Best Dummy Batteries for Cameras of 2026

The cable is what sold us. SmallRig runs a long, pure-copper lead from the coupler to the adapter, which means the camera can live at the end of a boom arm or on a slider while the brick sits on the floor by the tripod. On a locked-off 4K shoot, that's the difference between a rig you can reposition and one you can't.

The rest of the package is just as deliberate. It carries FCC, CE, UL and RoHS certification, with overvoltage, overheating, overcharge and short-circuit protection built into the adapter, and a two-year warranty that drops to one year on the electronics. Output is 8V DC from a 120V AC input, the adapter is rated at 25W, and the whole kit weighs 234 g — most of which is the brick.

Compatibility covers the modern Sony full-frame line: A7 III, IV and V, A7S III, A7R III through V, A7C with its II and CR versions, A1, A9 and A9 II, plus the A6600, A6700, FX30 and ZV-E1. In long sessions the adapter stayed cool to the touch, which is what we watch for on a kit that might run six hours straight.

One note on warnings: a non-genuine-battery dialog can appear on some units. SmallRig replaces those with a decoded version, so contact support rather than living with a pop-up over your recording. Ours never showed one.

Canon spread the LP-E17 across nearly its whole consumer line, and that's the reason this kit has a job. The same coupler powers a T6i or T7i, an SL2 or SL3, an R50, R10, R8 or RP — the bodies that end up on tripods for streams, lessons and product shoots.

Kimaru's build is a step above the plainest kits: pure copper cable, an anti-interference magnetic ring at the coupler end, fire-resistant PVC and ABS, and a 24W adapter pushing 8V at 3A. In the box you get the ACK-E18 adapter, the DR-E18 coupler, a UL-listed US cord, two cable ties and a manual. It's certified to CE, FCC and cUL and backed by 12 months with a 30-day return window.

What we're confident about is the core job: LP-E17 bodies running for hours off the wall, cameras that don't die mid-stream, and an adapter that doesn't get hot doing it. That's the entire reason to buy one of these and it delivers. The completeness settles the rest — you aren't hunting for a cord or a second coupler afterward.

The thing to check is fit. The coupler has to seat flush and the battery door has to latch over the cable; Kimaru states plainly that the camera won't power on normally otherwise, and the bodies that give trouble are the ones where the coupler sits proud in the bay. Test it the day it arrives, door closed, before you build a streaming setup around it.

At 60 g, this is the one that disappears into a camera bag. There's no AC brick in the box at all — just the NP-FW50 coupler with a USB-C lead built into it — so the power source is whatever PD bank or charger you already carry. We think that's the right trade for timelapse, gimbal work, or a day out where an outlet isn't part of the plan.

It needs the right source. The input spec is USB Power Delivery at 9V/3A, or Quick Charge 2.0/3.0, and the coupler puts out 8.4V at 2A. A 5V phone charger doesn't meet that spec, and neither does an older bank without Power Delivery — check the print on your power bank before you order, because this is a kit where the accessory you already own is the deciding factor.

Otherwise it's simple in a way we appreciate: the coupler is the cable, so there's no separate lead to lose, and it covers the FW50 bodies from the a5000 up through the a6500 and the RX10 IIs. It comes with a 12-month warranty. The catch is that you're buying a lead and supplying the expensive half yourself — if you don't already own a PD bank, the wall kit above is the better value.

This one only makes sense if you already own a V-mount battery with a D-TAP output — there's no adapter in the box and no way to plug it into a wall. Given that, it's the best power cable in this group for a rig that travels: 71 g, a 22.8-inch lead, and a coupler that goes into the camera exactly like the battery it replaces.

What we value most is that it's fully decoded. Sony's bodies can throw a non-genuine-battery dialog when they don't recognize what's in the bay, and a warning surfacing mid-take is the kind of interruption you can't repeat around. SmallRig builds this one to avoid it, protects it against overvoltage, overheating, overcharge and short circuits, and covers it with a two-year warranty.

One check before ordering: SmallRig specifies the 7.4V output on its NP-F battery plate, so look at your plate and confirm it has one. The 22.8-inch lead reaches from a shoulder rig to a belt-mounted plate without looping, and at 71 g the cable adds almost nothing to a gimbal.

The least expensive kit in this group is also the only one built for Canon's NB-13L compacts, and that combination is the whole argument. Glorich's DR-110 set pairs a 4V/3A, 12W adapter with a 1.5 m cord and a coupler shaped for the G-series battery, and it fits the G1 X III, the G5 X and G5 X II, the G7 X through G7 X III, both G9 X bodies and the SX620 through SX740 travel zooms.

Long sessions are where it earns its place. A G7 X II on a desk is a lovely webcam with a terrible appetite for batteries, and this ends that: the camera stays on through a full day of calls, and the 1.5 m cord reaches a power strip on the floor. We like it most for exactly that — a compact that would otherwise eat two batteries before lunch.

There's one quirk worth expecting. The G7 X can throw a counterfeit-battery warning the first time it sees the coupler; dismiss it and the camera runs normally. Seat the coupler flush, close the door over the lead, and it behaves like a camera with an infinite battery.

Neewer's kit covers the same ground as the SmallRig FZ100 wall kit — 8V at 3A, 24W, a decoded coupler, over-voltage and short-circuit protection — for less money, and it does it without asking you to learn anything new. Coupler in the bay, barrel connector, wall outlet.

The adapter takes 100-240V, which makes it the more travel-friendly of the two wall kits, and the output is the 8V/3A that Sony's FZ100 bodies expect. Fit follows the usual rule: the door has to close over the lead or the camera won't power up.

Neewer's own listing carries the caveat that decides this one. On FX3, FX30, A7C II, A7CR and ZV-E1 bodies that have taken a firmware update, the kit may not behave as it should — a specific, checkable condition rather than a vague warning, but one that matters if one of those five cameras is yours.

For an A7 III or IV, an A7R III through V, an A6600 or an A7C on older firmware, it's a straightforward buy at the bottom of the FZ100 wall-kit prices. Check your body's firmware version first. If you're current on one of those five cameras, the SmallRig kit above is the safer spend.