Red Brick Lifespan / Alternative V Lock Solution

[Steven Grevis]

Hi Gent/Ladies,

So my boss and I have noticed that the red bricks we have for our Red Epic Dragon are dieing pretty quickly. So my question to you is there an average lifespan of Bricks? or how many years did you use your bricks until you got more/replaced the Bricks. The boss is saying he's had them for roughly 4yrs now.

Also any suggestions/reccommendations on a v-lock battery system, what brand do you use and do come up with a percentage on the screen or voltage.

Cheers!

-Steven

 

[Phil Holland]

All V-Locks die over time. I just had one of my Dynacores bite the dust. Now it just squeaks at me instead of powering the camera.

Depending on how much, how hard, and how many charges they go through you'll get varied results. I have some smaller bricks that I haven't used as much as my DCs that are still fine, though they are older by about a year.

 

[Adrian Weinbrecht]

Hi Steven

if you like quality and versatility take a look at Pag, after a lot of research and trying alternatives over the years, we settled on Pag and haven't looked back.

 

[Tom Gleeson]

I have four Red Bricks I purchased with my Red One in 2009 and they powered the Red One then my Epic and are now running my Weapon. They have proven to be reliable and great value. They were also quite an investment and therefore I have looked after them. I don't drop them (much). I don't charge them when they are hot. I try not to discharge them all the way down. I use a trickle charger when there is no rush. I generally store them at 40% to 70% capacity if I am not shooting and rarely go long periods of time without use. There is always some luck with batteries as I have had other brand batteries and their service lives varied wildly. There are other good brands but the Red Bricks are up there with the best.

 

[Tommaso Alvisi]

You have to treat batteries well, exactly like Tom said.

I did the same and all the major trusted brands perform well.

4 years are absolutely not bad for 2008-2009 tech cells, nowadays cells have a much max higher recharging cycles rating,
so maybe a top brand bought today *should* last at least 5years, albeit not with full original capacity...

 

[Marcus Friedlander]

Somewhat off topic but....

After an insane 18 hour shooting day, my brain was completely fried and I stupidly left one of my AB Dionic HCX batteries attached to camera. The next morning it was drained completely and now refuses to charge

I read the manual and they said to leave the battery on the charger for several days but that hasn't helped. Did I make a stupid and costly mistake with no chance of fixing the problem?

Anyone have any advice besides don't be stupid? Thanks in advance!

 

[Marcus Friedlander]

If this helps, the battery has enough juice to turn the camera on and run the fans for a second before the camera shuts down. So I'm pretty sure there is still something going on inside the battery.