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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 :)

Why do Red batteries cost so much when they don't work?

Jeremy Wiles

Jeremy Wiles

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I'm not the one with a constant long list of complaints, but it does make me quite angry that I have 5 Red batteries and all of them have bad connections when mounting to the camera. It has wasted so much of my time on set trying to get these things working. I'm even wrapping tape around them to get the pressure enough to make connection with the metal plugs. If you finally get one to make a good connection but then bump the camera the wrong way it shuts off.

Why is RED charging full price for something that doesn't work? Why don't they drop the price of these defective batteries until they are fixed? Seriously, it's not right to be charging full price for something that so many people are having problems with.

Don't you agree?

Jeremy
 
Try wrapping gaffer tape around your battery plate. Plus, use a pin to straighten out the contacts in your plate a bit. Helped with ours, went from off at the slightest bump to hard knocks only.
 
I'm into your anger and disgust and everything; but what you should be complaining about is the plate the batteries mount to, not the batteries themselves. The batteries themselves are pretty good, I have not come across any that need to be re-celled, yet, which is a pleasant surprise. The reason why I say that is well... look at all their other stuff that doesn't hold up to the rigors of onset life.

The battery chargers are dumb too, they don't like batteries that are too hot. Which would not be a problem if they were smart enough to know when the batteries have cooled down enough to be kosher to recharge.

When someone asks me what is wrong with the Red One, my response is "Point to anything on the camera that says Red" (they point to something) "yeah, that doesn't really work unless you...."

There would not be such a backlash against the Red One if there were not so many retards in love with the camera proclaiming it's, undeserved, greatness to the world all the time.
 
I have to agree with Steve. It's more likely the contacts on your battery plate than on the bricks themselves. The RED bricks are really good batteries for a good price, especially if you buy the 6-pack. I've gone through a couple battery mounts, which were replaced under warranty or swapped out when I sent in the camera for an upgrade. Keep them clean and check your pins / connections.
 
Blaire Johnson said:
...The battery chargers are dumb too, they don't like batteries that are too hot. Which would not be a problem if they were smart enough to know when the batteries have cooled down enough to be kosher to recharge...
Click to expand...

I think the chargers that shipped at the beginning did have this problem. Not sure when, but RED updated the charger firmware so that the charger would try again at intervals until the batteries were cool enough to start charging.

If your chargers are having this problem, you can probably return them to RED for firmware updating. Open a Support ticket with Red
 
Jens Jakob Thorsen said:
I fixed mine by widening the pins with a small screwdriver. Havent had a problem since. Its not rocket sience.
Click to expand...

Yup, this worked for me as well.

I compared the pin holes in the RED Bricks with the ones in my Swit Batteries, and they were slightly larger, causing the bad contact on the slightest shock.
Widening the pins cured the issue.

Jeff
 
RED BRICK

RED BRICK

Why don't they drop the price of these defective batteries until they are fixed?
Click to expand...

Sorry, RED BRICK 140 batteries are top quality and aggressively priced.

Have you contacted RED tech support about your issue?

It certainly sounds more like a V plate issue, tech support can help you understand if you have a revised design version....
 
Charger smarts.

Charger smarts.

The battery chargers are dumb too, they don't like batteries that are too hot.

Which would not be a problem if they were smart enough to know when the batteries have cooled down enough to be kosher to recharge.
Click to expand...

No, it is a smart charger, and the above comments reflect an original firmware charger.

That firmware tested battery temperature only when it was first mounted, if too hot to safely charge, it prevented charging.

The newer firmware re-tests for battery temperature when first mounted and again every few minutes.

This means that you can leave the battery on the charger and it will start to charge as soon as the battery has cooled down to a safe re-charge temperature.
 
Professional gear should be designed to work with industry-standard third-party accessories, especially batteries.

How many posts here and elsewhere have damned the Red for spontaneous rebooting? I strongly suspect that most of these failures can be laid at the feet of the Red's battery mount.

When we move to Epic, will we be forced to use some new proprietary Red battery, or will there be a provision to continue to enjoy the reliability and service one receives from the likes of Anton Bauer?

Undoubtedly, Red has been a profound game-changer, but the battery/plate issue was an unfortunate choice.

Good shooting and best regards,

Leo
 
I use the anton bauer adapter for the red, bcause I have so many of those batteries anyway. But have had problems when I use the red batteries too.
 
In my eyes the plastic piece connecting the cable to the battery plate is too stiff and a weak point. As a result it is not flexible enough to allow smooth bending of the very end of the cable. Instead the bending radius tends to get rather small leading easily to broken conductors within the cable.

As everybody knows, if metals are bended at the same position fatigue causes the metal to break rather soon. Occasional reboots of the camera or camera showing occasionally DC instead of the amount of charge sound like typical symptoms of broken strands within the cable.

In the very best cables the strands are bit twisted inside the cable. As a result bending the cable changes the twisting picth instead of bending the conductors themselves. Have no idea whether this is the case within the RED cable but nevertheless a less stiff plastic piece preventing too small bending radius of the very end of the part of cable outside the battery plate would be better and more professional.
 
For those still having problems, make sure you have a Version 2 battery plate, We've not had problems with the new one. Obviously after long enough, we'll probably need to "widen" the pins as has been suggested with a small screw driver.

I don't think that everything RED makes is gold necessarily, but they have been more than willing to fix problems. Your bombsquad Rep is there to help. If you're having some random problem, you should check with them to see if it's something that is known. If you're the only one that ever has had the problem, then it's something wrong with that particular camera, get it looked at. If it's a global issue, more than likely RED has done some sort of fix that you don't have. Our cameras work a lot (thankfully) and there are rarely issues with anything from RED, usually it's people thinking they know how to turn sound on, but really don't.
 
We had our plate changed when we upgraded the camera and we haven't had a problem since. We do have a problem with the batts not charging. How can we upgrade the firmware on the charger?
 
Chargers should have been sent in for upgrade when you sent in your camera. Probably best to contact your bomb squad rep or whoever you communicated with about the upgrade, if you didn't send in your chargers at that time.
 
Battery / Plates

Battery / Plates

We had our plate changed when we upgraded the camera and we haven't had a problem since.

How can we upgrade the firmware on the charger?
Click to expand...

That's good to hear. On the charger issue, I'd make a call to RED tech support
 
I'm sending in the battery plate to be upgraded to version 2. I've been taking my frustrations out on the battery, but had suspicions it might be the plate. I'll have to wait until this shoot is over. It's hard to part with the camera since it's constantly being used. I got so mad at the camera rebooting all the time I kicked an old woman in the teeth. See what this defective battery plate made me do! ha!

Thanks everybody.
 
If the plate doesn't solve it, you might want to check your plate and battery with another camera. If there problem doesn't happen on the other body, then have RED check the wiring in your camera.

I suspect that everything will be fixed with the new battery plate. Trust me, I know how frustrating the first battery plate was/is :)
 
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