cam would then work with 4 Cs or Ds, but not much better than 4 AAs.

The final solution was to use 4 AA 2000mAh NIMH cells inside the cam.
Perfect operation for a couple hundred shots per charge, all with the LCD
viewfinder turned on.

--
Cheers,
WB
..............



"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
.com...
To bring this little saga to a close, I built a little AC adapter for my
Fuji Finepix digicam: brought in 5 volts from a little Samsung wall wart,
put the regulator and an electrolytic cap in a film can on a little piece
of perfboard, and brought the power out to a 2.5mm power mini jack.

The long and short of it is, the camera doesn't work on this supply. It
puts out 3.25 volts alright, even when plugged into the camera, but the
camera just sits there and does nothing. My suspicion is that the power
jack is just not quite the right size to make contact (or else there's
something screwed up inside the camera that makes it not accept external
power, which seems unlikely).

So I'll probably bite the bullet and shell out a little $ to buy the AC
adapter made for this camera (found one on the internets for about $12).

The camera itself (bought for $1 at Oakland's White Elephant sale) works
like a charm; just got the USB cable for it today ($4.75).


--
You were wrong, and I'm man enough to admit it.

- a Usenet "apology"