Blind Spot Gear, the company behind 2018’s original Power Junkie, is back with an update. It’s the Power Junkie v2, and it’s just launched today through Kickstarter. If you’ve no idea what the Power Junkie is, it’s a battery plate that takes Sony NP-F style batteries and provides outputs with which you can power other gear, like cameras, monitors, field recorders, etc.
It negates the need to have multiple batteries for multiple devices. Now, you can power everything from a single battery. As well as the neatness of just having a single battery, it means you don’t have to monitor the battery life of multiple devices while you’re trying to record! The new Power Junkie v2 has been rebuilt from the ground up to power up to offer a whole host of new features over its predecessor.
The original Power Junkie proved very popular on its release, being rapidly adopted by filmmakers and photographers all over the world. The original also launched via Kickstarter, so that’s where Blind Spot Gear has gone to release its successor. The new Power Junkie v2 offers some significant advantages over its predecessor, so let’s take a look at them.
The big benefit of the Power Junkie was that it let you power devices from Sony NP-F style batteries – devices that weren’t normally powered from NP-F batteries. Devices like cameras typically use the same 2-cell 7.4v nominal (8.4v max) configuration for their internal batteries, so it worked as an adapter to let you use larger capacity NP-F batteries through a cable into a dummy battery inside your camera. But that’s all it really was. An adapter plate.
Now, the Power Junkie v2 also acts as an NP-F battery charger itself. So in between takes, you can plug it into a USB-PD power bank or charger and use it to boost your NP-F battery. This means you can run for longer without swapping out for a fresh one. Charge between takes and keep going. It also means that when you get home, you don’t need to take the battery off and attach it to a separate charger, too.
The Power Junkie v2 lets you power up to three devices simultaneously, with 12V (for field monitors, video switchers, etc) and 8.4v (for cameras, etc) as well as a Type-C USB-PD (Power Delivery) port that provides up to 20v at up to 1.1A. For newer cameras that can be powered directly over USB-PD and don’t require a dummy battery, this is going to be much easier than running them from a power bank.
The Power Junkie v2 also contains a dedicated on-off switch, allowing you to cut power to all connected devices immediately. This is fantastic when you have devices that don’t need to be gracefully shut down – so, pretty much anything that’s not a camera still saving out files to the memory card – without having to constantly keep them on standby. Nobody wants to leave their camera rig sitting around over lunch to come back and find out everything’s dead. Of course, if you do, you can always just swap out the NP-F and keep shooting.
Through the centre of the unit is a 1/4-20″ socket for easily attaching it directly to your rig and there’s also a cable tie bracket that lets you attach it to light stands, tripods or pretty much anything else you want.
The Power Junkie v2 is currently running on Kickstarter and has already beat its goal with 29 days still left to go. Pledges start at around $59.
Do you use the Power Junkie in your rig? Will you upgrade to the V2?
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