Converting M5 to use 1,5 V battery

[a.noctilux]

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My M5 transformed to use 1.5V battery by good technician works fine.

When I use hearing aid battery on my other M5 (not 1.5V transformed), the metering is also fine.

So we have many solutions to use M5.

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[Helge]

vor 7 Stunden schrieb a.noctilux:

My M5 transformed to use 1.5V battery by good technician works fine.

….

The question is, what he change? If the camera meter‘s reading is voltage dependent, he had to add an additional circuitry to overcome that dependency.

If the meter is independent, a simple adjustment of the „low battery“ threshold does it.

I do hope for you that it is not voltage dependent and he just tried to adjust the meter to 1.5v…🙁

[Matlock]

11 hours ago, Huss said:

Very interesting.  I'm wondering if some are defective or they changed the product.  This was recommended IIRC correctly by TLC camera repair.  With my Olympus Pen FT the meter reads perfectly.  I'm not disputing the reviews on Amazon, maybe I got lucky?

They are not defective, as Steve says, they just don't have the diode in them.

[a.noctilux]

3 hours ago, Helge said:

The question is, what he change? If the camera meter‘s reading is voltage dependent, he had to add an additional circuitry to overcome that dependency.

If the meter is independent, a simple adjustment of the „low battery“ threshold does it.

I do hope for you that it is not voltage dependent and he just tried to adjust the meter to 1.5v…🙁

I don't know what he had done, it works that is all I need.

 

Having the .pdf of process I linked to (post #5), I do have confidence in the conversion: needing knowledge, right measurement tools and knowhow that I don't have.

For me this is not DIY affair, if doable so why I use hearing aid 1.4V batteries ( 675 ?  with adapter without diode ?) on the other M5 even if short life.

Edited August 22, 2022 by a.noctilux

[Huss]

DAG adjusted the meter in my M5 to use modern cells.  No idea what he did but it works!

[Anbaric]

On 8/21/2022 at 7:38 PM, Huss said:

Very interesting.  I'm wondering if some are defective or they changed the product.  This was recommended IIRC correctly by TLC camera repair.  With my Olympus Pen FT the meter reads perfectly.  I'm not disputing the reviews on Amazon, maybe I got lucky?

There are a couple of bad feedbacks on the ebay store too:

https://www.ebay.com/fdbk/feedback_profile/pratedthai?filter=period:TWELVE_MONTHS,overall_rating:NEGATIVE

Did you check the voltage or are you just going on the light meter reading?

If you've got a good one, either there are some defective adapters, or at least some people have been sent dumb adapters without diodes (which of course you can buy for much less from traders who make no claims about voltage conversion). The Kanto converting adapter has a visible component embedded in the floor of the battery chamber, but this one doesn't seem to from the photos (though I suppose that might just be a different design).

[Huss]

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8 hours ago, Anbaric said:

There are a couple of bad feedbacks on the ebay store too:

https://www.ebay.com/fdbk/feedback_profile/pratedthai?filter=period:TWELVE_MONTHS,overall_rating:NEGATIVE

Did you check the voltage or are you just going on the light meter reading?

 

I didn't check the voltage, but compared the in camera meter reading to my Sekonic L-308S meter.

[Huss]

You know I am glad people have brought up the bad experiences they have had with the adapter I have been championing.  Because I had no idea I got lucky!  And I hate to recommend something that is junk.

[250swb]

58 minutes ago, Huss said:

You know I am glad people have brought up the bad experiences they have had with the adapter I have been championing.  Because I had no idea I got lucky!  And I hate to recommend something that is junk.

So far you've said it works but not proved anything. With the battery you have installed what does it read across the poles? If it is a 1.5v battery it should read 1.35v, simple as that. The fact that it 'works' can be accommodated by the question 'what do you point your meter at?' because that is the personal variable that can disguise a higher or lower meter reading which makes it work for some people. That aside as I have said it isn't a massive difference anyway, so small the discrepancy can be disguised quite innocently in a variable meter reading that the latitude of the film masks.

[Hintsalae]

If I have understood correctly you actually can't just measure using multimeter. You have to draw same current as the exposure circuitry to achieve correct voltage. Someone made pretty nice graphs about it and compared different schottky diodes against each other.

[Huss]

11 hours ago, 250swb said:

So far you've said it works but not proved anything. With the battery you have installed what does it read across the poles? If it is a 1.5v battery it should read 1.35v, simple as that. The fact that it 'works' can be accommodated by the question 'what do you point your meter at?' because that is the personal variable that can disguise a higher or lower meter reading which makes it work for some people. That aside as I have said it isn't a massive difference anyway, so small the discrepancy can be disguised quite innocently in a variable meter reading that the latitude of the film masks.

I point my meter at the same thing I point my Sekonic at.  They read the same.  That is all I need to know.