Bartec Power Issues

[Tanner Stauss]

I am having a little trouble with my Bartec on ActionCam. This is the second shoot I have used the ActionCam with the RED, and I am having the same power issues with the Bartec.

First off, I am on Build 15. I have been working with build 15 for about 4-5 months now and I am used to the bugs and the workarounds.

I am at my hotel right now, so I do not know the model of the Bartec motor and transmitter but I will find out and post that tomorrow.

The problem I am having is powering the Bartec off of the camera battery/power. I am using(trying to) the lemo power input off of the battery cradle, but have no luck in that. If the camera is powered and I plug in the Bartec transmitter and turn it on, the camera shuts off within 3 seconds. If the Bartec is plugged in and powered on before I try to power the camera, It will not power up. My only solution right now, is using our spare battery cradle with a second battery and dedicating that to the Bartec. This is not ideal because it is overweighting the ActionCam or I have to rig the spare battery to the vest which gives me unwanted cables coming off of the ActionCam. The AJA downconvertor we are also using has no problem powering from the camera and I have tried the Bartec with the AJA connected and without, same results either way.

So, is this a known bug with Build 15 or is there a solution to my problem. Also, would anyone suggest that I update to Build 16 in the middle of a 9 week feature and try to deal with new bugs or stay on 15 for now?

Thats about it, thanks in advance for any help.

Tanner
:help:

 

[Mitch Gross]

Don't use the Lemo4 on the camera to power the Bartech. That port is only rated for 1.5amps and the Bartech can draw more than 5amps. Only power it directly from the Anton Bauer D-tap on the side of the battery mount.

 

[Tanner Stauss]

Don't use the Lemo4 on the camera to power the Bartech. That port is only rated for 1.5amps and the Bartech can draw more than 5amps. Only power it directly from the Anton Bauer D-tap on the side of the battery mount.

That is what I am trying to use. Currently that is the only cable I have to get power from, among 100 other cables I have from the Bartec package from Hollywood Camera. I am not powering from any of the auxiliary power inputs from the camera itself, only the 2-pin rectangular lemo(or what I thought was a "lemo" input, is it not? Is it only referred to as a D-tap input?) on the side of the battery mount.

 

[Jim Bartell]

BarTech power problem

BarTech power problem

I suspect you may have either a bad battery or bad wiring going to the power plug in the battery mount.

When turned on but not driving the motor the receiver only draws about 50 mA, which shouldn't be enough to do anything, much less prevent the camera from powering up. When the BFD is switched on or when switched into calibrate mode it can generate a spike, but the battery should certainly be able to handle it.

While one instance of this has been reported before, the problem only occurred when switching into calibrate mode. The work-around was to calibrate before powering up the camera, since there were no problems in normal use.

I have made 15 to 20 of these cables and haven't had any reports like this.

The other alternative is to power from your ActionCam sled. They provide a port for just this reason.

The other alternative is the BFD power cable or BFD receiver is bad, but then it wouldn't power up off of the other battery mount either.

Jim Bartell

 

[Joe Kleber]

I had a similar problem while powering a Bartec off the D-tap port on the side of the cradle. The camera kept cutting off every time I plugged everything up and turned on the power.

In my case the solution was simple. I checked to make sure I had plugged the D-tap cable in properly and, sure enough, the cable was plugged in with the wrong polarity. The connector is shaped like a D to prevent this but apparently both male and female ends don't always have the same shape.

 

[Tanner Stauss]

I checked to make sure I had plugged the D-tap cable in properly and, sure enough, the cable was plugged in with the wrong polarity. The connector is shaped like a D to prevent this but apparently both male and female ends don't always have the same shape.

I don't follow. There is only one way to plug in the cable to the D-tap. As you said, it is D-shaped to allow one way of plugging in, does that mean the male pins are switched the wrong way on the cable?

Also, I do not think it is a problem with the cables or the BFD receiver because it has happened to me more than once, with different cables and different Bartec packages, unless my luck is that bad.

 

[Costelloe Michael]

Tanner,

I've been running this same set up for 3 months with no problems. I did get the cable from Bartech already made up, I suspect if you are having problems then this is where they lie.

Mike C

 

[CVB]

The red battery bracket is kinda messed up in that you can accidently plug the DTAP in upside down... they didn't make the locating feature right. I'd suggest you verify that the + is matched up with the + on the battery bracket.

 

[Brian D. Goff]

I don't follow. There is only one way to plug in the cable to the D-tap. As you said, it is D-shaped to allow one way of plugging in, does that mean the male pins are switched the wrong way on the cable?

Also, I do not think it is a problem with the cables or the BFD receiver because it has happened to me more than once, with different cables and different Bartec packages, unless my luck is that bad.

Check all cables for shot circuit, also the actioncam spiral cable and the d-tap to bfd. If you have no meter to test the through-put on the cable, then just open the lemos and d-tap and visually check if a wire has come loose. For your under standing, the actioncam cable is only an extension cable, so each pin on the lemo is connected with the same wire on the other lemo. The d-tap + should go to the pin on the 2pin lemo that has a white circle (+). Lemos don't have nr. but the pin with the white circle is nr. 1 and then you follow the outer white circle for continuos nr. What batteries are you using?

 

[Tanner Stauss]

I am using all Red Bricks. How do you know if you have cables that are directly from Bartec? My package is from Holly Camera Inc. Should I just ask them?

 

[Brian D. Goff]

I am using all Red Bricks. How do you know if you have cables that are directly from Bartec? My package is from Holly Camera Inc. Should I just ask them?

Just trying to be sure it's not our cable It sounds like a cable issue somewhere down the line. I have the same set-up with no problems. Do you have battery status on the camera when using the RED bricks with the ActionCam?

 

[Tanner Stauss]

Just trying to be sure it's not our cable It sounds like a cable issue somewhere down the line. I have the same set-up with no problems. Do you have battery status on the camera when using the RED bricks with the ActionCam?

Yes, I do have battery status. The battery is just connected using a built in extension of the power cable.

 

[Brian D. Goff]

Yes, I do have battery status. The battery is just connected using a built in extension of the power cable.

Then our cable seems to be working fine What happens if you plug the RED Batterie mount directly into the camera (not using our spiral extension cord) and then plug the d-tap to the bfd?

 

[Tanner Stauss]

Then our cable seems to be working fine What happens if you plug the RED Batterie mount directly into the camera (not using our spiral extension cord) and then plug the d-tap to the bfd?

Same thing, that's how I was initially testing the BFD.

 

[Tanner Stauss]

New Shoot, New Build, Same Problem

New Shoot, New Build, Same Problem

So, if anyone has any new advice for me, GREAT! I am having the same problems as everything that is stated above. I am now on Build 16, V. 3.2.5, and having the exact same issues.

It will work momentarily, but eventually the camera will shut-off. I am using the D-tap power cable and have tried many variations of powering then calibrating, calibrating then powering, etc, etc.

The only difference now is that we are using a brand new BFD purchased from Bartec, and we have two brand new RED packages recently received from RED. Same problems on both cameras.

Please help.

 

[Nick Gardner]

Power the bartech from the sled. That should solve your problems until you can figure out whats up. What else are you running off of the camera battery? Monitors, transmitters? could it be that you are over loading the batts and they are cutting out?

Nick

 

[Tanner Stauss]

The only thing that I am running off the camera battery d-tap is the BFD transmitter. I have a Camwave CW5-HD but that is being run off of a different battery. I have done multiple tests while only trying to run the BFD.

My most recent results: I can get the BFD calibrated with the camera off. I power both the transmitter and receiver on before powering on the camera. The only thing that will shut off the camera is ramping the focus very fast. I am guessing that it spikes the power too much and cuts the power. Other than that, generally it works, but just some random power cutting problems.

It makes no sense to me.

 

[Brian D. Goff]

ActionCam

ActionCam

... if you are using RED batteries - they probably are the problem. We noticed that the BFD (and or motor) can suck to much power especially when the focus ring on some lenses are not smooth enough. The internal security fuse in the RED batteries then seem to shut of. ....

Daryl