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My wife has a Nikon D3100 that I've been using to film, but the battery typically won't last through long shoots.

I've gathered from searching around that I can't charge the camera with USB, but I wondered if there's ANY way to do that. It seems at least possible that an adapter could exist that would fill in for the battery and plug into the wall, but I haven't been able to find such a thing.

Is there such a product or technique? It would be nice to not buy a second battery, I'm really hoping for a "set it and forget it" solution.

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You can run the camera directly off AC power with two pieces of gear. You need a camera-specific "dongle" that basically fakes being the battery in the battery compartment. This then connects to the other part you need, which is the AC-to-DC adapter.

For the D3100, you need the Nikon EP-5A power supply connector and the Nikon EH-5b AC adapter.

According to this FAQ on the Nikon USA website, the EH-5a or EH-5 should be compatible, too, although this table only lists the EH-5a for the D3100.

It also appears there are 3rd party versions of both adapters.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Third party power supply connectors (instead of EP-5A) might or might not work. This can depend on the firmware version installed on the camera. In my experience, third party AC adapters (instead of EH-5a) do work just fine. This can save you a bit of money, as the original parts from Nikon are relatively expensive. \$\endgroup\$
    – linac
    Apr 1, 2016 at 14:30
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    \$\begingroup\$ The fake-battery devices described in this answer can be found by searching for the phrase "DC Coupler". \$\endgroup\$
    – xiota
    Oct 2, 2019 at 6:45

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