External Battery for Longer Timelapses on Gopros

One of the Funnest Parts of owning a Gopro besides being able to strap your camera almost anywhere. Is being able to place your camera somewhere and record an awesome timelapse. A Gopro on average has a 2-3hr recording time, when recording a timelapse its always great to get the most amount of frames possible to show the greatest change which usually requires more recording time. With the help of an external battery (like the kind used to charge mobile cell phones) you can increase the recording time of your Gopro. Below is a link to a short timelapse I filmed with my Gopro Hero 3 White Edition.

Step 1: Heres an Example of a Timelapse I Filmed in My Backyard

Step 2: Supplies

First thing your going to need is the stuff to actually set your camera up, and obviously a Gopro. I used a small tripod with the Gopro Tripod adapter on it. The next thing is crucial for this to work, you need a gopro Frame housing (I used an off-brand one I found on ebay). The most important thing is that it has an opening to the micro usb port (picture 2)

Step 3: Supplies Part 2

Now these are the things that make this hack incredibly useful. I used a basic battery stick/tube thing i found on amazon for between $20-$30, usually the more power in these things the more expensive they are. Whenever buying anything online always check the reviews to make sure the product is reliable. You will also need your usb cable that came with your gopro and an SD Card. The bigger your SD card the more media you will be able to keep on it. If you have a long lasting battery, but no memory space it depletes the purpose of this project. I always at least use a 16gb card.

Step 4: Lets Put It All Together

Put your Gopro inside its Frame Housing and then connect that to the tripod mount. The proceed to attach the tripod mount to the tripod.

Step 5: Connect the Batterry

Connect the Micro usb end of your Chord to your Gopro. After that is done, attach the usb end to the usb port on your power source. If this worked it the power indicating symbol should appear on your camera's lcd screen. If it worked jump for joy and sing "I Got The Power" or you can silently Enjoy your accomplishment, the choice is yours :D

Step 6: Make Sure Your Camera Is in Timelapse Mode

Make sure your camera is in Timelapse mode. If it is, the symbol will show in the top left corner of the screen in the front of your Gopro. If you don't know how to change into Timelapse mode please see your user Guide. Within the Cameras settings you can also set how often you want your Camera to take a picture. I set mine to take a Picture every 2 Seconds.Then press record and check up on your camera occasionally to make sure it is still recording and to see how much room is left on the Sd card and that there is enough battery. The key thing to setting up a successful timelapse is to NOT MOVE THE CAMERA.

Step 7: Disclaimers

This is a pretty awesome thing to know but there is some downsides. For one you're limited to the length of you're cord and the size of your SD card. This works best on surfaces like tables where the battery can just sit on the table, Although if you wanted to use a larger tripod Im pretty sure you guys can figure out how to attach a portable charger to it. With the type of charger i have i would just tape it to one of the tripod legs, but thats just me.