Battery Repair

[Curran Giddens]

So, the bad news is that the RED Bricks are not able to be repaired.

Ok. Thanks for the update.

The good news is that RED is working on a new battery system :)

But this will be only for the Epic/Scarlet cameras, right?

[John Ritter]

I repair/Re-cell all Anton Bauer Battery Packs, have not had the opportunity to
check into a red battery pack yet.
If anyone has some dead packs that they would like to send me for testing/Repair/Re-Cell
I would be willing to do it on a trial basis at no cost.

I would be interested to see the actual circuitry used by red as all manufacturers use the same
industry standard internal cells, the only variation is the control and safety circuitry design (case design)

There is not a great variation between any major manufacturers actual cell since they are manufactured
in industry standard size, chemistry is any of the NiCd, NiMh, Li-ion.


Regards John Ritter 954-557-9765, siebold35@hotmail.com, www.ritterbattery.com

[Dave Blackham]

If your in the UK, theres a guy based at Pinewood does it and licenced to re-cell.

In the USA there is a company called battery Rebuild.

http://www.batteryrebuild.com/camcor...FVGKfAodwwn8oA

We had a few IDX recelled once and they seemed to be OK, but its not like a new battery.

[Kemalettin Sert]

some guy in my country repaired 4 brick and put IDX cells i guess but now batteries dont show % just says DC power on info screen (both epic and Red mx)

[ericyoung]

If your in the UK, theres a guy based at Pinewood does it and licenced to re-cell.

...

Hi Dave - do you have website/contact details for the UK Pinewood guy?

Thanks
Eric

[John Ritter]

I repair Video camera batteries, have done over 800 Li-Ion packs, the majority being the Anton Bauer Dionics, the rest being IDX, Sony, Frezzi, Varizoom and an assortment of Chinese knockoff.
Been looking to get hold of a Red brick to evaluate and do a test repair on it.

If anyone has a bad one laying around and wants to send it to me I will do a couple for free to get some feedback on the results.

You can contact me at 954-557-9765, Email siebold35@hotmail.com, website: www.ritterbattery.com

[John Ritter]

Hello all

I wish to thank everyone that responded to the repair offer, I received an overwhelming response so
the free repair is no longer available.
I will be posting the results in the next few weeks as soon as the promised shipments arrive.

Regards John Ritter
www.ritterbattery.com

[John Ritter]

Update:

So far I have received 3 Red battery packs, 2 - 9.4AH & 1 - 10.4AH

Interestingly; all 3 packs use the same control board but 3 different manufacturer's cells: Sanyo, LG Chem, Samsung and 3 cell ratings: 2200, 2250, 2600

Also all 3 had either a pinched wire (manufacturer process) or a broken wire to the control board.
All of them were a simple repair, but resetting the on board EPROM requires that the balance leads be disconnected from the control board.

The longest part is, the time required to test the packs as discharge time varies from 2 hours to 5 hours and recharge is about 3-4 hours.

So I can say that the RED battery packs are repairable and can be Re-Celled, I will post the users experience after I send them back, still want to do a couple of rounds of cycle testing.

All 3 packs tested out at 70% or better of original capacity (I only tested to 5 amp load or 70 watts nominal)

Regards John Ritter
www.ritterbattery.com

[John Ritter]

New Update:

Well so far the count is, 8 Red Brick batteries that I have seen. (9.4 & 10.4AH)

All were completely repairable, minor broken wiring issue's, I have returned the last 3 today and await
feedback on the results.

So Yes the RED Battery is fully repairable and can be Re-Celled.

It seems to be a common problem after the first batch to cross my workbench, this kind of repair and test service will run about $50.00
including the return shipping (CONUSA only international would be additional).

If a full cell bank replacement is required (RE-Cell) this would run $240.00 per pack (Re-Cell would be to 10.4AH).

Regards John Ritter
www.ritterbattery.com

[Will Keir]

Martin's Battery Shootout? Yeah buddy, a lot of us could benefit from this comparison.

Nice find!

I love the GMP for their huge capacity, but those batteries you found (let's call them NONAME) get even more bang for the buck, or rather Ah per dollar:

GMP has 190Wh and costs 336 USD, thus 1 Wh costs 1.76 USD. Those I use, because they last so long.
GMP has also 160Wh batteries for 255 USD, 1 Wh ist down to 1.59 USD.
NONAME has 8.8 Ah, with 14.4V, meaning they have 126Wh, at 184 USD. 1 Wh here costs 1.46 USD.
NONAME also has some higher capacity batteries, at 132.5 Wh, but they are 2.12 per Wh.

GMP also offers a discount if you order for more than 1500 USD - and that is not tied to a single order, but over time.

So, from these calculations I would either go for the NONAME 8.8Ah if I was concerned about the total weight of my package - or running off a dual battery mount. Else I'd go for those beefy 190Wh from Global Media Pro :)

Now, it would be fun to compare actual running times on a R1, to see which really gives most usage per dollar, as producers tend to be a bit optimistic when handing out technical data.