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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 :)

Someone ask for Rec Start/Stop?

CVB said:
I've already tried it in the gpi trigger... works fine its just that the beeps get really annoying. I'm going to have a button sequence where you can change modes so the unit will be better suited for trigger/ramping mode.

Darren... LCD = a bad idea from a cost perspective and delivery schedule perspective. I could use a single multi color led and follow the same notification scheme that you mentioned. I'll have to look into the complexity of determining the time left on the battery for a given voltage but it seems like a possibility... the big variables are how much other doodads plugged into the battery/camera affect the battery life.
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Don't get too complicated with it, it beeps in a maximally annoying fashion if you are under 11v ( or whatever is a good # ). Not looking for a count down, just a "last chance before it dies" warning. You can turn it off if you hate it.

Matt Uhry
www.mattuhry.com
 
Matt you dont like the traffic light system?

Also I see beeps as being bad news. If I am rolling I would like to get through the shot without beeps even if the camera dies.
 
Yup, got the email.... thanks.

Matt, I used to do acoustic testing in one of my other jobs... I have volumes of information on what frequencies are annoying to the human ear. I'll see if I can recreate the best of those for our warning beep. I think I'm going to put in the LED just in case you miss the beep telling you that you're almost out of power right before that "Big shot that if I miss it I'm fired" take.
 
CVB said:
I think I'm going to put in the LED just in case you miss the beep telling you that you're almost out of power right before that "Big shot that if I miss it I'm fired" take.
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By the time it beeps it is too late. I feel I want warnings as to when I am close to empty like a low fuel thing. If my car just beeped at me when it was 1km from empty I would be pissed and run out of gas a lot.

I think this is the first thing we have ever disagreed on about the camera Matt. Awwwe our first argument. Sorry Matt but I want some sort of a GOOD, LOW and DANGER warning system. I do agree with you 100% though that the most simple system is the best. Is there some kind of simple concept you can throw out that would be a comprimise for both of our needs?
 
Finner said:
By the time it beeps it is too late. I feel I want warnings as to when I am close to empty like a low fuel thing. If my car just beeped at me when it was 1km from empty I would be pissed and run out of gas a lot.

I think this is the first thing we have ever disagreed on about the camera Matt. Awwwe our first argument. Sorry Matt but I want some sort of a GOOD, LOW and DANGER warning system. I do agree with you 100% though that the most simple system is the best. Is there some kind of simple concept you can throw out that would be a comprimise for both of our needs?
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Finner, a visual warning is a good idea - blinking led?, I was just reacting off of the LCD idea that got thrown out there. This beep-o-mote needs to stay nimble. ( CVB will make it figure your taxes if given the chance. )

Matt Uhry
www.mattuhry.com
 
To figure out his taxes I think I'd need to go to a five pin lemo connector and upgrade the microcontroller. ;)
 
Matt Uhry said:
( CVB will make it figure your taxes if given the chance. )

Matt Uhry
www.mattuhry.com
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Ain't that the truth. Nice guy that Curt but oh boy does he get excited to engineer. You don't need to tell him I said that though, we will just keep it between us Matt.
 
So how about this (Green-good-) (Yellow-change battery soon-) (Flashing red-change battery now-)
 
The only issue I see with that is that there is already a traffic light for clipping. it might get confusing. I feel that the blinking LED like on broadcast cameras is sufficient, although I don't remember seeing any kind of tally lights on the Red.
 
Man, this thing just keeps getting better an better - nice work Matt and Finner, and don't you go stopping that Curt from loving to engineer, he's gold-dust mate!

Whilst we're at throwing ideas around, I think Finner's right that it's so useful you'll want it on the camera at all time - so what are the chances of getting either (a) an adaptable mount that can go somewhere (anywhere?) on the camera or rods or (b) making a second version, with both exclusively mounting either to handles or cam.

I'd quite happily buy two at ~$100 a pop if that were the better solution.

Just a thought...
 
Well, before we get too far into the battery life idea let me point out a couple things. Battery life is typically calculated using one or many factors... namely load (Amps), voltage level, and temperature. Plugging the smart record button into the aux port only gives you access to the voltage... there is no way for me to monitor the current draw of the camera or other accessories attached to the camera. While we could make an indicator of the voltage level, I'm not sure how valuable it would be in terms of estimating the amount of life left in the battery. Say you run a Preston motor that sucks up an amp or two from the battery... during acceleration and deceleration of the motor the voltage level of the battery will will rise and fall and it will in turn trigger the red/yellow/green led according to the current voltage level.

I don't think we can work out an accurate way of reproducing the battery level that is displayed on the battery but we can give you an indicator of the current voltage level as monitored by the button - worst case is it would go yellow then red when you are running motors but if you let off then it should go back to green... if it doesn't then most likely the battery is on its way out and should be swapped with a new one.

Dominic: We will have a few mounting options so you can put it anywhere on the camera (rails, handle, or red-arm).
 
CVB said:
I don't think we can work out an accurate way of reproducing the battery level that is displayed on the battery but we can give you an indicator of the current voltage level as monitored by the button - worst case is it would go yellow then red when you are running motors but if you let off then it should go back to green... if it doesn't then most likely the battery is on its way out and should be swapped with a new one.
Click to expand...

Maybe you could turn on your warning LEDs only when the voltage stays low for at least 30 seconds or so?
 
CVB said:
Well, before we get too far into the battery life idea let me point out a couple things. Battery life is typically calculated using one or many factors... namely load (Amps), voltage level, and temperature. Plugging the smart record button into the aux port only gives you access to the voltage... there is no way for me to monitor the current draw of the camera or other accessories attached to the camera. While we could make an indicator of the voltage level, I'm not sure how valuable it would be in terms of estimating the amount of life left in the battery. Say you run a Preston motor that sucks up an amp or two from the battery... during acceleration and deceleration of the motor the voltage level of the battery will will rise and fall and it will in turn trigger the red/yellow/green led according to the current voltage level.

I don't think we can work out an accurate way of reproducing the battery level that is displayed on the battery but we can give you an indicator of the current voltage level as monitored by the button - worst case is it would go yellow then red when you are running motors but if you let off then it should go back to green... if it doesn't then most likely the battery is on its way out and should be swapped with a new one.

Dominic: We will have a few mounting options so you can put it anywhere on the camera (rails, handle, or red-arm).
Click to expand...

Although this system is not the best it is definately a lot better then not having it.
 
Count me in for 2.
Awesome to see this
 
Thanks guys... We went the route of Darren's suggestion and now we have a little traffic light indication of the battery voltage. I just sent out for new boards so I think this will have to be the cut off on new features :)

We should have several fully functional units next week. Our webpage will be setup to take orders at the end of next week.

Est Pricing: $110 for the switch w/mounting bracket. Cables separate. (Those pesky connectors are most of the cost)

We expect the cables to come in around $75 for either the short, coiled, or long versions.
 
Awesome, Curt! :)

Just two little things:

Don't you think that the PWR LED is redundant now that we have the traffic light? Imagine the traffic light is covered by your thumb or something then you could easily interpret the green PWR light as a "healthy battery" light. I think it's just too many lights within a tiny space now.

The battery symbol looks more like a camera to me. I suppose you should either make it longer or use a different symbol like lightning.

just my 2 cents...
 
Yeah... I kind of envisioned the pwr led being used to indicated a connection to the camera. Maybe I can make it say "CAM" or something to that effect. The battery symbol does kind of look like the red one :) I like the lightning bolt idea. I'll try them both out and see what kind of feedback I get in the field. I'm also going to throw a speaker symbol under the volume buttons.
 
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