A7R2 charge over USB

[bwud]

I looked at the wall plug. It puts out 2A @ 5VDC. That's roughly what most phones charge with. So I presume one can charge the camera while driving via a car adapter, albeit maybe a little slower (most car adapters only put out 1.5A).

 

If true, that's a slick capability for roadtrippers!

 

[JonathanStewartPhotos]

Yep.  You've got to activate that in the menu though.  Even better, you can use a USB backup battery and power the camera for long time lapses. 

[bwud]

What in the menu does one need set?

[LeButler]

I have a variety of USB battery packs and the A7Rii happily charges from all of them, as well as any wall adaptor or computer. Car adaptors often provide even more power (1.5A is more than average) so it's likely to work fine.

 

 

What in the menu does one need set?

 

It's enabled by default; if it has been turned off:

Setup --> 4 --> USB Power Supply.

[bwud]

Thanks!

[BrendaT]

Does the camera have to be turned ON to charge the battery using a USB power supply? Or can it be in OFF position. How long roughly does it take to charge the battery when inside the camera in this way? thanks.

[Boo]

Both mine charge in both off and on positions. A small light next to where the cable plugs in will glow when its charging

[BrendaT]

Both mine charge in both off and on positions. A small light next to where the cable plugs in will glow when its charging

 

Thank you so much!

[Adrianlambert]

I have a related question. Do your cameras allow the battery to be charged even when the USB Power option is set to ‘no’? mine charges all the time which is an issue for me. I’d like it to just send pictures as it’s draining power away from another device.

[arpruss]

Actually, I suspect that it won't make any difference whether you use a 1.5A or 2.0A charger or maybe even 1.0A.

With my Samsung 2.0A phone charger and a multimeter, I checked that the camera always draws less than 0.9A (even if the camera is on and recording video). Ditto with the USB port on my Stanley car jumpstarter battery.

 

[FunWithCameras]

The main reason is that the A7RII is using USB 2, and that limits how much current it can draw from the USB connection. If it's using base USB 2, it's limited to 0.5A. If it's using the battery charging thing it can draw more, but only up to 1.5A.

USB 3 has much higher power capability using Power Delivery, but part of that is by using higher voltages. To draw the most from a USB 3 Power Delivery source I think you have to be using 20V, not 5V. USB 2 never supported a choice of voltages.