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To all Red Charger owners

K

Kamilla Lusa

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Hi guys,

quick search through old threads gave conflicting answers so I thought I'll just ask...

1. How long does it take to charge single Red Brick on Red Charger?
2. What are the dimensions of Red Charger?
3. Why is that Red Power Pack is backordered in the store while both Red Bricks and Red Chargers are in stock?

Thanks,
Kamilla
 
The Red V-mount chargers are single channel (they only charge one bat at a time) from a fully depleted (10%) battery to full is about 2-3 hours. I have had 2 chargers and 6 batteries for the last 3 years and they have functioned perfectly. One caveot is that sometimes a fully depleted battery will make the charger think it's a bad battery and the charger won't charge it. All you have to do if the light is blinking red is just remount the battery.

It's about 12" tall maybe 6" deep and 3" wide.

I disagree with Julio. Yes the plates had issues early on (they were redesigned), the chargers don't like fully down batts, but overall the batteries are some of the best I've ever owned. Like any battery you should make sure the contacts are clean and debris free every time you mount them.

However my preference design wise is for Anton Bauer batts, as the gold mount is much more robust. However for the Red One I needed that voltage readout which the AB batts didn't provide.
 
Could be wrong but I thought they were single channel for a reason, so that it would charge one battery first (which is faster than waiting for two to charge altogether).
 
Mike Prevette said:
I disagree with Julio. Yes the plates had issues early on (they were redesigned), the chargers don't like fully down batts, but overall the batteries are some of the best I've ever owned. Like any battery you should make sure the contacts are clean and debris free every time you mount them.
Click to expand...

Ok...

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?33191-Battery-problems&

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?53953-Battery-Charger-Alternatives&

http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?44257-Repair-of-Red-Battery-Charger
 
Julio Quintana said:
I don't have the answers to your questions, but the Red V-mount batteries, chargers, and battery plates are notoriously faulty. I would recommend going with alternate offerings from IDX and Switronix.
Click to expand...

I have 6 Red chargers and 12 Red batteries, some dating back to 2006 and they still work like champs. Red bricks are a great option.

That being said, my favorite batteries are the IDX, a bit more expensive but they are actually 2 batteries inside a single case. The benefit is if you need to ship batteries. The Red bricks are not shippable via air freight. The IDX batteries can be separated and meet regulations for air freight. They also have a quad charger that charges 4 batteries simultaneously.
If you don't ship your batteries Red bricks are a great value and have a long life span.
 
RayFrisby said:
i didn't know the Red Charger was single channel. This is a real pity; not being able to charge two batteries at the same time.
One of the reasons I'm looking at the Red Bricks is not to break the Red's Extended Warranty.
I think it could be worth the extra investment.
Click to expand...
I have 2 other v-lock battery chargers - one is SWIT - and they both only charge one battery at a time.
I've had 4 Red bricks and a Red charger for 2 years and had no problems at all, so would happily recommend them.
They have a higher W/h rating than all our other v-lock batts.
each one takes around 2 hours to charge, and lasts approx 100 mins on Red one with RED LCD and EVF.
 
Not a bad word to say about bricks or charger; mine have taken a hammering and performed almost flawlessly. I'll continue to use them with Scarlet & EPIC when I'm not going lightweight.

Only thing that ever went wrong was the breaking of the sprung bolt that holds the rotating base support for the charger in place. Metal fatigue or physical damage? Dunno. Field-stripped the charger to extract the loose bits (to avoid a possible internal short) - that was straightforward, problem solved.

The trick, which is well-known, is to swap batteries when they get down to 25% or so - they charge from there to full much faster than from empty to full.

Mike
 
Since you got your answer I still like to add that if you need fast charges you need to buy a double channel V-Lock battery charger, and don't use RED's, if speed is not an issue buy RED's charger with confidence.

As far as RED's Batteries "Bricks" I can say that having been using them for years and having had dozen of them at work, I only had one single problem with one charger, and one single problem with two batteries,
one was fixed and working solid, while one unfortunately failed again and she is a goner.

So RED Chargers and RED Bricks, 3 years of use, all conditions, only those that travel as much as I do, know what it means to any Battery, to go form Freezing cold to boiling hot, both Dry and humid,
indoor and outdoor, Dozens of batteries and Chargers, ONE ISSUE, ONE TIME, that is pretty good adds, I would say.

So counting the thousands of them sold, the ones that had issues, are a super low percentage, it goes back to the same issue with iPhones, when you say that 100k
of them were sent back, you say WOW they are bad,then when you see how many Millions of them were sold, the percentage is very very low ,of unhappy costumers... Just saying... ;)

However for traveling, if you need many Bricks, need to consider restrictions, and better consider other brands that make 100's and 90's as RED's are 140's.
 
there is a very simple trick to using the red bricks and chargers, it is knowing the math.

on a red one it took 1 minute to discharge a red brick 1%, on an epic at this point it takes 2 minutes to discharge a red brick 1% (jarred spoke about power management tools coming in future builds, so when that happens the discharge numbers will surely change on epic and scarlet, but i digress).

here is the point of this post, if you discharge a red brick to 40% left ( 60% used) it takes 60 minutes to recharge.

if you discharge to 35% it will take not 65 minutes, but double for that extra 5%, and this continues until about 15% left...where it actually gets worse because now the battery is too hot to charge and must cool down before it will accept a charge.

so if your indicator says 40% ( or about 3 bars) take it off and charge it...you can actually have only two batteries on a red one shoot and if properly managed, never have down time...(not recommended though)

so 40% = 60 minutes to recharge to a solid green and no red lights on the battery ( note 5 light red lights means 80-100%, not 100%, only when the charger changes to green and the lights on the batter go off is it fully charged)

35% = 70 minutes

30% = 80 minutes

25% = 90 minutes

20% = 100 minutes

15% = 120 minutes

10% = 140 minutes (plus or minus depending on the ambient temperature and the proximity to direct sunlight while being charged) - if you can put the discharged ( 15% or less) battery in a refrigerator for 10 minutes, then charge.

5% = 160+ minutes

0% = 180 + minutes ( almost 25 of that is waiting for the battery to cool)

this information may not be in any manual, but i can tell you from real world experience, (and not many people have more of that with these cameras and batteries than we do), that these are the solid numbers...

take away, change your batteries at between 35 and 40% and they will last a long long time.

dino
 
Julio Quintana said:
Great post, Dino. I wonder if this concept carries over to the Redvolt batteries as well?
Click to expand...

good question, i have not used the redvolts on pro shoots that often, only playing around, i will say they take generally, a long time (not very scientific) to recharge.
 
dino g said:
there is a very simple trick to using the red bricks and chargers, it is knowing the math.

on a red one it took 1 minute to discharge a red brick 1%, on an epic at this point it takes 2 minutes to discharge a red brick 1% (jarred spoke about power management tools coming in future builds, so when that happens the discharge numbers will surely change on epic and scarlet, but i digress).

here is the point of this post, if you discharge a red brick to 40% left ( 60% used) it takes 60 minutes to recharge.

if you discharge to 35% it will take not 65 minutes, but double for that extra 5%, and this continues until about 15% left...where it actually gets worse because now the battery is too hot to charge and must cool down before it will accept a charge.

so if your indicator says 40% ( or about 3 bars) take it off and charge it...you can actually have only two batteries on a red one shoot and if properly managed, never have down time...(not recommended though)

so 40% = 60 minutes to recharge to a solid green and no red lights on the battery ( note 5 light red lights means 80-100%, not 100%, only when the charger changes to green and the lights on the batter go off is it fully charged)

35% = 70 minutes

30% = 80 minutes

25% = 90 minutes

20% = 100 minutes

15% = 120 minutes

10% = 140 minutes (plus or minus depending on the ambient temperature and the proximity to direct sunlight while being charged) - if you can put the discharged ( 15% or less) battery in a refrigerator for 10 minutes, then charge.

5% = 160+ minutes

0% = 180 + minutes ( almost 25 of that is waiting for the battery to cool)

this information may not be in any manual, but i can tell you from real world experience, (and not many people have more of that with these cameras and batteries than we do), that these are the solid numbers...

take away, change your batteries at between 35 and 40% and they will last a long long time.

dino
Click to expand...

Thank you for your thoughtful post Dino, really appreciated.
 
In the course of 3.5 years I have bought 4 Red batteries and 2 chargers.
2 batteries died and the other 2 are not in great shape
3 times a charger broke so far (I had one replaced, one repaired and one is now broken)

Maybe it's the tropical heat over here or the rough rentals?
 
Firstly, Dino, great post that is some seriously helpful info, one might expect that to extend the life of the battery too.

Secondly, I think if you run a bunch of accs of the p/d-tap and the camera shuts down the accs continue drawing current and this is what usually kills batteries since V=IR and R is constant V drops (some accs will go down bellow 9V before shutting down) I increases to make up for voltage drop and contacts get burnt and mounts and housings melt.

Thirdly, switronix make a more robust pin receptacle but it shouldn't be needed if you treat your kit with care.

Fourthly, you might want to secure your battery as a bump to the release is prone to allowing the battery to fall off and then you've got trouble.
 
Julio Quintana said:
I don't have the answers to your questions, but the Red V-mount batteries, chargers, and battery plates are notoriously faulty. I would recommend going with alternate offerings from IDX and Switronix.
Click to expand...

That's a bunch of crap. Yes, there are occasionally people who encounter problems, but no more so with the RED battery solutions than with any others on the market. RED had some quality-control issues with their v-mount plates in the early days. Their v-mount plates still leave something to be desired, IMO, but they work well. Their charger is great and the batteries have proven to be exceptional. Only down side to the RED charger is that it's sequential, not simultaneous. So, it charges one battery, then the other. But they are a good size and make it easy to carry two bricks attached. For actual battery plates, I prefer the ones from Switronics or ET.

I have found the RED Bricks to be wonderful and quite a bit better than many other solutions out there. They have been very reliable in extreme weather conditions, both cold and hot. I have trouble with IDX and AB batteries taking a charge in the cold, the RED Bricks work great.

Dino's post on battery math is great!

I'm going to say the same (or similar) concept will apply to the REDVOLT batteries. However, it's hard to put actual numbers to any of that until we have some good charging solutions and the dual and quad battery modules for the cameras. There's also the REDVOLT-XL batteries coming as well.

I can run an EPIC all day long with one RED charger and 3 bricks....

For the RED One I like the Swit or IDX simultaneous quad charger and 6 RED bricks with a Swit dual battery plate (or the ActionProducts dual plate). Or 3 RED Chargers and 8 bricks... Never have to worry about power, as long as there is AC to plug in the chargers. I have a solar blanket system that can run one RED charger. So I don't even need AC power to keep an EPIC running all day. Of course that doesn't help if it's really cloudy or at night.

REDVOLT quad charger can't get here fast enough. Needed it 5 months ago!
 
Jeff Kilgroe said:
That's a bunch of crap. Yes, there are occasionally people who encounter problems, but no more so with the RED battery solutions than with any others on the market. RED had some quality-control issues with their v-mount plates in the early days. Their v-mount plates still leave something to be desired, IMO, but they work well.
Click to expand...

I sort of agree Jeff. However on the batts themselves I think the conductors in the connector could be a little more robust. It's not a huge deal, but some of the alternate bran batts have a little better connection preventing shutdown during a significant bump. However we've kept the contacts on the bricks clean and (used to before shipping regulations changed) send them in for service regularly. They are still working today and they are 5 years old now.

I need to snap some pics of the connectors so you can see what I'm talking about. However in peak condition the red brick seems to perform better than some of the off-brands we have.

I'm excited about the quad charger too, and the redvolt concept in general.
 
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