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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 :)

Problems with batteries all of a sudden dropping current and shutting down...

Gunleik Groven

Gunleik Groven

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Untill last Friday, I've contributed these reports to people not mounting their batteries "right" and other stuff. Then it came all over my shoot... :(

In the heat of things, I couldn't figure it out, but it seems - in my case - that it is actually the (one so far) battery which is the cause and not the mount.

I'll send this battery back, because the connections aren't right. But it wasn't the mount (even though it definitely felt like it) but the battery itself.

Just as a heads up to others experiensing this very frustrating issue.
 
This usually happens with worn out batteries.

But then, not even Gunleik could have managed a couple of hundred cycles...

I once bought some very cheap batteries, which died suddenly after little use. Next time I spent money on idx'es, and they still behave nicely...
 
As a DIT, I usually swap batteries around 30%.

It's seem to charge faster too at 30%

Look for opportunity in between setup, change it.

Don't wait.

Yes, the connectors are not that good, so be gentle when mounting it.

I had one case where there was evident of melting at the terminal.

Make sure it goes on straight without forcing it. Gentle snap will do.

Tek
 
OK here is my experience from having 3 out of 5 battery plates fail. This has nothing to do with the batteries, it is all about the battery plate and more specifically the male battery connection terminal pins.

This is my theory on what is happening. If you take a close look at the male pins on the battery plate you will see each terminal has a small piece of wire each side that compacts in when connecting with the battery female ports. What is happening is they are compacting 'in' but not retaining enough contact with the female battery port. The spontaneous power downs people are reporting is when the terminal pin loses contact with the battery inner metal sheath.

A simple test is to mount the battery and power the camera up. You can flex the lemo cable and you will find no issue with the cable. But in the worst case instances of this problem you just need to lightly touch the battery and you will lose power.
 
But in the worst case instances of this problem you just need to lightly touch the battery and you will lose power.
Click to expand...

This happen to me on a big Studio Show.

Painfully, but the client did not know my pain.

LOL

3 days of loose batteries.

Tek
 
Rocketeer said:
(...)
A simple test is to mount the battery and power the camera up. You can flex the lemo cable and you will find no issue with the cable. But in the worst case instances of this problem you just need to lightly touch the battery and you will lose power.
Click to expand...


Yes. This is what happens, but only with one of my batteries...
 
I had this problem on a shoot yesterday. Shooting for Nike - a football hit the tripod - powered the camera down. Freak out. About 30 minutes of the batteries powering down at the slightest touch/movement. Couldn't even pan without losing power. I inspected the lemo cable connections both ended - no problem. Tried different batteries. In the end I slid back the plastic pin cover and slightly bent all of the pins forward (away from the mount). Fixed it - stayed powered up even when wiggling the batteries for the rest of the day. The vibration of the ball along with the weight of the battery must have been enough to bend the pins in the first place.

Rocketeer is right about the pins but a slight tweak seems to cure it.

Jeff Brown
RED708
 
OK.

It evolved to totally unuseable, so I had to find a fix...

It seems that to apply some layers of Gaffa on the battery plate close to the connectors locks things down. Running for hours today without issues... finally...
 
gunleik said:
It seems that to apply some layers of Gaffa on the battery plate close to the connectors locks things down. Running for hours today without issues... finally...
Click to expand...
Can you post a picture?

Cheers,

Paul
 
I had a problem with a battery that wouldn't charge after 4 hours of just sitting there. So I shut everything down and reconnected it. Then it worked.
 
The batteries charge allright, but it seems that either the batteries themself or the plate or the connectors "loose shape" in a way so they don't lock properly and thus the contacts are loose. The batteries are not firmly locked in position anymore, even though they initially were. A small movement/bump will make them lose connection and thus current and shuts down the camera. Not a very welcome outlook for a number of Heli shoots I have coming up...

I've been shooting for some hours, nearly every day for 1,5 month now, and it is an evolving (thus wear and tear) issue, it seems...

It has also been noted (and sometimes riddiculed) by other users. I'm quite convinced this is a "real" issue... :)

I'll try to post images, but I'm simply "building up" the battery plate with gaffa, so that the battery locks firm without any play.

First I thought it was the batteries themselves, but as I tried with some IDX bricks and the symptomps were identical, I started to look at the plate.

Hope this helps and that RED looks into it...
 
I've reported on another thread about similar problems. There's also a thread about batteries not charging while on the charger. I'm doing tests as I write. I have a battery belt clip, no problems with that, so far. The last two shoots, they used that instead of the cradle because the camera would power down at the slightest touch of the battery. It seems to happen more easily with some batteries than others.

Upon examination, I find the pins on the battery plate rather flimsy, however I believe the problem comes from both the batteries and the battery plate. I've had power down problems with a Marshal monitor also while using Red batteries, I could get it to turn on and off when moving around the battery.

Red, I have also come to the conclusion this is a real problem. I think the pins on the battery plate need to be improved, ie. made sturdier. Hopefulls that will be suficient, but you may want to see what can be done on the battery end, at least for the future.

Cheers,
Damien
 
We experienced this same problem with a RED battery this week in prep for a shoot. One battery would shut down sporadically, and another would run fine. Able to replicate the fault easily 10 times. I brought the 'faulty' battery to RED and the tech there could not duplicate the issue on two different set ups. Frustrated, I went back home and was not only able to instantly reproduce the issue, but when we put the OTHER Battery on, THAT ONE TOO was now shutting down randomly. This all seems to fall in line well with the theory that it's the plate, not the battery. So we immediately went out and rented a battery plate. The shoot is today, but if there's time I'll take a look at the pin connectors on our plate. Glad to see we're not the only ones dealing with this issue.
 
Just to note, the connectors on Anton Bauer batteries are a more robust design. Instead of springy metal wire they use miniature banana plugs and jacks. Very solid contact.
 
Just one thing....and I probably should keep it to myself but.......

I keep the Red cradle at 45 degrees...mainly because I found the drive was quieter, but I'm thinking it may also keep lateral pressure on the battery/plate connectors.

Have Red actually suggested any fixes to this problem?

I would have thought this problem is causing users a big enough headache to warrant an explanation of fault and suggested fix on this forum.

Dave,
 
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