Can power up/power down too much be harmful?

[Mark Andersen]

Can powering up for 2-3 minutes, then back down again, and repeating over and over all day be hard on the electronics in the Epic? When I travel with Redvolts I do this to save power. Often I'm in a "shot this and that" mode and am trying to stay light and mobile, which requires Redvolts and a Canon mount. I know in the audio studio world they say you should leave you preamps, compressors etc. glowing all day and night if you going to keep, using them. Is it different for the ASIC in the Epic? I'd like to hear what Red thinks, and others.

 

[Mike 'Fireman' Ross]

It's a $40k camera. It has a battery which lasts twenty minutes or so. It damn well better be able to handle that kind of cycle until hell freezes over!

Mike

 

[Rob Ruffo]

Good question....

 

[Will Keir]

Damn well better, but damn well does? Electronic follow up a couple rules.

1) The more you use them, ON/OFF ON/OFF, repeat, reuse, the quicker they wear out. Best case senario, the on/off button wears out and needs replacement. When I used to play Nintendo, the A and B button on the controller would wear out. They build stuff like that for 50,000 or 1,000,000 clicks, just like mice. Sometimes they last longer, sometimes they don't but one thing for sure eventually happens to all, they wear out in time.

2) Electronics don't like heat. The more you turn on/off, the more your camera heats up. Repeat, reuse, on/off, on/off, the more you heat your camera and cool it. Which leads me to my final point.

3) Electronics like to run steady, just solid on for days. Like the space shuttle launch, the most dangerous time for your camera is take off (turn on) and landing (turn off). Well I don't think turning it off matters much, but you get the idea.

Too bad those damn redvolts don't last 3 hours! Does anyone know how many cycles the camera's on/off button is build for?



(your

It's a $40k camera. It has a battery which lasts twenty minutes or so. It damn well better be able to handle that kind of cycle until hell freezes over!

Mike

 

[Will Keir]

Jeff K. would be a good person to have chime in on this one. I respect his view on electronics/tech info.

 

[Mark Toia]

It's a $40k camera. It has a battery which lasts twenty minutes or so. It damn well better be able to handle that kind of cycle until hell freezes over!

Mike

YEAH! What Mike said!

 

[Mark Andersen]

I assume there are safeguards and operations in the shutdown sequence, which is probably different than just killing the power. Same with boot up, it's not just an on switch, but a procedure, that thankfully only takes 8 sec. But again I am just assuming. I also assume that leaving the camera on is better, except for fans wearing out, but they are simple to replace.

 

[paulherrin]

we need a 'sleep' mode. problem solved.

 

[Rocco Schult]

There is kinda sleep mode - it is the standby the camera is in, when lighting aka when a REDvolt is inserted. Most if not all electronica are somewhat powered why the battery gets empty without shooting.
I second the 50.000 cycles button theory, I think the rest is obsolete.
Extreme heat and even more cold however I believe to be more of a danger.
When the camera is switched on in freezing cold, it warms up, parts deform/extend more than they would possibly do while in warmer regions. It is about the difference why it is good to keep the camera warm/er.

 

[Mark Andersen]

I'd still like someone from RDC to chime in here.

 

[Jack Shanahan]

Good news it Jim said better power management is still on the horizon...

 

[Sam Taylor]

Yeah I'm also looking forward to better power management, however you can get some idea of why the batteries don't last long when you hear that fan blasting away and see all that processing which the camera is doing. It is a real power horse of a camera!