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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 :)

D-Taps on Battery Plate

Power Options

Power Options

Jarred, Wondering how/why you guys decided to go with anything other than an AB plate for battery power. AB has been an industry standard for quite a while and many professionals have a significant investment in AB batteries. I appreciate that your giving us the opportunity to shake it up by supplying the proper bolt patterns for various power options. Just curious. Sorry if this was covered already, haven't seen it.
 
I agree with the other posters about the rock-solid OEM Anton Bauer parts. I have 2 HDX-900s, an SDX-900, and HVX-200, and several of the A/B 4-way power tap splitters. Lots of power cables for monitors, Firestores, even a special zoom cable that works with my Pro-35.
There is NO WAY to plug in one of the A/B connectors backwards unless you force it. I'll be using the A/B part ONLY. No knockoffs on my camera.
But seriously, why no fuse and polarity protection on the camera???
Cheers,
Harry
 
tubular said:
Jarred, Wondering how/why you guys decided to go with anything other than an AB plate for battery power. AB has been an industry standard for quite a while and many professionals have a significant investment in AB batteries. I appreciate that your giving us the opportunity to shake it up by supplying the proper bolt patterns for various power options. Just curious. Sorry if this was covered already, haven't seen it.
Click to expand...

And many professionals also use V-lock and PAG (PAG people will have to drill their own holes!).

Guess it depends which "industry" you're talking about. AB are definitely not the only standard :biggrin:
 
I have genuine AB D-tap connectors and I can easily plug them in backwards on Reds #50 and 51.

This does NOT happen on any of the other gear I have used around the world.

This is a serious problem that Red needs to fix.

(and the monitor I'm powering was $6000 so it is a real concern!)
 
CrewPix.com said:
I have genuine AB D-tap connectors and I can easily plug them in backwards on Reds #50 and 51.

This does NOT happen on any of the other gear I have used around the world.

This is a serious problem that Red needs to fix.

(and the monitor I'm powering was $6000 so it is a real concern!)
Click to expand...


I have been saying this since day 1...I really dont understand why this isnt fixed.
 
Jarred Land said:
i would agree with that.. the AB D-Taps are definitely solid.
Click to expand...

Here's some trivia everyone will enjoy.

Dtap is a common misnomer.

Technically, there's actually no such things as a "Dtap" from Anton Bauer. The actual plug is known as an Anton Bauer PowerTap or Ptap for short.

There's a list of AB Accessories here:
http://www.antonbauer.com/productindex.htm

It's kind of like saying "I could care less" which is a famous bit of incorrectness you find said and written every day.

I.
 
Illya Friedman said:
Here's some trivia everyone will enjoy.

Dtap is a common misnomer.

Technically, there's actually no such things as a "Dtap" from Anton Bauer. The actual plug is known as an Anton Bauer PowerTap or Ptap for short.

There's a list of AB Accessories here:
http://www.antonbauer.com/productindex.htm

It's kind of like saying "I could care less" which is a famous bit of incorrectness you find said and written every day.

I.
Click to expand...

Irregardless, I couldn't care less, but I will be with you momentarily.:wink:
 
OK, here is something that just occurred to me. Is it possible to power the camera through the Anton Bauer PowerTap? If so, you could have a battery on an AB plate and run a cable from its PTap to the PTap on the camera's battery plate. That way, you could swap out camera batteries without having to power down.

I would put a meter to the Lemo before trying this little trick. Wouldn't want to suddenly send 24v to the camera. :huh:

EDIT: If this worked it would also allow you to move the weight of the battery away from the camera for jibs, car mounts and such.
 
I think the only issue would be supplying enough current to the camera through the dtap. The extra battery would be paralleled through the dtap so it wouldn't have a chance at being 24vdc. It's my understanding that the camera needs 75 watts which is about 6.25 amps at 12vdc. Would the wire you use be able to supply that kind of current? 18 gauge can supply that but you would be better off with 16 gauge wire to reduce the line loss. and will the connectors support that current?
 
I wasn't sure if the PowerTap was parallel or not. It makes sense that it would be, just didn't know. So thanks for clearing that up.

You may be right about the current, but how big are the wires inside the LEMO cable?
 
As long as the connector could handle the current, you could build your own cable with this http://www.enggadgets.com/s.nl/it.A/id.701/.f?sc=7&category=2579

EDIT: The connector should be able to handle the current long enough for a battery switch. The issue would only pop up during long term powering like on a jib or helicopter mount. If indeed it was an issue. Might not be.

The other thing that I don't know is if there is a diode in the battery plate that keeps the current to the PowerTap going in one direction. If that is the case, you wouldn't be able to power the camera through the connector at all.
 
I would be EXTREMELY carefull of putting any power INTO the Powertap.
I'd say dont even think about it.

I dont know about the RED v-lock plate, but Anton Bauers genue Gold Mount plates do not contain a diode bride only a Fuze to protect from overloads.
 
No kidding about being careful. Wouldn't want to toast my camera just to save a 60 second power up. But, if you made a pig tail that stayed on the plate that had a 4 pin XLR on the other end, you would greatly reduce the chance of swapping polarity. Assuming, of course, the pig tail was wired properly and throughly tested before installation. Then, you could power from any industry standard 12v supply, be it another battery or a power supply. Assuming, again, the PowerTap connector can handle the current.
 
Also NEVER parallel two batteries of different chemistry and/or Voltage!

It's common in the Steadicam business to use a use a NiCD battery to voltage boost to 24V but the booster battery is ALWAYS attached in SERIES to the Li-Ion battery NEVER in parallel!
 
OK, this little PowerTap exercise may be just too risky to play with. Oh, well, it would have been a quick solution to a couple of problems.

Thanks for the input.
 
Anders Holck said:
From what I have read the camera is not protected from reverse polarity,
Click to expand...

Have you read the manual? Operations Guide Build 12 v1.8.6, Page 56
D.C POWER INPUT: The power input is protected against reverse-polarity connection, ESD, under voltage and over current.
 
Ok sorry, missed that. I have edited the original post.
I would still not recommend using the Power tap for power input.
 
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