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How to charge RED BRICKs with solar power?

J

Jonas Rejman

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We have been experimenting also with this - we are shooting often on multi-day or multi-week expeditions where we are far from power. There are some other thread around here on the subject, do a search - but here's what we've come up with:

1. Charger - you can use a 120VAC inverter, but our favorite strategy is to use 12V car adapters for everything, and then charge everything using 12V car cigarette lighter adapters. This includes RED - we have been using the RED brand 12V car adapter for the RED Charger. Preliminarily, this has been working fine. We also then buy car charger adapters for everything else - laptops, canon still batteries, motion controllers from timelapse, sound devices batteries, etc

2. Batteries - we're using sealed AGM lead acid, in a pelican case with fully sealed dual 12V car / cig lighter ports, and inputs for charging with flexible solar panels. Lithium is an option, but is really expensive, and more picky to deal with. We also have the charge controller in the pelican.

3. Current - I've got another thread trying to figure out how much current the red charger draws with the 12V adapter, at 12 volts -no input and I ahve not measured it, but my best current guess is 140 watts. So your battery has to be able to deliver 140 watts for X amount of time, and your solar panels have to be able to recharge that much total power in how ever much time you think is reasonable. Fewer or smaller solar panels mean longer charge times, etc

The best resouce is www.powerenz.com - he built our system for us, and is a wealth of knowledge about the options. Its a one stop shop.
 
Afogel said:
We have been experimenting also with this - we are shooting often on multi-day or multi-week expeditions where we are far from power. There are some other thread around here on the subject, do a search - but here's what we've come up with:

1. Charger - you can use a 120VAC inverter, but our favorite strategy is to use 12V car adapters for everything, and then charge everything using 12V car cigarette lighter adapters. This includes RED - we have been using the RED brand 12V car adapter for the RED Charger. Preliminarily, this has been working fine. We also then buy car charger adapters for everything else - laptops, canon still batteries, motion controllers from timelapse, sound devices batteries, etc

2. Batteries - we're using sealed AGM lead acid, in a pelican case with fully sealed dual 12V car / cig lighter ports, and inputs for charging with flexible solar panels. Lithium is an option, but is really expensive, and more picky to deal with. We also have the charge controller in the pelican.

3. Current - I've got another thread trying to figure out how much current the red charger draws with the 12V adapter, at 12 volts -no input and I ahve not measured it, but my best current guess is 140 watts. So your battery has to be able to deliver 140 watts for X amount of time, and your solar panels have to be able to recharge that much total power in how ever much time you think is reasonable. Fewer or smaller solar panels mean longer charge times, etc

The best resouce is www.powerenz.com - he built our system for us, and is a wealth of knowledge about the options. Its a one stop shop.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link man. I was thinking about getting something like this so I can be out longer shooting in the middle of nowhere. Plus would be nice to have in my emergency bag.
 
This is place I found the solar charger from I mentioned before. Great place.

Start with this package:
http://www.powerenz.com/store/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=61
and build from there. I would suggest the addition of the additional solar panel to get the solar recharge down to 3-4 hours.
It' a bit pricey but the way I see it you have three tiers of power needs:
Lowest is computer and drives
Second is running the RED1
The Highest is the battery charger

This system can do any of those tasks.
 
Powerenz said:
I am wondering what you guys think about a new package we put together that we think would be a perfect combination for traveling light yet still have a powerful solar power generator system with them to recharge there camera equipment anywhere the sun rises every day.

Here are some pic of our 22 Amp Hour 12v Battery Pack with 60W Foldable Solar Panel which will recharge this battery to full in 5-7 hours under peak sun. This comes with a 150W AC inverter with USB outlet also.

This system weighs 10 Pounds and 12 pounds with the Bag.

If you have any questions feel free to ask, we would love to help any of you guys out here.
Click to expand...

nice system, what is the cost?
 
What is the max current draw on that battery? The RED One pulls around 80w at 12v.
 
Here's an idea that might be worth thinking about.
(I have no idea whether this will work, but it would sure solve a lot of probems if it did).

Just about all modern lightweight high-power AC operated battery chargers are designed to work anywhere in the world with any line voltage. I routinely find that they will operate seamlessly from anywhere between 80V AC and 260VAC.

They will also work just as well from High Voltage DC. My thought was that if you were to get say ten 12V solar cells and wire them in series, you may find that the charger can run directly off the resultant 120V or so DC. If that worked, you would only need the solar panels and very little else.

I suspect that the biggest problem would be that the charger would want to charge the batteries at a faster rate than the solar panlels could supply power at and may shut down thinking there is a fault. What would be needed is an optional "slow charge" rate. Don't know how practical that would be.

Still, food for thought.
 
So you use the solar charger to juice a battery which then can be used in conjunction with your charger to then charge the RED? Gonna take forever, no?
 
if you are in the middle of nowhere, its better than nothing. Power pack charges during day off solar and then used to charge your batteries at night.
Ive never used it on the Red, I use mine when camping to charge my dslr battery, cellphone and laptop.
 
Impressive system.
 
Hey Powerenz... Any Group Buy offer?
 
Real World PowerEnz Use w/RED

Real World PowerEnz Use w/RED

We used the/a system PowerEnz built for us, similar to the spec he shows above but with lead acid/gel battery, on the Grand Canyon for 3 weeks specifically to charge RED Bricks, MacBook and 5dMk2 batteries. We used the RED brick charger with the 12v adapter, plugged into the PowerEnz battery/solar charge controller in a watertight pelican case (its the Grand Canyon). We could charge 2 red bricks from the system if it had a full charge, which took about 6 hours of full sun. Normally, we got one full red brick charge plus a little more from our daily sun dose - but the Grand gets little sun even in mid summer. 60watt solar panel, 22 AH battery.

Powering RED directly from the PowerEnz battery was not an option for us, filming whitewater run and gun, but I suppose could work in different settings.

Worked flawlessly all day, every day for 21 days in the middle of nowhere, in dust, wind, rain and high heat. As did Red, FWIW.
 
Definitely a great product!

Wish more companies were seriously involved in alternative solar power all together!

Will be surely getting a set up from you guys Powerenz, (real name?).

You have a powerful and light set up, great combination, now the only thing is the pricing, as suggested a group pricing for REDUSERS will be great to have as an incentive to purchase some units.

ciao
 
Powerenz said:
Sorry Guys my real name is Ryan Brown and have partnered up with Barry the founder of Powerenz to take the company to the next level. We are creating some revolutionary new Portable Solar Power Systems that I am sure all remote RED Users will have to have.

We are here to serve your needs so please let us know what you want if we do not already have it and we will create it for you.

I am only here to help with Portable Solar Power needs, I'm not trying to disrespect the community by trying to advertise in the forum.

I can be reached directly via email Ryan@Powerenz.com with Group buy request.

Please show me how you are powering the RED Cameras with the 12V cigarette adapter.

I see the RED Bricks are 9+ Amp Hour 140Wh battery packs for $450 retail plus shipping. The 22 Amp Hour battery you are seeing in the pictures packs 265Wh which is almost double the capacity for just $50 more, plus you can solar recharge our Battery Packs.

How much run time can you get on the RED with 1 fully charged RED Brick?
Click to expand...

Welcome to REDUSER Ryan, I do wish you guys the best, anything that provides such a service like you guys do deserves success!!

ciao
 
I'm getting about an hour, using 5.6" LCD and RED DRIVE.
 
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