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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 :)

2 red volts enough? swap and charge? run all day?

Marcos Montenegro said:
On another note, I always have a RedVolt in the side handle at all times like you, but I sadly discovered that when you unplug the AC power while the camera is running and while it has a charged RedVolt inside the side handle it does NOT stay ON; I repeated this exercise on multiple times with the same result. This has been covered in more detail on some other threads, but I thought this was a huge let down.
Click to expand...

I'm sure Red is working on that and I'm experiencing the same thing. However, when the brick gets very low I've had something magical happen, and the power switch occurs. That's when I actually need it.
 
8 redvolts and a quad charger will get you through the day as Toia says. (no quad charger here, just travel chargers...). Ideally, 12 redvolts and two quad chargers would be a dream. Then you can have a full set of 4 in the camera with the quad battery module and two sets cooking.

In the mean time, I still mostly run RED Bricks unless I want to go lighter. One RED Brick charger and two bricks will support an EPIC all day, but it can be a bit tight. Throw an extra brick in the mix and you're golden... The RED bricks still continue to impress me. I still have some that are 4 years old and they work just as good as the newer ones. They consistently hold up better and have better output than most other VMount batteries I run into.

As for the Redvolts. I like their size and the concept RED is going for here. The 25 minute average run-time I get with them isn't so bad, considering their size. Unfortunately, I find the 2+ hour charge time to be a little strange, for lack of a better way to put it. At first I just figured the travel charger wasn't that great and the quad-charger would do better. Nope, still takes a bit over 2 hours to charge all 4 batteries simultaneously. That's great, but when you can drain 4 batteries in under 2 hours and it takes over 2 hours to recharge them. That means you need 12 batteries and 2 quad chargers to stay ahead of the power consumption of the EPIC. Scarlet fares a bit better too...

You can still do it with 8 and I have, but that's a lot of battery swapping and rotating through on the travel chargers as I have it now.... Just not ideal. Would much rather lock a set of 4 into the quad module and run with it.
 
I used to run a R1 all day with one charger and two bricks.. but you need to swap when the current battery is a 25% to enable a quick charge. For the last four years I've been running the R1 with just three bricks and two chargers, along with a pure sine wave inverter for the car .. I'd like to think Epic has a lower power draw than a R1

edit: what jeff says basically ;)
 
Phil, what setup are you using with Red bricks. Using a belt clip or 3rd party v mount to attach the brick? Do you possibly have any pictures of your rig?

Thanks.

Phil Holland said:
Just another opinion/perspective to add.

Previously I was "mega" focused on using RedVolts and only RedVolts. However, once I got my Scarlet back in December I quickly realized that V-Mount and 1-3 hour operating times were my target. I'm frugal and have set a shortcut key on the my DSMC Side Handle to power off the camera. I've had shoots where I don't even go through one battery, which is nice. I find that when working with a director sometimes that I'm leaving the camera on though and having that extra punch is necessary.

For my style of shooting RedVolts have become somewhat of a "utility tool" for me. I always have one in the DSMC Side Handle, which great for media formating and changing settings. If I run out of power on the brick I can swap over to RedVolt while my AC or myself jogs over with a fresh brick.

RedVolts have been super handy to bring the rig weight down. Nice for steady cam, jib, and hand held work. Certainly nice if you need to run and gun.

Previously I was all about the Quad RedVolt Module, but I'm pretty confident I'll be purchasing another two bricks instead. I currently own 4 RedVolts and those are always with me.

Luckily Red has options to let you power the camera which ever way you want. I just discovered that I'm a brick guy overall with one RedVolt always in the DSMC Side Handle.

A quick on set note, on location I can't imagine swapping out batteries every 30 or so minutes. I just had a 12 hour day and both assistants had plenty to do without me yelling at them for batteries. Went through about 6 hours with of battery power. That would have been 10-12 RedVolt changes if that was purely how we powered the camera. They are quick to pop in, but that's still wasted time in my opinion.

That said, the Quad RedVolt Module solves that headache and gives you over 2 hours of operation and you can constantly be popping RedVolts in at your own convenience.
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Jeff,

Do you know if there is any problems at arise from Red Bricks that haven't been charged in two years? I got some old RED bricks in storage and was going to use them in an Epic V mount setup.

If they haven't got charged in 2 years, should I expect any issues? Or are they in better shape/life because they have been unused for so long?

Best.

Jeff Kilgroe said:
8 redvolts and a quad charger will get you through the day as Toia says. (no quad charger here, just travel chargers...). Ideally, 12 redvolts and two quad chargers would be a dream. Then you can have a full set of 4 in the camera with the quad battery module and two sets cooking.

In the mean time, I still mostly run RED Bricks unless I want to go lighter. One RED Brick charger and two bricks will support an EPIC all day, but it can be a bit tight. Throw an extra brick in the mix and you're golden... The RED bricks still continue to impress me. I still have some that are 4 years old and they work just as good as the newer ones. They consistently hold up better and have better output than most other VMount batteries I run into.

As for the Redvolts. I like their size and the concept RED is going for here. The 25 minute average run-time I get with them isn't so bad, considering their size. Unfortunately, I find the 2+ hour charge time to be a little strange, for lack of a better way to put it. At first I just figured the travel charger wasn't that great and the quad-charger would do better. Nope, still takes a bit over 2 hours to charge all 4 batteries simultaneously. That's great, but when you can drain 4 batteries in under 2 hours and it takes over 2 hours to recharge them. That means you need 12 batteries and 2 quad chargers to stay ahead of the power consumption of the EPIC. Scarlet fares a bit better too...

You can still do it with 8 and I have, but that's a lot of battery swapping and rotating through on the travel chargers as I have it now.... Just not ideal. Would much rather lock a set of 4 into the quad module and run with it.
Click to expand...
 
We will have 12 batteries and 4 chargers. I think that will make it possible to shoot all day.
It's only 4 travel chargers so they charge slow but I think (do not know for sure) that it's better for the bats than the quad that does a speed charge, that will probably eat some life time of the batteries or?

Im thinking of mounting 12 chargers in a case with power in. So we basically have all the batteries seated in chargers that is hooked up nicly to one power connection.

Like a "power case" with a 220V socket. The case would hold volts, AC adaptor, and quad module. when power is connected all 12 chargers is cooking.

Question is it a problem to over charge on the travel chargers?
 
My own view is that the tiny redvolts were ever only intended as an interim solution while Red got what it needed in place for the XL batteries. Those small batteries do not make sense in any other context. I think that they are an excellent way of turning your side handle into a UPS in conjunction with a red brick. Luckily my side handle seems to swap over seamlessly when I disconnect the red brick. The larger XLs are another matter. I was intending on getting some of those but I have to say the run time that you get with the red bricks on the Epic is simply terrific and I am having second thoughts.
 
i did a calculation a few months ago when i ordered my Redvolts, if you run just on Redvolts and use the side handle for powering, you need 8 Revolt Batteries and 3 Travel Chargers minimum to run more than 10 hours, given that the recharge takes 90 min and Runtime is 30min. Ad 2 more Redvolts to be save if specs don´t match exactly.
If you get the quad module, i´d go for one quad charger or 4 travel chargers and 12 redvolts (3 sets of full quad power setups)

I love the combination of V-Mount Bricks and Redvolt in the Sidehandle, no Power down, and easy to switch for a handheld shot in between :)
 
Yea, got my side handle...this thing rocks but one charger does not...:( I guess the red sidle handle should be used for the "special" run and gun or steadycam shot during a day of shooting. That's cool at least we have an option for now that does not include a 3lb brick ")
 
Will Keir said:
Jeff,

Do you know if there is any problems at arise from Red Bricks that haven't been charged in two years? I got some old RED bricks in storage and was going to use them in an Epic V mount setup.

If they haven't got charged in 2 years, should I expect any issues? Or are they in better shape/life because they have been unused for so long?

Best.
Click to expand...

Can't speak for Red Bricks in long term storage, but two years without a charge is a long time to expect batteries to still be working well. All batteries self discharge to some extent and while LiIon batteries are pretty good, they lose charge in storage faster than say NiCds. Deep discharge (from very long time storage) can kill or significantly reduce the capacity of battery cells, because the cell chemistry goes bad. IDX recommends long term storage at 20-40% capacity with a recharge to 20-40% capacity every 3 months.

Also, Lithium Ion batteries have safety circuits which will prevent charging if the voltage is below a certain low threshold to prevent fire/explosion risk. While some batteries and chargers may have a recovery mode which attempts to resurrect deeply discharged batteries, only way to know is to get them out and try them - you may or may not have to try several times to charge them.
 
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