EOS Utility - Live (Remote) Shooting (Lost connection - T3i AC Adapter) Help Please

[wrice4]

Everytime I use live shooting, with a battery, it works great. As soon as I plug in an AC Adapter, on my T3i, and use remote shooting, via the eos utility, it shuts down within 10 seconds saying connection lost. There is obviously power to the camera and I can still use the camera as normal, but it will not allow me to use eos utility, or live shooting. I have tried 3 different brands of AC Adapters, but not the canon one. Like I said, it works perfectly fine on battery power. Help?

[Waddizzle]

It sounds to me a ground loop is forming when you employ the AC adapter.  Something is not putting out a floating DC voltage.  Instead, either the positive or negative side of the DC output is tied to ground in one device, while the other device is grounded in a different fashion.

I have often seen this happen when connected a laptop to an electronic device.  It works fine until you plug in th AC adapter on the laptop.  Once you do, you get a ground loop and the communication circuit fails.  More times than not, the blame lies with the device being powered, not the adapter. 

SOLUTION:  Don't use the AC adapter.

[wrice4]

Makes sense, but is there anyway to find an ac adapter that would work with live shooting? Really want to do this. So what your saying is the AC adapter will work perfectly fine with the camera, but won't when I plug it into the pc, thats weird. Why wouldn't it loop the camera then?

[Waddizzle]

Laptop computers are notorious for having grounding issues associated with their AC adapters. It is not the adapter that causes the problem, but rather it is typically the communication ports that are grounded to the chassis, and in turn the AC adapter.

Another workaround to ground loop problems [if indeed, a ground loop is your issue] is to only plug one of the devices into an AC adapter.  Plugging in both completes the loop.

[wrice4]

So you are saying only plug in the ac adapter, or the usb cable? Because both of them plugged in is creating the issue?

I don't fully understand your point. You said only plug one of the devices into an ac adapter. The ac adapter doesn't have anything to plug into. Are you meaning the electrical outlet?

I called Canon support and this issue is new to them. Everything they recommended I have tried, but I just got a call saying that their engineers said to tell me to try and change electrical outlets, that are on a different circuit. I will try that when I get home.

[Waddizzle]

Changing outlets is a good idea.  Ground faults can arise from plugging non-isolated equipment into AC outlets driven at different phases.

When you say AC adapter, I thought  you meant AC adapter, something which is used in place of a battery, allowing you to run your camera of off 120 VAC, instead of a battery.

[wrice4]

Yes, I am talking about an AC Adapter, which plugs into the wall, converts it down to 7.4v out, and plugs into the camera.

This specific one actually:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0083EPC80?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00

[RobertTheFat]

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@wrice4 wrote:

Yes, I am talking about an AC Adapter, which plugs into the wall, converts it down to 7.4v out, and plugs into the camera.

This specific one actually:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0083EPC80?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00

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I believe that most (all?) Canon AC adapters fill the space normally occupied by the battery. This one appears to connect differently, potentially allowing you to leave the battery in place. Is its purpose just to keep the battery charged rather than to power the camera directly? If so, and especially if the voltage maintained by the adapter differs slightly from that of the camera battery, it might cause s spurious current flow that could upset the camera's ability to recognize signals from another electronic device. Does it work better (or at all) if you leave the battery out of the camera? If all else fails, maybe this is one of those cases where no 3rd-party adapter is a viable substitute for a real Canon adapter.

I recall now that my old Powershot G-5 had an AC adapter whose purpose was to recharge the battery. It worked well for the purpose, but I don't recall whether you were allowed to use the camera while it was connected.

[wrice4]

Thanks for the reply Robert, but scroll down a couple of pictures, on amazon. This ac adapter plugs into the wall, then plugs into a plastic casing, the size of a usual battery, then it is put into the battery bay, just like the canon one. I talked with Canon tech support on the phone, and they are trying to help me as well. They know its not the canon ac adapter, and that its a third party plug. They also said that it shouldn't matter, as the correct voltage is still going into the camera, and it looks, and acts, just like the canon ac adapter. Now we are just trying to figure out the issue with it losing connection, when trying to connect to the computer, because it works fine on battery power.  Again, this is the 3rd different ac adapter I have tried., different brands as well.

Also, the part numbers Canon tech support gave me, for the AC adapter and dc coupler, are the exact part numbers in this amazon product as well.

[RobertTheFat]

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@wrice4 wrote:

Thanks for the reply Robert, but scroll down a couple of pictures, on amazon. This ac adapter plugs into the wall, then plugs into a plastic casing, the size of a usual battery, then it is put into the battery bay, just like the canon one. I talked with Canon tech support on the phone, and they are trying to help me as well. They know its not the canon ac adapter, and that its a third party plug. They also said that it shouldn't matter, as the correct voltage is still going into the camera, and it looks, and acts, just like the canon ac adapter. Now we are just trying to figure out the issue with it losing connection, when trying to connect to the computer, because it works fine on battery power.  Again, this is the 3rd different ac adapter I have tried., different brands as well.

Also, the part numbers Canon tech support gave me, for the AC adapter and dc coupler, are the exact part numbers in this amazon product as well.

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I couldn't find the picture, but I did see the message from a user that confirmed your description. But I also saw a message in which someone mentioned that he got shocked by the device. I think that would be enough to get me to turn it off and never use it again. Any device that has AC line voltage available is not to be trifled with. I also see that the device is currently not available and that Amazon has no idea when or whether it will be. Maybe it flunked an Underwriters' Laboratory test or something.