Hi. I'm changing my setup to be mobile. I have three "Exide ES900 Equipment Gel" batteries. They rest at 14V, and may even be at 14.5V or higher, fully charged. According to the specs for my STF-8300M, there is an internal voltage regulator with a 10-14V range. I am never going to feed it 15V or 16V. But 14.5V is what's going to happen if I don't pre-regulate. Is this 10-14V-range more of a general guideline, or does the camera actually suffer at 14.5V? Thanks
I can only guarantee the rated 14V. One of the switching supplies has an input voltage range of 8-14V, and an absolute maximum rating of 15V. (Operating at the absolute maximum rating is not recommended; going above it may cause damage.) There is a diode on the power input that drops the voltage by 0.3V, so there's a little extra margin there. If you want to be safe, I would put a diode rated for the current in series with the battery, to drop the voltage a little. You could use for example a Comchip SB560E-G, available from DigiKey.com, which would give you a 0.7V drop.
