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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 :)

Red One MX isn't powering up... OH NO!!!

Chad Beaty

Chad Beaty

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Red One MX/SSD

I was having intermittent issues with it not powering on right away while shooting today, but it eventually powered up after a couple of tries.
I was changing out the Redmag (ejected it properly, etc) put the new Redmag in and the camera powered down. I had a fresh battery on it and tried powering back up with no luck. I also tried a couple of other batteries with no luck. Tried powering it with AC and no luck. Unplugged all accessories and still no luck...

I gave up because we had to move on and just finished the shoot with a Sony a7s ii.

I got home and tried powering it up again without any accessories and noticed there was a clicking noise coming from inside the camera body. It was something that I had heard before when my iMac power supply went out a few years ago. I replaced the iMac power supply and it is still up and running today. Could it be the same issue with the Red One MX?

Thanks for any input!
 
That's my nightmare right there. You definitely don't have anything plugged into the Aux ports, right?

I don't know him personally, but there's a Norway-based shooter here named Kyle Simukka who once made a kind offer to help another RedUser with a R1 problem. It sounds like he collects R1s (his signature says he has four) and is always looking for parts. So without any support from Red, maybe he would be a good person to DM. If he is able to help you solve the problem, I hope you'll share the solution here.
 
Thanks for the info! I ordered the part I think I need off of eBay. Hopefully it's still in working order. I plan on documenting the process whether it's a success or failure... so stayed tuned!

And no, there is nothing plugged into the Red.
 
Nick_Brown said:
How did this pan out? Was the replacement part the ticket?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately the replacement power supply board was damaged. I have completely taken the Red apart though. The engineering that went into how it was assembled was cool to see. The inside of the red was completely dust free. I took video and will put something together soon.

Also inside the panel that houses the SSD reader was the assembly date: 12/16/2008
 
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They have a you tube video taking the Red One apart and putting it back together. Nice...
 
UPDATE:

Sorry for the late reply but I just didn't have time to work on it and was using most of my time shopping around for a replacement. This is a somewhat condensed version of what actually went on yesterday and is as to the point as I can make it.

I decided to take out all the pieces (I had it completely disassembled) and try to figure this damn thing out. I started by leaving everything that didn't need to be plugged in unplugged and just starting there with no luck. After much frustration a 2 Red Bulls I noticed a cable going from the power supply board to the sensor board. Did that need to be plugged in? Who knows, so I disconnected it and pressed the power button... and guess what? It booted completely up.

So at that point I knew the issue had something to do with the sensor board. I completely removed the sensor just to be safe. I decided to plug everything else back in (SSD, power supplies, monitor/evf cables, etc) to their respective boards. Now, this Red was a mess with wires and crap just hanging off, but guess what... it booted and I had power to the monitor. Everything worked except I didn't have an image (obviously since the sensor was not plugged in to the main board) but it was on, the fan was running, I could format my SSD.... but without the sensor plugged in, it will not record. I got error messages when trying to do that. It also only displays color bars if the sensor is not attached. Just an FYI.

Now the issue was trying to figure out what the hell could be wrong with the sensor. The obvious next step was to disassemble the housing and look at everything. It didn't take long to see that the lens data cable was pinched pretty bad. The negative wire was pretty much smashed to oblivion. Could this be the reason? Could this little SOB be the reason this machine would not function properly? My guess is that the cord going from the power supply board to the sensor has something to do with the lens data cable. After removing the data cable and plugging EVERYTHING back in to the boards including the sensor and that little cable to the power supply board guess what happened, it booted up and I now have an image. Everything works 100%. It records, it formats, it does everything it did before this mishap but it's still in pieces. The next step is assembling it all back together.

I am halfway thinking about doing a cool paint job or vinyl wrap on the body since it's apart. Thoughts? Suggestions?

Also, there was an orphaned screw inside the sensor housing that went to absolutely nothing. I had always heard something rattling around, but didn't know what it was until now. This is a Battle Tested camera, so maybe someone at Red lost a screw inside at some point during a repair...?

Here are some photos:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/n68t70e58wt1id9/Photo Jan 31, 3 18 51 PM.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6q1t1c1muhhbtfj/Photo Jan 31, 5 07 42 PM.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5ymklyp7anw6lac/Photo Jan 31, 4 10 42 PM.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jn724gn66n55mxk/Photo Jan 31, 4 23 11 PM.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/l4b59r5sa3cfaa9/Photo Feb 01, 2 14 42 PM.jpg?dl=0
 
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I reposted this and your photos in the R1 group on FB (hope that's okay). Keep us posted on what you do with decals, etc. I can't believe that no one is talking about this camera anymore. It still has a lot going for it.
 
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No problem! I hope others can find something useful within the info/findings. We need to keep these cameras alive. They have a wonderful image and color science that other cameras have not replicated.

Also, I ended up just putting it back together without painting. I might take it back apart at some point and have it hydro dipped. Who knows...

It will be on a shoot tomorrow, so that will be the real test!
 
Awesome work Chad.

As mentioned, I do collect and repair R1 cameras. At the moment, I'm in the process of completely reverse engineering the R1 to fix my personal camera that was damaged during a flight to Norway.
By reverse engineering, I mean tracing out the layouts of all the circuit boards and eventually producing a schematic. All of this work is educational and is available in the public domain.
The schematic is needed to be effective with debugging and repairing cameras that are currently beyond repair.

It is my goal that we can continue to use these cameras and prevent them from becoming e-waste.
It is a challenging goal, but possible. The biggest risk we face is with not being able to source discontinued integrated circuits.

Fortunately, the majority of the issues and repairs that I see are related to thermal cycles, moisture, and poor maintenance.
For anyone who is experiencing an issue with their R1. There is help and resources available, but it will require patience.
These are old cameras, and unfortunately they were not engineered to last (planned obsolescence).
 
That is great news to hear! What a process! Nice job!!! Long live the R1!
 
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