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I want to plug a microphone into my camcorder. The battery from the camcorder will provide the power to both the camcorder and microphone.

The specifications for the battery are as follow: capacity = 1030 mAh, and voltage = 8 VDC.

The specification for the microphone is 3 V. (Unfortunately, that is all the manufacturer tells me).

The model of the microphone is: MOVO VXR10.

The link to this microphone is: https://www.amazon.com/Movo-VXR10-Microphone-Windscreen-Smartphones/dp/B0723D3FVL/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1527749498&sr=1-3&keywords=Movo+VXR10

If I use both devices to record a video for one hour, how much power does the microphone use? If possible, please show me the calculations.

PS: Based on the current lack of technical info about the microphone from the manufacturer, many experts say that they can't answer the question. So, I will try to get more info from the manufacturer and will get back with you all ASAP. However, for now, if you can give me any estimate on the power consumption of this microphone for one hour, I will greatly appreciate.

winny
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Job_September_2020
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  • Your microphone won't draw enough current to matter. It draws the (very little) power it needs through the audio circuitry. It won't be more than a few mA at most, and may be less. – JRE May 31 '18 at 11:43
  • Hook up your multimeter set to mA reading in series with your 3 V source and the microphone and measure! – winny May 31 '18 at 11:45
  • @ JRE12: Thanks. I will keep that in mind. – Job_September_2020 May 31 '18 at 11:57
  • @winny: Thanks. But, I am not sure how to do that. Please take a look at the link to the microphone in my question above and you can see how the microphone is hooked up to the camera... I hope you don't mean to say that I should open up the casing of the microphone... :-) (Sorry I am not an expert in EE or electrician, or technician ...) – Job_September_2020 May 31 '18 at 12:00
  • Like this: https://wisense.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/untitled1.png?w=471&h=346 – winny May 31 '18 at 12:03

1 Answers1

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Microphones of that type are powered through the audio connection. There is usually a resistor of some thousand(s) of ohms resistance. That limits the amount of current that the microphone can draw.

Assuming 1000 ohms and 5V, your microphone could draw at most 5 milliamperes. If it drew 5mA, though, you wouldn't get any audio out of it.

Compared to the current the camera itself will draw, the microphone doesn't matter.

Even without an external microphone, the internal microphone will draw a small amount of current. Probably about as much as the the external microphone.

So, don't worry about the microphone. It won't influence the recording time enough to matter.

JRE
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  • Since the manufacturer still can't provide me with additional info in their latest reply to me (and they have been very polite and professional), I will accept your answer as the best estimate. Thank you very much. :-) – Job_September_2020 Jun 01 '18 at 09:31