Where Does My Digital Camera Power Come From?

A fairly simple question with a not so simple answer. Ultimately digital camera power comes from the sun, but you probably want a more specific answer like your lithium battery. Digital camera power is taken from a tiny rechargeable battery inside the camera. This digital camera power can be recharged in a number of ways, but by far the most common is through your USB port. When you plug your camera into your PC to get pictures of it, power is transferred down the cable to the digital camera rechargeable battery inside. This battery then powers all of your cameras functions. The real question is how does this battery work, or where does your digital camera power come from?

How Digital Camera Power Works

At the center of digital camera power is the lithium ion battery. This battery is used in electronic devices because it possesses three key features. The first is that lithium ion batteries are extremely light for the amount of power they put out. The second is that they have no memory, that is that they recharge fully every time no matter how much they were or were not drained down. The third is that they lose very little power when not in use. This is perfect for devices that need to sit for long times in between uses, as in your digital camera.

Digital camera power from these batteries is very predictable in its output and consistency. This is because of how the lithium ion battery works. There are two components in the batter, an anode and a cathode. In addition to these is an electrolyte for which a variety of different materials may be used. The lithium ion moves from the anode to the cathode when it is discharged and from the cathode to the anode when it is charging.

Many times lithium ion batteries are confused with lithium batteries. Digital camera power comes almost exclusively from lithium ION batteries. I say almost but in all reality I know of no other types of batteries in use today.

Hopefully this has given you a little bit of insight into your digital camera power and how it works. While this is a brief overview there is far more to it and is quite a fascinating and complicated topic. If you go to your local library there are many books on batteries and electricity that you can use so that you fully appreciate the wonder of your digital camera power.