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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 :)

Timecode (date) resets

So, it happened again. This time I've been away on work and the camera haven't been used since december. Is the internal battery supposed to run out after that amount of time or is it... once again a faulty thing?
If so, this is way under the quality this gear is charged for. A camera for 30K shouldn't have problems that a regular cheap watch doesn't have.

Can someone from Red please chime in on these things? It's already been at Red for service.
 
Patrick Tresch said:
Had the same issue on my W MG 6k.
Click to expand...

Is this an MG specific problem? I don't understand how an internal battery can run out like this, even after two - three months. It shouldn't need more power than what a regular wrist watch, which could go on for years.
 
Christoffer Glans said:
Is this an MG specific problem? I don't understand how an internal battery can run out like this, even after two - three months. It shouldn't need more power than what a regular wrist watch, which could go on for years.
Click to expand...
I was just prepping today, and notice both my weapon woven and weapon magnum have popped to the default date. I had sent one camera back to fix this issue, so obviosly the fix didn't work. I'll open up another support case on this I guess, but it's a hassle to send the camera back. Also btw I don't always jam the time when I'm busy or really pay attention to it, so I screw up on this date set issue more then I'd care to admit.
 
PatrickFaith said:
I was just prepping today, and notice both my weapon woven and weapon magnum have popped to the default date. I had sent one camera back to fix this issue, so obviosly the fix didn't work. I'll open up another support case on this I guess, but it's a hassle to send the camera back. Also btw I don't always jam the time when I'm busy or really pay attention to it, so I screw up on this date set issue more then I'd care to admit.
Click to expand...

I had the camera off for three hours and checking the timecode it had gone ahead around 40 minutes. The drift is ridiculous. I've never worked with any Red camera that holds on to a specific timecode, it's always changing, but the magnitude of how it is on Weapon is totally out there. So what, should we keep sending in our cameras all the time to get these things fixed? Shouldn't Red take a good look at WHY this is happening? Maybe fix it permanently instead?

This is a kind of issue that never gets any real attention, but it's a major problem on set, forcing us to always have a syncbox hooked up to the camera so that timecode is working as it should. It's a major issue in my opinion, a basic thing for professional camera to handle. I'd like Red to really look into this, cause I'm not sending in my camera anymore if this isn't something that gets a permanent fix, otherwise, what's the point of sending it in if the issue keeps getting back?
 
I did notice a few weeks ago that my files started showing a creation date of xx/xx/00...will have to see the date settings.

My timecode seems to be ok...but then again I am feeding it from a mixer.
 
Christoffer Glans said:
I had the camera off for three hours and checking the timecode it had gone ahead around 40 minutes. The drift is ridiculous. I've never worked with any Red camera that holds on to a specific timecode, it's always changing, but the magnitude of how it is on Weapon is totally out there. So what, should we keep sending in our cameras all the time to get these things fixed? Shouldn't Red take a good look at WHY this is happening? Maybe fix it permanently instead? ...
Click to expand...
In the old days I use to debug sensor & battery issues that occured over time, and it was always tough because the failure required someone analyzing each sensor over weeks. Perhaps to help RED out, we could post how long it takes for the various problems to occur. For my magnum I started testing how long it took till the date reset occurs, so far it's around 10 hours and I'm hoping that it will be a consistent number so RED when they get the camera can debug the exact issue. Also I think it's important for RED to debug the issue, rather then just replace parts which may have the same fault. On my magnum I won't be using it the next 2 months (as long as my woven is stable), so it will work out for me to do this kind of test (I understand most redusers can't have a camera being tested for 2 months, but atleast most can try to remember how long it takes for the reset to occur).
 
Since it came back from RED (3 weeks ago) date and even hours are accurate. The camera (MG) has been 1 week without power (no batt) and the date memory is still OK.

Pat
 
Patrick Tresch said:
Since it came back from RED (3 weeks ago) date and even hours are accurate. The camera (MG) has been 1 week without power (no batt) and the date memory is still OK.

Pat
Click to expand...

That's how it was for me too, but after two months without power it did the same thing again. So I'm gonna see if a week does the same. If so, there's something seriously wrong with the batteries Red uses to power internal saved data and clocks.
But it did fail to hold timecode. After just two hours of it powered down, it skipped 40 minutes ahead of the time of day I set. I know the internal clock isn't a Rolex, but I've seen toy watches holding time better over the course of several years.
 
My Raven had been having this issue. I use it at least weekly. I thought maybe that had something to do with it, but lately it's been on point for the last few weeks. So I think this issue might be a little more random. And perhaps it's not the battery itself but some firmware-related bug. I have an update I need to apply, which I thought would fix it, but now it's fine anyway (other than other bugs like the one where the screen shifts vertically but the touch detection doesn't). Anyway, the fact that people have the battery replaced and still have the issue leads me to believe the problem is elsewhere (and it's happened on various cameras over the last few years apparently). I also don't want to send my camera in just to fix something temporarily.
 
Joe Clay said:
Now that one is REALLY odd. That almost guarantees it's a bug of some sort and not bad batteries.
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Not really. The back-up battery is most likely completely separate from any system power. Most back-ups are primary cells -- non-rechargeable -- so they can't really hang on to any other power sources. They would not benefit from being connected. The date/time would stay good as long as a system was turned on, but if it was turned off it would eventually lose its date/time, even if a power source remained connected. I'm not sure that is how RED works though. It seems crazy that RED would put a non-user-replaceable battery inside such expensive cameras -- more so if they repeated the error with DSMC2.
 
True, but sometimes they steal power if that battery is dead. That's why I thought it was odd.

But you are right, I guess it doesn't guarantee it as I stated.

Either way, even a non-user replaceable timing battery should last for years—especially if the circuit draws power from the board when it's powered up.
 
So I tried letting the camera rest for a week and the problem is back. The last time they replaced the board but the problem is still back.

I really want Red to answer why this is happening, since more people than me seem to have the same problem and if I go back to my bomb rep I fear I'm just gonna hear the same thing again; that they'll need me to send in the camera and then that they replaced the board. It clearly doesn't seem to fix these issues. Red is notorious in the industry (Sweden at least) to never really have a timecode that sticks, it's always drifting, and I think this issue relates to it. There seem to be something funky with how the internal battery functions combined or with it's firmware. Last production I was on, we shot on regular Red Dragons. We used regular timelock boxes plugged in all the time and they still (!) drifted 1-2 frames. It creates a post production nightmare not to be able to get a timecode that sticks.

I really think we need to hear from Red on this one.
 
Any resolve ever come to this? I am having this problem as well
 
My camera is at RED getting it "resolved" right now. Initially they said replacing the battery would be "no charge" but it turns out it cost $125. Definitely a design flaw IMO. This kind of battery needs to be user replaceable.
 
I'm on the latest beta with Epic-W. Had it since May, at about 120hrs and I'm getting this issue now.

*EDIT*

Turns out the date and time reset when I changed to a specific custom preset. I re-did the preset, and I'm not running into the date/time reset issue anymore.
 
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