Using external power sources (batteries)

[Charles Papert]

I've heard plenty of "there are issues with using non-RED batteries" and the like in the past year. I'd love to hear some hard facts on what the issues may be. Is it a small window of acceptable voltage, or voltage fluctuation that is causing problems? What are the ramifications of using a block battery or Steadicam batteries to power REDOne? What can be done to make it more compatible?

I apologize if this has been covered, I searched for a thread on this but couldn't find it.

 

[tj williams]

HI Charles
The version 14 manual which I just cover to covered says voltage fm 11.5 to 17 which is what my other batts deliver.
Currently using Lions in 160 wh will shortly have RED gonna be bummed if all my batts won't work, but manual gives no indication like this. Never had this problem with any other camera...Where is this problem can't find on a forum search??? More concerned about the crazy airline trans. rules for Lion...

 

[Russ Fill]

On that same note... I would like to know if my Hytron 140's would work? That would give you enough power to light up your RED for a while.

 

[Manuel Wenger]

Used Hytron 140 on Red via a DSR Qucikplate. Works fine and will juice you Red about 2 hours. Also used IDX batteries (Endura Elite) and they worked also fine.

Manuel

 

[Rainer Fritz]

The only thing is, the camera don't know how empty or full your battery is and shows "AC" at the battery meter.

 

[RED 648]

RED batteries are smart

RED batteries are smart

We tested Sony, Anton Bauer and Panasonic batteries on our camera and they all worked. Don't know about how long they will last VS the RED batteries. The problem is they don't have the smart chip the RED batteries have so the camera thinks it's on AC power. This also means if the battery runs low the camera will not do the auto shut down when it runs out of power.

The auto shut down is a really nice feature since it saves any data written prior to shut down.

 

[Harry Clark]

I've used my Dionic 160's, Hytron 140's and my Victory block batteries and they all work fine. Obviously the Victories last longest.
You can keep an eye on the side display on the A/B's and you'll have some fair warning that you're about to die.
But it would be nice if Red could warn you of low voltage even in AC power mode, which is what it thinks you're feeding it in the absence of a Red battery. Because if your battery goes down and the camera thinks it's on AC power, it crashes, and you may have a bad file if you were rolling during the crash.
I was thinking of getting an inline voltmeter for the block batteries' cable.
This has been discussed at great length in some previous posts. It seems as though the folks at Red got the word and are going to help us somehow on this.
Cheers,
Harry

 

[Bang WOW Bang]

I've heard plenty of "there are issues with using non-RED batteries" and the like in the past year. I'd love to hear some hard facts on what the issues may be. Is it a small window of acceptable voltage, or voltage fluctuation that is causing problems? What are the ramifications of using a block battery or Steadicam batteries to power REDOne? What can be done to make it more compatible?

I apologize if this has been covered, I searched for a thread on this but couldn't find it.

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[paul engstrom]

similar related question: a number of the AB chargers have a 70w plug to power the camera from mains--similar to the one in RED's charger. has anyone tried powering their camera with this plug? does it provide sufficient juice?

paul

 

[David Wyatt]

Using 3rd party batteries is all very well and convenient if you already own them, but the possibility of your Red suddenly cutting out if you haven't monitored battery voltage is just too scary to contemplate - especially if you're using the RedDrive (hard-drives don't like suddenly losing power mid-use). The Red batteries and chargers are very reasonably priced for their impressive capacity & size. Better safe than sorry!

 

[Mike Prevette]

Again, I'm begging someone (hope fully red) to build a box (4pinxlr to camera lemo) that translates line voltage into their proprietary data stream and reports it to the camera.

People have said that their onboard to camera communication stream is more complex than that and requires specific knowledge of the cells involved (discharge curves?), if that is the case then then needs to implement a secondary lower level communication protocol that will understand simple line voltage.

 

[Nils Ruinet]

I guess this could be done by firmware. I remember other cameras (was it the varicam ?) where you could chose in the menus which batteries you are using. So why couldn't the RED do it ?

For normal use I plan on using Red batteries.
But as Charles pointed out, for steadicam work it would be nice to power the camera from the steadicam (which often uses AB batteries).
This is also an important feature for people / rental houses who already own other V-Lock batteries...

Anyway, this is really important.
Let's hope this comes with build 15 or 16...

 

[Mike Prevette]

Because a RED isn't a Varicam. It's not clear yet whether Red's power circuitry is capable of that kind of monitoring or if it's even at a level that can be changed via firmware.