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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 :)

Is AC power adapter really mandatory for upgrading to v3.0.0?

Petri Teittinen

Petri Teittinen

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I got my SSDs today and being a firmware whore, I wanted to upgrade my Epic's firmware to 3.0.0.

However... RED's official Upgrade instructions say the camera should be powered by an AC power adapter during the procedure. There's even a line "IMPORTANT: DO NOT USE BATTERIES TO POWER THE CAMERA DURING THIS PROCEDURE" in the instruction PDF.

I don't have an AC power adaptor for the Epic and I don't really want to buy one either. I didn't have one for RED ONE and upgraded its firmware a few times using battery power only.

Epic seems to know if it's powered by a battery or AC power adaptor. Is there something in battery power which causes the firmware upgrade to fail for certain?

I guess what I really want to ask if the upgrade can be done using battery power and what are the risks involved in attempting that? What are the odds of the worst-case scenario happening?
 
NOT mandatory. You can upgrade using a battery, they just recommend you to use A/C power. If your battery fails then you could have a bricked camera. Use a known good fully charged battery and you should be fine. To me, the odds are greater that the power company will have a transformer blow or somebody kicks the cord out of the wall than a fully charged battery suddenly failing.
 
Jay A. Kelley said:
It is a safety thing. If your power dies during upgrade, you can tank the camera. That's the reason
Click to expand...
Yeah, I know power failure during upgrade can brick the camera. I ran a Search before creating a new thread, and learned that much. I also learned the window during which a power outage will brick a camera is "very short".

So it is possible to upgrade using batteries... but if battery hiccups at exactly the right time, I'll have a very expensive brick in my hands. Now, what are the chances of that hiccup?
 
Mike Tiffee said:
NOT mandatory. You can upgrade using a battery, they just recommend you to use A/C power. If your battery fails then you could have a bricked camera. Use a known good fully charged battery and you should be fine. To me, the odds are greater that the power company will have a transformer blow or somebody kicks the cord out of the wall than a fully charged battery suddenly failing.
Click to expand...
Thanks Mike. I just wanted to make sure using batteries for upgrading does not automatically mean bricking the camera.

I live in an area where there are often power outages during autumn and spring storms, and there's one going on right now. I think I'll trust a fully charged battery more than I do the local power company. (Although what choice do I have since I don't own an AC power adapter...)
 
Manuals and instructions

Manuals and instructions

The manuals and instruction all note seriously that it is, so I wonder why are you asking...
You enjoy taking risks maybe...
Read the manual and just follow the instructions, make your life more simple.
 
Panos Bournias said:
The manuals and instruction all note seriously that it is, so I wonder why are you asking...
Click to expand...
I thought I made it obvious: I don't have an AC power adapter and I don't wish to buy one.
 
I think one of the main reasons is that while your updating the camera and there is a problem with the camera or firmware that may take a while for the camera to figure out what or how to fix the problem with the update or upgrade. And in that case your camera may be running for a very long time to upgrade or correct any glitches and if your on a battery you will be watching that batter level going going and well you get the picture.
I don't do upgrades on the camera anymore with out A/C power. Just incase it takes a while for everything to figure its self out. If you have done a black shading you will know how long something like that can take and if you were on a battery on the side handle you would be really worried after 5 or 10 min go buy and your not done with it.

You could double up and put a battery in the side handle and use the A/C adapter. If you have a side handle.
 
Russ Fill said:
You could double up and put a battery in the side handle and use the A/C adapter. If you have a side handle.
Click to expand...
Nope, don't have one.

I upgraded to v3.0.0 using battery power some moments ago. I have to admit it gave me a scare, because the process took only 3-4 seconds instead of the 45 seconds mentioned in RED's instruction PDF. But the firmware upgraded from 2.0.5 to 3.0.0, and the camera appears to be working fine. Just shot the first few seconds of footage ever on my Epic-X and quickly learned that I need to start pumping iron if I want to do long takes in handheld mode :)
 
It's O.K go ahead. You can upgrade from battery power. Just make sure the battery is charged before you start the process.

So why do we say use an AC power adaptor ? Because it lowers a pretty small risk of failure to load to no risk that's all.
 
Russ Fill said:
You could double up and put a battery in the side handle and use the A/C adapter. If you have a side handle.
Click to expand...

Yeah, don't do that. It clearly states in the Read-Me:

"5. Remove Side Handle and/or REDmote if installed on the camera. "

(unless that has changed - Stuart?)
 
Terry VerHaar said:
I have to ask the obvious: you mean an AC power adaptor didn't come with your Epic?? :huh:
Click to expand...
Nope. Stage 3.5 is brain only, nothing else.

$150 and you'll never have to worry about firmware upgrades again. LOL
Click to expand...
Thanks, I'll PM you my PayPal account name forthwith.
 
Stuart English said:
It's O.K go ahead. You can upgrade from battery power. Just make sure the battery is charged before you start the process.
So why do we say use an AC power adaptor ? Because it lowers a pretty small risk of failure to load to no risk that's all.
Click to expand...
Thanks Stuart. I made sure the battery was fully charged and did a couple of "dry runs" to check the battery was functioning properly before doing the actual upgrade.
 
Terry VerHaar said:
It's your blood pressure, not mine. :-)
Click to expand...
True, true. I take solace in having seen lights flicker in my house once today already and imagining how it might have happened right when I was upgrading the firmware using AC. Honestly, battery feels like a more reliable option with the power grid behaving like it does over here.
 
Russ Fill said:
You could double up and put a battery in the side handle and use the A/C adapter. If you have a side handle.
Click to expand...

Install PDF says to take off side handle before installation.
 
So I have my old power from the R1 and bought a 2b to 1b adapter. This is DC power. Can I upgrade with DC power?
 
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