Fake a panasonic battery to revive camera to copy photos from internal memory
Allright, finally we done it! @KalleMP had the eye opener, however this was a slightly different battery (DMW-BLG10E instead of the DMW-BCG10E and it is fore sure another "valid and safe battery detection method"). It is not enough to fool a temperature sensor, you really need the battery IC (whatever it might be) to get it working. Also great thanks go to @SamGibson.



Purchased a cheap second hand original battery (doesn't know it will work either), just for three euro's, to use it as a donor battery, to reuse the circuitry inside this battery.



After disassembling the battery very carefully, I solder the salvaged board on a micro USB connector board for two reasons:


Easy and stiff connection;
It might be possible to use it on 5V because the camera is rated 5.1V (see experiment later on).


The first try didn't work, for some reason the board outputs only 0.7 volts when connected to a battery (3.7v). First thoughts: 


It has something to do with smart failure detection/registration by disconnect the
original battery (power disconnect = failure)
The circuitry was already in a failure state;
Heating up the board by soldering damaged the internals of the board.   


By connecting the battery directly to the camera inputs and the circuitry (in fact in parallel) there was life! Now we are able to copy the data to SD-card, it works perfectly.







USB Power possible? (warning: Just for science, use at own risk!)

After copying (for sure) all data we tried an experiment, just for science, connect it directly to USB (5V) because the camera is rated 5.1V. After a few hours the camera is still running fine, works great! I think it is still usable as photo/film camera with external battery or USB 5V powersource, neat.



This project is a success

Thanks to you all, really awesome, happy faces at the beginning of 2018 ;-)



Experience update/hotsnot update

When using a battery or USB power connection, be sure the power source can handle peaks of 550mA when using camera mode. It seems that the lens motor requires some juice when lens moving out or in. If it is not possible for the camera to get required current, the camera shuts down and lens stay open. When this happens, turn off the camera and switch it to view mode and wait the camera correct the situation.

Same will happen when using a low voltage battery (or empty battery) or message "this battery cannot be used" can randomly appear. Possible reason for this is that we bypass the battery protection circuit of the salvaged board (see first try explanation above). 

We got the best operating experience using a protected high current powerbank, a high current charger or a computer USB socket. This is because there is a low voltage drop and will never be lower than 4v because of the DC/DC converter inside. 

I put the circuit and connector (wrapped in plastic) permanently in the battery compartment with some hotsnot (hot glue, not a fan anyway). Not a beauty but hey, the camera is still usable with almost any power source! In fact it is some kind of DC Coupler. Maybe some idea for others that want to reuse/revive the camera for still pictures of components or other inhome purposal.