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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Watercooled Red

J.D. Frey

J.D. Frey

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So one of our guys has been shooting red footage during the day, and the heat index has been around 120 for the past two weeks. As you can imagine the Red does not like a high-heat environment.

The team started out using gel packs, however those only lasted ~20 minutes before they turned from cooling device to insulator.

This morning they are attaching a water jacket intended for a computer CPU to see if it's possible to continually cool the red during the shoot.

We'll post some pics later.

J.D.
 
I'm not sure what the rig is going to look like- Bill called me from the field. I expect some pics of either a very cool or a very wet red.

They bought the gear and are getting ready for today's shoot. They've been working in the heat for a few weeks already and will continue to shoot the rest of this week- that should be plenty of time to make some observations. Bill is planning on posting more info after the shoot.
 
Here is a small pic from bill's phone- more to come.
 
Very interested to hear the results of this! Is this strictly a water-circulation / radiator system, or does it also include a peltier-effect cooler?
 
Looks like the thread was moved to the help section- I guess that's more appropriate.

Anyway here is the latest news: It worked!

They used the rig all day yesterday and had no shutdowns at all. There was no effort to physically mount the heat sink to the camera- they just wedged it in between the rods at the top of the camera below the handle- not a whole lot of contact there, but enough to keep the camera working.

This was basically an on-site mod using a $175.00 cpu cooler, however since the rig is 12 volts and small it shouldn't be too much trouble to come up with something that mounts to the camera and is powered by the battery.

I'll post some close-ups when I get them.

J.D.
 
It seems like a cpu cooler like this http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?C=1329&ID=1554 may work too although maybe not as well. I'm running a thermaltake USB powered fan on my macbook right now and it is really working in keeping the surface cool.
Whoever comes up with a good solution that doesn't involve gel packs is going to sell a lot of units.

Shane.
 
I've been looking a peltier devices this morning- however having a huge heat sink attached to the camera might not be the best solution.

Something low-profile that fits nicely over the top of the red (where most of the heat is) would be nice.
 
solecize said:
I've been looking a peltier devices this morning- however having a huge heat sink attached to the camera might not be the best solution.

Something low-profile that fits nicely over the top of the red (where most of the heat is) would be nice.
Click to expand...

and usb powered so it could run off the camera
 
desperate times

desperate times

call for desperate measures, aside from ice packs, which "die" all too quickly, our very hastily cobbled together water cooler worked quite well- our sound guy hated us of course. The heat sink requires a re tooling to fit the curve of the top of the red to be truly efficient, bit our mod did help cool the beast inb the ferocious Texas heat. We missed no shots due to overheating!
 
beel said:
call for desperate measures, aside from ice packs, which "die" all too quickly, our very hastily cobbled together water cooler worked quite well- our sound guy hated us of course. The heat sink requires a re tooling to fit the curve of the top of the red to be truly efficient, bit our mod did help cool the beast inb the ferocious Texas heat. We missed no shots due to overheating!
Click to expand...

How did you power it?
 
The CPU cooler was 12 volt so Bill cut the cable and powered it off the battery.
 
solecize said:
I've been looking a peltier devices this morning- however having a huge heat sink attached to the camera might not be the best solution.

Something low-profile that fits nicely over the top of the red (where most of the heat is) would be nice.
Click to expand...

Did you see this company?

http://nanocoolers.com/technology_thin.php

Looks like they got the means to custom make a Peltier top that is conformed to the shape of the camera.
 
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