Epic-W Temperature

[Gavin Greenwalt]

Is 38 the best temperature for Helium? That is a good bit cooler than Dragon isn't it?

The Epic-W seems a bit louder than Epic-Dragon so being able to run it warmer seems like it would be beneficial to keep fan speeds as low as possible.

 

[Jake Wilganowski]

Weapon dragon is default 38 also

 

[Kevin DeOliveira]

I'm at 39 right now, and was wondering about this myself.

the fans are working hard to maintain that temperature. So much so, that I foresee audio problems in the near future. Has anyone done thorough testing on this front (Phil)?

 

[Kevin Marshall]

I'm also interested in this. On DSMC1, Adaptive/65 gets me between 46-50C sensor temp, depending on ambient temp and workload. Would those still be solid temps to target on DSMC2, while getting quieter operation? Or should it really be targeted at ~40, which led to super-loud fans on the one Weapon shoot I've been on?

 

[Nick Morrison]

I'm also interested in this. On DSMC1, Adaptive/65 gets me between 46-50C sensor temp, depending on ambient temp and workload. Would those still be solid temps to target on DSMC2, while getting quieter operation? Or should it really be targeted at ~40, which led to super-loud fans on the one Weapon shoot I've been on?

Adaptive/65 is what we set Epic Dragon to as well.

Curious if this is protocol for DSMC2 also.

 

[Alberto Guglielmi]

Same here. I think they changed how they calculate sensor temp between DSMC1 and DSMC2. But said so my Epic-W seems louder than expected.
Defaults fan is set at adaptive and 39, but fans are going pretty much non stop.

 

[Stacey Spears]

Adaptive/65 is what we set Epic Dragon to as well.

Curious if this is protocol for DSMC2 also.

DSMC1 and 2 are not measuring the same thing, which is why 65 and 38 seem so far apart. One is the actual sensor temp and the other is not.

My camera is in getting upgraded to Helium, but when it was a Weapon Dragon, it was quieter than the EPIC Dragon.

 

[Kevin DeOliveira]

RED team? Any thoughts?

 

[Antony Newman]

What Stacey said.

DSMC2 is trying to control & display the exact temperature of the sensor.

DSMC1 was 'more concerned' with thermal runaway of the (mobile supercomputing) Brain.

AJ

 

[Matthew Quinn]

My scarlet-w is runs completely silent... Epic-w is "loud"?

 

[Kevin Marshall]

DSMC1 and 2 are not measuring the same thing, which is why 65 and 38 seem so far apart. One is the actual sensor temp and the other is not.

My camera is in getting upgraded to Helium, but when it was a Weapon Dragon, it was quieter than the EPIC Dragon.

Yes, and the way DSMC2 makes more sense, since the sensor temp is what impacts the image, and what the black shading calibration is based on. But there's still a big difference between 39C on DSMC2, and 46-50C on DSMC1. Both are what the default fan settings get you, and the DSMC2 default requires more/louder airflow to maintain.

 

[Kevin DeOliveira]

Fans haven't been too bad shooting in the fall weather here in the midwest, roughly 70 degrees.

I'm still worried about some interviews we have coming up. May have to jack up the target temp and see how it goes.

 

[paulcurtis]

I got mine yesterday, only been playing but so far it seems okay. My observation is that if the heat exhaust at the bottom is blocked or doesn't have the air flow i suspect the heat would build up forcing the fans at the top to suck in more. Some configs i've seen appear to not directly obstruct the exhaust but at the same time restrict some of the flow for the heat to escape (IMHO). So i do wonder whether some of this is rig based?

I've a proper shoot next week, although noise wouldn't be an issue but coming from basically silent cameras it is a bit of a change.

cheers
Paul

 

[Kevin DeOliveira]

I got mine yesterday, only been playing but so far it seems okay. My observation is that if the heat exhaust at the bottom is blocked or doesn't have the air flow i suspect the heat would build up forcing the fans at the top to suck in more. Some configs i've seen appear to not directly obstruct the exhaust but at the same time restrict some of the flow for the heat to escape (IMHO). So i do wonder whether some of this is rig based?

I've a proper shoot next week, although noise wouldn't be an issue but coming from basically silent cameras it is a bit of a change.

cheers
Paul

Our exhaust is not obstructed at all. After 20-30min, the fans still going like mad when above 75 degrees indoors. Again, that's based on an Epic-W target temp of 39.

 

[Alex Delmonico]

Are there any new insights about the optimal temps for Epic-W?

Started working with mine this morning and with the adaptive set to 38 my fans run significantly louder than my Epic Dragon. It's not a huge deal, but I would love to makes the fans a bit happier if I can.

 

[Kyle Wright]

I shot this past week a couple times with the Epic-W and was surprised by how loud the fans ran. It's also set to the default (adaptive 38°). One day was indoors (about 70°F ambient) and the other was outdoors (high 70's). No top plate obstructing the top fans and nothing blocking the bottom exhaust port. Maybe I've gotten used to shooting with the super silent Alexa Mini this year (almost all my jobs this year have been on it), but I've been using RED's since the One and the Epic-W seems to be the loudest so far while still at a very reasonable ambient temperature. I was planning on shooting the first leg of a documentary the first week of December on the Epic-W, but the fan noise has me very worried.

 

[Josiah Duncan]

I've also noticed that my Epic-W is louder than the Epic Dragon. Thinking/hoping it's just a fan firmware bug.

 

[Kevin Marshall]

What's the upper limit on the target temp for Adaptive on DSMC2? The Epic Dragons I work with usually end up with sensor temps of 48-50C (depending on ambient temp) when set to Adaptive/65. 38C is a long way from 48C, so I'd be interested in how much quieter the fans are when the target temp is set higher than the default 38C.

 

[Brendan H. Banks]

I didn't own a DSMC1 camera, but so far my EW is only loud on boot. I've been shooting EXT in lower degree temps, however I've been running tons of tests inside and working the cam for a few hrs continuously rolling here and there and can barely notice the fans at all.

 

[Nils Ruinet]

Would love to hear a word from Red about this too...
I was under the impression that DSMC2 was supposed to be more silent than Epic, and that was one of the points I was excited about switching to Epic-W. But to my surprise it seems to be at least as loud as the Epic-Dragon. My guess would be that the Helium sensor likes to run colder than the Dragon sensor, so it needs more cooling... Hope this can be improved in the future though.

This is what Jarred said about Weapon when it came out :

Cooling System improvements:

More like a complete redesign rather than an improvement.

When you put 4k or 4.5k or 5k or 6k or 8k into a camera the size of the Epic/Weapon/DSMC2 camera, your quite literally playing with fire.

On DSMC2, we changed the fan intake from the front to the top and the exhaust from the top to the bottom back and reversed the entire flow of air.. and sound, away from whatever it is your shooting. This one personally surprised me, and I actually would of bet money on it not working in reverse , as my armchair-backseat engineering- google searching head just always went with the " heat rises " concept. I was dead wrong. The new cameras run cooler, quieter and the sound guys get a lot less offended.