Faulty ports on the ET BNC breakout box ?

[Rick Darge]

Anyone have their HD-SDI ports fail on the ET BNC breakout box? My camera is out on a job and it's giving production issues with 2 of the ports. If this has happened to anyone else, were you able to get it successfully repaired by Element Technica or did you have to buy a whole new unit? PM with a price and details if that's the case - Need to fix this issue ASAP - thank you guys

 

[Greg M]

send it back to ET...its a minor repair, but they have to do it.

 

[Rick Darge]

Thank spaghetti monster that it's minor

Thanks for the quick reply!

 

[ericyoung]

The ET breakout box has no electronics - it's just connectors wired together inside an admittedly nicely designed machined case - nothing remotely complicated about it - and hence very little to go wrong.

Have the production definitely eliminated their cables as a problem?

Long cable drums can cause sparklies, susceptibility to radio interference and picture breakup.

Also, the HD-SDI BNC centre contacts are more delicate than the older SD BNCs as their more accurate 75ohm impedance requires less supportive insulation around the centre contacts, and these can become damaged or splayed out with careless cable insertion.

And I've also come across some BNC cable connectors which have slightly large centre pins which can splay out socket centres too which means subsequent correct cables make poor contact.

If they not too badly damaged a good pair of tweezers or really narrow needle nose pliers may bend them back OK, although metal fatigue will limit how many times this will work.

 

[Rick Darge]

Eric, they checked cables and determined it was the box. More thorough testing will be had tomorrow to determine the exact issue. I just wanted to see if anyone else had this problem. I've had nothing but 2 years of excellent luck with that little box. Hopefully it's an easy fix for ET & most importantly, my wallet

 

[Steve Gal]

I had to send back 1 of mine because 2 connectors were intermittent. What ET said was that they have a 500 mating cycle average and it cost me about $ 75 to get fixed. I feel it had more to do with the connectors coming loose and caused the wire inside to twist. I asked them to tighten the connectors so it will not come loose at all. Anyways, still better than the adapter cable that came with the Red. Those lasted I believe on 1 job and then immediately broke.

 

[Rick Darge]

Thanks for the feedback Steve - $75 sounds great - Hopefully that's the only issue going on !

 

[Steve Gal]

No problem. I guess that this is a sign that your camera is getting used which is good.

 

[Steve Gal]

Here is the info from ET's website.

Like most high quality RF connectors these were designed to survive 500 mating cycles just like the HD SDI BNC connectors in our breakout box. This unit makes it possible to eat up the available mating cycles on an easily (and inexpensively) repaired component rather than on the camera itself. Had RED selected PCB mounted BNC connectors in the same place and orientation as the minis, we likely would have still built the breakout box if for no other reason than to take the stress off of the camera's connectors and to re-route the cable toward the rear.

 

[Greg M]

Ive had to repair a few too...good idea to have a spare

 

[Rick Darge]

Just an update - I took my BNC box down to Element Technica today and it literally took them 20 minutes to test and repair my 2 channels that were faulty. $60 total. Thanks ET for making me look good! I wasn't expecting that fast of a turnaround..