Sony Battery Cradle Switch Hack

Last week, my video was about how to use cheap, Sony-compatible external battery cradles to power your camera. At the end of that video I mentioned how I discovered that power was leeching from the batteries, even when the camera was off. I hacked a switch onto the cradle to disrupt the flow of power, so you could leave the batteries in place and not have to pull out the power cords every time.

Today's video is a detailed explanation about how to do this. It's an easy project, if you know how to solder things. If you don't, you're probably going to be lost. I'm no electronic engineer, but I understand the basics enough to pull off simple projects like this one. A basic search of the web should make you more familiar with the tools (listed below) and techniques I am using.

As always, since you are dealing with electricity and a hot iron, please be careful. Those irons are designed to melt solder and can burn you as well!

TOOLS USED

small Philips head screwdriver
key card/credit card/debit card/gift card
fingernails
wire cutters
wire strippers
Soldering Iron
Rosin Core Solder
scrap of wire
electrical tape
flat head screwdriver
#8 combination wrench

TRIVIA: The actual length of the "how-to" section of the video was thirty-eight minutes. Cut down, it is eight minutes long.