Weapon MG 6K intermittent shutdown during operation

[Alexander Ott]

Hey guys,

we are having issues with our camera intermittently shutting down without warning during operation and sometimes even on startup.

To boot the camera back up, we have to physically cut the power (take off the battery) and then re-attach it. Otherwise the camera won't turn on. The sudden shutdown is occurring very inconsistently, sometimes after 30 seconds, sometimes after 30 minutes of operation. Sometimes more, sometimes less frequently.

After booting back up, the camera presents a warning that the power supply was suddenly cut off and that it was not properly shut down.

We are using the Wooden Camera cable-less V-Mount with Hypercore Slim RED batteries.
The issue occured with different batteries, so we can probably rule those out.

I should also note that we are only using a 4.7inch LCD and a Canon mount besides the Wooden camera V-Mount. Nothing else is attached to the camera.

We have tried to rule out a loose contact by moving the battery and the V-Mount a bit during operation, but the camera doesn't only shut down as a result of moving it. Sometimes it will shut down when just sitting still on a table.
Unfortunately, we don't have a Base Expander or any other module that would allow DC IN, so we cannot try to reproduce the issue without the V-Mount.

We have already opened a ticket with RED support but I'm curious if anyone else here has experienced something like this?

 

[Jose Espinosa]

Hey!

This is like if I would have written it myself, my camera started behaving exactly as you described. I even tried the same things (like ruling out that the batteries or modules were losing contact during operation somehow). I will save your time and some headeaches: it's the WC V-Mount cableless module. To me it started happening during a shoot when the camera was mounted on a crane so it was a serious nightmare. The mag got corrupted twice as well. I had read about some problems with the WC Module so that was the first thing that came to my mind after I could recover from frustration, since before that the module had been rock solid in every way. Luckily I had a spare D-Tap to Lemo cable so I just started powering the camera straight from the batteries without the WC module and I never had any problem again (and that ruled out the batteries as well).

My WC dealer in Finland shipped the module back and WC repaired it under warranty. They didn't say what was wrong with it and it took almost a month before we heard anything back. But honestly I feel that I can't trust it anymore. I didn't get the Red V-Mount module in the first place because I thought the cableless option was more versatile, therefore I bought the WC even though it was more expensive. I'd advise you to send the module back to WC for inspection asap, specially if it's under warranty.

 

[Alexander Ott]

Thanks for your detailed reply Jose. That sounds a lot like the problem we're having.
We're already in contact with our WC dealer and we will definitely send the module in for repair. We were unsure about sending it in right away because we didn't know if the issue came from the brain or the module. But now we feel more confident that it is indeed the WC V-Mount that is causing the issue.
I just hope it won't take that long to repair because we have a few shoots coming up in September.

If it doesn't work reliably after repair, we will probably go with the DSMC2 V-LOCK BATTERY MODULE PRO. We just need a solution that works without hiccups, and especially without corrupted files on our MINI-MAG.
Thanks again for your help!

 

[Jake Wilganowski]

It's the WC plate. Wooden camera is SOLID. But for some reason, some of their dsmc2 battery plates and pogo cables are causing lots of issues. For what it's worth, their dsmc2 top plate is amazing and works perfectly.

 

[Kenny Mosher]

We saw the same exact issue with the d box on our last gig... I am reaching out to WC now to see what is up. This isn't our first issue with the d box either. Last time the d box was killing the base IO expander but they seemed to have resolved that issue now.

 

[Jose Espinosa]

I have been using WC for many years and I agree that it has been solid, but it has been really disappointing that after all the reports of some board revisions being faulty, they haven't addressed the situation in a prompt and straightforward way. In my opinion, they could have issued a statement to ask users to check their boards and send them back for upgrade/repair if applicable, instead of waiting for the potential problems to happen and then dealing slowly and kind of like in the dark in a case by case basis.

 

[Edy Martinez]

I have been using WC for many years and I agree that it has been solid, but it has been really disappointing that after all the reports of some board revisions being faulty, they haven't addressed the situation in a prompt and straightforward way. In my opinion, they could have issued a statement to ask users to check their boards and send them back for upgrade/repair if applicable, instead of waiting for the potential problems to happen and then dealing slowly and kind of like in the dark in a case by case basis.

Hey Jose i have the same problem that you guys have it, but the only difference is that i have the DSMC2 V-LOCK BATTERY MODULE & is still continue shutdown, do you think is the DSMC2 V-LOCK BATTERY MODULE have the issue?

 

[Daniel Soderberg]

Hey Jose i have the same problem that you guys have it, but the only difference is that i have the DSMC2 V-LOCK BATTERY MODULE & is still continue shutdown, do you think is the DSMC2 V-LOCK BATTERY MODULE have the issue?

Unfortunately the Wooden Camera cableless battery plates will eventually fry the power board inside your Red and you’ll get a bill from Red for $2000+ to replace it. WC will deny any fault and take no responsibility for it either...