Power Supply Issue

[Harry Clark]

On a stage job. Day 6 of 7. Running the Red on the Red power supply (NOT the battery charger)
Camera started acting up; external video would cut out sporadically. Then the breaker tripped on the house outlet that the UPS (and through it the Red PS) was plugged into. UPS was the ONLY THING on that circuit.
Re-checked everything with a tester; all correct, no missing grounds or reversed polarity, etc. Plugged in Red PS and shot a few takes. Problem returned. Red PS making a faint "clicking" sound, like a relay. No bad smell or anything.
I'm going to wait a while and try it again... maybe with the second camera on set.
On battery power now and everything seems OK with camera.
It was kind of a long run with the single extension; 75 feet or so.
Anyone ever have one of these go bad?
Cheers,
Harry

 

[Birns and Sawyer]

The flickering of the video out (esp. the RED LCD) usually happens when power is low, as in a 12V Block battery that is running low on charge.

So it sounds like you might not have been getting full power to the camera, not sure if it would be caused by the UPS or the long run of extension or the RED Power Supply.

This explanation seems likely to me because you've got everything working okay on battery power.

 

[Harry Clark]

I agree.
And so far it's all good, like any normal day.
Weird that we went 6 days in the exact same config with no issues...
Cheers,
Harry

 

[Mike Prevette]

Is the power cable seated all the way in the camera? sounds like something has an intermittent short or loss of connection.

 

[Harry Clark]

Yes, checked the plug. Well seated.
I actually tried my Red PS on the other camera and had the same issue, and then had the same issue on the other camera with its own Red PS. So I think it's squirrely house power on the stage, or maybe my UPS is having issues.
Don't have time to sort it out though, and batteries make it all good.
Cheers,
Harry

 

[Peter Strietmann]

You could check quickly with a multi tester. Would eliminate one of the variables.

Best, P

 

[Harry Clark]

Yeah, we'll sort it out at wrap today. Too much to do in the meantime.
I just emailed Brent to see if it even made sense to repair it. At $135, I'd just buy another...
Cheers,
Harry

 

[Brent Carter]

Got your email, Harry. Will respond shortly...

BC

 

[Harry Clark]

No sweat... pressure's off for the moment!
Cheers,
Harry

 

[donatello b]

what about the UPS ?
i've noticed running computer and external raid drives plugged into UPS for long periods that the raid drives start to beep after 8-10 hrs ( they beep when they are not receiving enough power )... then i switch the raids direct into AC outlet ( not UPS) the beeping stops ..
if i turn everything off for 1-2 hrs the UPS i assume get the batts back to a full charge and everything works for several more hrs ... i do plan to get a larger UPS ...

 

[Harry Clark]

Interesting... I wonder if that's it.
In either event, I think my Red PS is now toasted. It's making a fast, quiet ticking noise as if there is a relay inside. Maybe low voltage all week burned it out?
I ordered one up with Brent and my new rep Nick. At $135, no big deal.
But maybe I need two UPS's... one for the DIT station and one for the camera.
OR...
Maybe Red could develop an all-in-one PS with UPS...
Cheers,
Harry

 

[SF Geek]

I wonder if your camera is the issue as well. i can't get my camera to power up from the red power supply. I can never get the green AUX light to come on while the camera is connected. I have to use battery or 3rd party power supply.

 

[ericyoung]

I wonder if your camera is the issue as well. i can't get my camera to power up from the red power supply. I can never get the green AUX light to come on while the camera is connected. I have to use battery or 3rd party power supply.

Press the camera ON button twice in quick succession - see if that works. It works everytime for me. And I think the charger "logic" is like this:
http://reduser.net/forum/showpost.php?p=334875&postcount=22

But if that doesn't work then probably time to get Red to replace/repair it as in the rest of the thread:
http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?p=334875#post334875

Hope that helps.
Eric

 

[ericyoung]

Interesting... I wonder if that's it.
In either event, I think my Red PS is now toasted. It's making a fast, quiet ticking noise as if there is a relay inside. Maybe low voltage all week burned it out?
I ordered one up with Brent and my new rep Nick. At $135, no big deal.
But maybe I need two UPS's... one for the DIT station and one for the camera.
OR...
Maybe Red could develop an all-in-one PS with UPS...
Cheers,
Harry

Are your UPS sufficiently rated for the total current draw of the charger and all the other kit you are running off it? Or are the UPS batteries really old and not holding charge properly? Both could cause output voltage to drop or vary excessively.

 

[Harry Clark]

SF Geek,
Never had this issue before. In fact, I think I got "lucky" since my camera does not usually misbehave.
Eric,
The Red PS is 3 amps.
The UPS is good for 350 watts, which is just barely 3 amps.
So methinks I need a more manly UPS.
Anyway, problem solved. Brent and Nick were on it.
Cheers,
Harry

 

[ericyoung]

what about the UPS ?
i've noticed running computer and external raid drives plugged into UPS for long periods that the raid drives start to beep after 8-10 hrs ( they beep when they are not receiving enough power )... then i switch the raids direct into AC outlet ( not UPS) the beeping stops ..
if i turn everything off for 1-2 hrs the UPS i assume get the batts back to a full charge and everything works for several more hrs ... i do plan to get a larger UPS ...

Yes, that's probably because your gear is draining the UPS batteries at a slightly faster rate than it can charge them up, so the output volts are slowly dropping over 8-10 hrs til the point where your drives are complaining. You need a bigger UPS!