Hydrogen fuel cell for red

[Nick Gardner]

Hi All,

I ran across a guy using these a while back, and they are really cool. The price is on par with a set of ABs and a charger.

The only down side is you can't take them on a plane, but you could fed ex them to your shoot in advance. The only reason that I didn't go this route is because of the travel restrictions, but if you were working in town they are awsome.

http://www.jadoopower.com/fuel_cell.html

Cheers,

Nick

 

[James T Mather]

so around $1500?

 

[George A.]

How much one would last on a regular RED set-up?

 

[Nick Gardner]

I seem to remeber more like $2500-$3000. Like a set of 4 hytron 120s with a 4 station charger. But, you always get the same run time per charge, the fuel cannisters don't get 300 cycles before they are dead, and they don't get tired, or memory, so they should pay for themselves pretty quick.

There's also this

Camera operators also can swap fuel cell cartridges without powering down the camera, said Jadoo CEO Larry Bawden, something that is not possible in all cameras with regular batteries.

And

A new rechargeable brick battery runs for about two hours, whereas N-Gen can last four to five hours before needing a refill of hydrogen. A brick battery takes about six hours to recharge, up to six times longer than it takes to refill an N-Stor canister. In short, television camera operators can replace three inefficient six-pound brick batteries with one highly efficient N-Gen system at a total of seven pounds. Moreover, at $2,050, the N-Gen portable power system costs about one-third less than three brick batteries and a battery charger.

The CBS affiliate in Sacramento, California, is testing the Jadoo system. “We’ve had zero problems, and it delivers smooth, steady voltage far longer than any battery pack,” says Kalo Alexandra, remote systems engineer. He’d like Jadoo to reduce the size of the fuel cell and hydrogen canister and add hookups for other equipment like lights and microphones. Overall, the Jadoo system “gives every indication of sounding the death knell for brick batteries in the broadcast industry,” Alexandra says.

Nick

 

[paul dudeck]

I seem to remeber more like $2500-$3000. Like a set of 4 hytron 120s with a 4 station charger. But, you always get the same run time per charge, the fuel cannisters don't get 300 cycles before they are dead, and they don't get tired, or memory, so they should pay for themselves pretty quick.

There's also this

Camera operators also can swap fuel cell cartridges without powering down the camera, said Jadoo CEO Larry Bawden, something that is not possible in all cameras with regular batteries.

And

A new rechargeable brick battery runs for about two hours, whereas N-Gen can last four to five hours before needing a refill of hydrogen. A brick battery takes about six hours to recharge, up to six times longer than it takes to refill an N-Stor canister. In short, television camera operators can replace three inefficient six-pound brick batteries with one highly efficient N-Gen system at a total of seven pounds. Moreover, at $2,050, the N-Gen portable power system costs about one-third less than three brick batteries and a battery charger.

The CBS affiliate in Sacramento, California, is testing the Jadoo system. “We’ve had zero problems, and it delivers smooth, steady voltage far longer than any battery pack,” says Kalo Alexandra, remote systems engineer. He’d like Jadoo to reduce the size of the fuel cell and hydrogen canister and add hookups for other equipment like lights and microphones. Overall, the Jadoo system “gives every indication of sounding the death knell for brick batteries in the broadcast industry,” Alexandra says.

Nick

The informatoin that they post in regards to prices vs. Anton/Bauer and charge times are all incorrect. Even at list price, 3 HyTRON 140's ($625.00 each) and a T2 charger ($1095.00) is only around $2900.00. And, they will charge simultaneously in 2 hours. Also, the weight of a HyTRON 140 battery is LESS than one of these fuel cannisters with the adapter to put on the camera.

Also, if I am not mistaken, the maximum power output of the fuel cells is only around 60w, so it would not be able to power up a RED camera. This may have changed over the years.

Lastly, how many people want to pay for a hydrogen tank to be installed in their house just to charge batteries? And people are afraid of li ion batteries being dangerous.......what about hydrogen????

Paul

 

[Nick Gardner]

Well,

If you have Hytrons that will charge in 2 hours, I'd like to buy them. Yes they mention that the Jadoo sytstem is a pound HEAVIER than batteries. And their website list the power output at 100watts continuous.

Look, I'm not selling the damn things, I just think they are cool. Lets try not to go all polarized hatred on something that I just thought was interesting.

Cheers, Nick

 

[Anders Holck]

A few downsides:

Noise.
Has a fan, 33-55db.

Weight.
The fuel cell with canister is 7.1 lbs for 130wh, 10.2lbs for 360wh.
A 190wh li-ion is only around 3.3lbs

Charge station is 45lbs excluding hydrogen tank...

 

[Leo Ticheli]

These things appeared at NAB several years ago.

Quite impractical in my view, with the exception of shooting in some remote area with no electrical power but plenty of hydrogen cylinders. Even then I would expect small electrical generators to be more available than hydrogen.

I've not put the clock on the recharge time with Hytron 140s, but it's quite rapid with the new chargers. Two hours doesn't sound too far afield.

Good shooting and best regards,

Leo

 

[Mitch Gross]

I've seen these in the past and they scare the hell out of me. I kept thinking of the Hindenberg. Or at least Ghostbusters ("We have an unlicensensed nuclear accellerator on our backs").

That plus they're really heavy and noisy as hell, like twice as noisy as the RED fans at full tilt.

 

[paul dudeck]

Well,

If you have Hytrons that will charge in 2 hours, I'd like to buy them. Yes they mention that the Jadoo sytstem is a pound HEAVIER than batteries. And their website list the power output at 100watts continuous.

Look, I'm not selling the damn things, I just think they are cool. Lets try not to go all polarized hatred on something that I just thought was interesting.

Cheers, Nick

Hi Nick,

I am sorry if I came across as being defensive, which I did not mean to do. I just want to make sure the correct information is being distributed. I don't mind competition in the battery world, it actually makes things fun, as long as we compare apples to apples.

So, did you want to give me a credit card for the purchase of HyTRON's? The Tandem 70, T2, DUAL 2722 and QUAD 2702 chargers will all charge HyTRON 100/140's in 2 to 2 1/2 hours. And, they take into account current battery condition, so if the battery is already 50% charged, the charge time to finish it will be one hour.

Regards,
Paul