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Anton Bauer battery Issue

J

Joseph Farris

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Hi everyone,

I'm having an odd problem with using Anton Bauer batteries on my red. I've got the QR-RED plate on a Sim Video handle. Using Dionic 90's the camera powers up fine, using Hytron 140's the camera does not power up. The back LCD lights up for a second or two and then shuts off. If I use the Hytron 140's on a QBH the camera powers up fine. Anyone have a problem like this?

Thanks.

Joseph Farris
Director of Photography (IATSE Local 600)
Visions of Light, Inc.
312-829-8244 (office)
630-306-8244 (direct)
joe@visionsoflightinc.com
www.visionsoflightinc.com
 
How old are the hytrons? I have found them to be horribly unreliable over all.

Nick
 
some are a few years old, some are only a few months old. None of them work on the Red. The Dionic 90's are older than every Hytron and work fine. I have never had a problem with any of the batteries on other cameras.

Joseph Farris
Director of Photography (IATSE Local 600)
Visions of Light, Inc.
312-829-8244 (office)
630-306-8244 (direct)
joe@visionsoflightinc.com
www.visionsoflightinc.com
 
I have a bunch of hytrons sitting on their chargers, I hardly ever use them, I'll pop one on a red tomorrow and see what happens.

Nick
 
I have hytrons and no problem except that they aren't really reliable batteries. I have heard problems with them and 1 of my digital meters stopped working all of a sudden but it charges fine. Some batteries say no communication when on the charger. Very unpredictable.
 
No problem with the 140's on my Red.
I use the Dionic 160's at home in NYC; the 140's are my "travel-safe" batteries.
Cheers,
Harry
 
I suggest you contact Anton Bauer. These are industry-standard batteries and constitute the bulk of our rental fleet with little issue. But there can be recharge and "electronic memory" issues that are part of the circuit in the battery and not any chemical memory. This memory can be reset but it depends upon the type of charger you own so that is why I suggest you contact the company. If your charger has the LCD display then you can learn the proper analysis process.
 
Hey Mitch,

I have about 20 AB batts and 10 off brand "Gold Mount" batteries. I don't know why it is, but the hytrons have always been extra hinky. I have all the recent chargers, including the nice fancy one that tells you all kinds of fancy stuff. Common problems are : Not being recognized by the charger, Reading full up and quitting stone cold without warning, ridiculous temp warnings when trying to charge, wildly varying run times.
Most of these problems seem to happen with higher amp loads. Not running an arc welder type loads, but say a Varicam with downconverter, bartech and modulus. They will run my 8" monitor all day long with no problems (till I go to charge them). I've never had these problems with Dionics, or AB NiCads. I just chalked it up to experience, and stopped using Hytrons.
I always found it frustrating that AB will charge you many hundreds of dollars for a disposable battery that's only good for a few hundred cycles. Then I did a steadicam job for some news company in DC, CNN? maybe?, and saw the equipment room where there were hundreds of batts on chargers, and I thought ooooooooohhhhhh.
Don't get me wrong, I like AB, I like that they are a US company, I have just had bad experiences with Hytrons.

Nick
 
I use both Hytrons and Dionics with my cameras no problem. I find I have to double the Dionics because the camera can almost max the Dionics max amperage output.

If the camera dose not fire it's probably low volts from the battery or a poor connection somewhere.

Good Luck
 
As I said, Hytron 140 and Dionic 90 batteries are the mainstay of our fleet. Our Rental Tech Manager trained with Anton Bauer to learn the best way to properly maintain the batteries and keep them properly conditioned. They are not "dumb" batteries but instead have electronics within that suppose expected draws based on repeated usage. Using them in other ways especially in high discharge situations can cause erratic behavior, but this behavior can be trained out. I am not intimate with the processes involved and don't wish to give false information, which is why I suggest Joseph contact Anton Bauer directly.

Paul Dudeck of Anton Bauer occasionally comes on REDuser (he goes by 'pdu'). I'll alert him to this thread.
 
Red doesn't recommend other batteries except Red batteries. We asked Red by email and their response is warranty will be void if you use Anton Bauer batteries.
 
Red also told us that if you have any problems with power and need repair, if the culprit is a 3rd party battery, it will not be covered.

That's why we stick to Red batteries. They also give the battery information, which is one of the biggest pluses.
 
Not only have I never had an Anton Bauer battery fail, I've never even heard of one having the kind of problems bandied about here. They are, and for good reasons, the standard of the world.

I wonder if the culprit could be bad battery mounting plate connections, improper charging stations, or, operator error.

Good shooting and best regards,

Leo
 
I have contacted Anton Bauer and am waiting for a call back. I Think Mitch was right. I came back from a shoot today with my P2 Varicam and for kicks threw on a half charged Hytron 140 on the red and it powered up fine. I originally thought it was the QR-RED plate since the Hytrons did work when using the QBH-HD. Maybe there was enough voltage drop over the 6ft cable from the red to the QBH to allow the Red to power up? Just a guess there.

I have to say I have never had a problem with Anton Bauer batteries. They have been very reliable through 6 different cameras over the past 7 or so years that I have owned them. I do find it odd that using an industry standard battery would void your warranty.

Joseph Farris
Director of Photography (IATSE Local 600)
Visions of Light, Inc.
312-829-8244 (office)
630-306-8244 (direct)
joe@visionsoflightinc.com
www.visionsoflightinc.com
 
I don't think Red ever said it would void your warranty, the red battery plate is predrilled for an AB plate form the factory, they just said that if you fry your boards because of a power issue, and you are using non Red batts, it's not covered.
 
arrinick said:
I don't think Red ever said it would void your warranty, the red battery plate is predrilled for an AB plate form the factory, they just said that if you fry your boards because of a power issue, and you are using non Red batts, it's not covered.
Click to expand...

That's pretty much how they phrased it for me when I asked.
 
Red@BirnsAndSawyer said:
That's pretty much how they phrased it for me when I asked.
Click to expand...

To whomever "Red" at Birns & Sawyer is, I find your assertion troubling. It looks like you're simply touting your package over other companies supplying the camera with Anton Bauer batteries.

What exactly does, "pretty much" mean, and who at Red advised you that using Anton Bauer 140s would void the warrantee? I don't think you should throw stuff like that around without a source.

We've had post after post about using Anton Bauer batteries with no warning from Red that their use would void the camera warrantee. If they were to do so at this point, I would be very disappointed.

By the way, I have much more respect for people who emulate John Hancock; you don't have to sign large enough for a king to read without spectacles, but I like real names.

Best regards,

Leo
 
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