Electronic – Sony NP-F battery terminal connector

batteriesconnector

I'm looking to repair some electronic equipment and am scratching my head why the part I need is so hard to identify.

I recently had a bad connector on an Aputure Tri-8s LED light (Brand new out of the box) but had little intent to USE the battery terminals regularly and needed the light for a project. The connector was loose; any shock to the battery would cause it to disconnect and infrequently minor arching could be heard. (I initially suspected a bad solder joint or something; but this was not the case)

I don't personally like using warranty to "fix" such a trivial problem, the shipping cost alone would have been orders of magnitude more then the actual part or repair work, so I emailed the manufacturer and asked if they knew of a source of spare parts. (that was a few days ago; I have not heard back yet)

In the meantime; I (likely voided my warranty and) disassembled the product and found that the fault was simply a collapsed spring inside one of the battery terminals. (I actually managed to fix the existing connector by disassembling it, stretching the spring back out, and re-assembling the connector)

At first I assumed that the top pin would be retained using a rolled lip on the brass body; but these specific units are actually just press-fit and I was able to simply pull them apart and press them back together.

POINT BEING;
Sony NP-F style batteries; appear to use a ~3mm (might be 2.97mm) spring-loaded pin contact. I have not been able to locate a source for these contacts; nor have I been able to find a model of the pins.

I assumed that given the common nature of these in the photo/video world; many people would have experimented with building things that USED such batteries and I'd love to make a few adapter designs on a 3d printer: but I am unable to determine the model / source of such pins.

Here's what they look like:

NP-F Battery connector Male Pin

I don't have exact dimensions but if anyone knows what terms I should be looking for, I'd be happy to figure out the exact part from a supplier catalog.

The connectors are approximately 3mm in diameter; and AROUND 12mm from the tip of the healthy pin to the end of the solder joint; but I did not accurately measure these dimensions)

I'd love any literature on the NP-F battery integration; if any such information exists. I tried searching around online unsuccessfully.


I'm aware that this is not an EE question specifically; but DIY electronics and product design didn't seem to have a better section.

Best Answer

I came upon this question while I was looking for a solution myself.

I did some further research and there's a YouTube video by Thomas Sanladerer wherein he suggests to use 2.6mm mini-banana connectors that appear to be used in model trains.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia

I was able to source a couple of these and indeed, it seems to be a good fit and very usable.