When powering from the wall...

[Brandon Fraley]

will the charger charge a battery at the same time?

 

[Radoslav Karapetkov]

Interesting question. I'd like to know too.

 

[Cail Young]

No, it will not.

 

[Brandon Fraley]

damnit

 

[Jason Laramy]

- I bought the AC adapter for $135 so i could charge and AC at the same time. -

 

[Rainer Fritz]

any news on the usage of the ac-adapter? in uk was a cam damaged by it.

 

[Brandon Fraley]

- I bought the AC adapter for $135 so i could charge and AC at the same time. -

what ac adapter is this?

 

[Gary Stone]

right here.

 

[Thom Steinhoff]

I ordered it but never received it--I was told it was back ordered. Did someone else receive it?

 

[David Didato]

I have received one. Tested and working.

 

[dino g]

works fine in the Uk and in europe, as well as australia, the middle east and in africa (last two are UK standard 3 prong 220 plugs)

actually i find that the battery chargers work better on 220 dc.

and no, you cannot charge and power at the same time with the charger.

 

[Brandon Fraley]

- I bought the AC adapter for $135 so i could charge and AC at the same time. -

so wait, does this work or not?

EDIT: WAIT, so this is a SEPARATE device from the charger? so you use this instead, while the charger charges?

 

[Jochen Schmidt-Hambrock]

Yep, this is a much better solution for using mains power. The charger (with the help of a long cable) can power the cam, but first of all: It´s too loud (fan), and second: you´re not recharging the bricks.

Jochen

 

[David Wyatt]

any news on the usage of the ac-adapter? in uk was a cam damaged by it.

If anyone uses the Elpac AC adaptor I strongly urge them to use a surge protector with it - not using one was what killed our Red camera! My understanding from Red is that the other way of powering the camera (via the cable that plugs into the charger) allows the camera to power down safely if there's a power surge. As others have said you can't power the camera via the charger and charge a battery at the same time so the Elpac allows you to charge while the camera runs off mains, however after our nasty experience we've decided to avoid mains power like the absolute plague (we've now got two chargers and four batteries which is enough to keep you going all day - so no need to power off the mains).

Incidentally I don't know what it's like for the Red but a technician once explained to me that you will get a worse picture from powering a tape-based camera from the mains with small power fluctuations than you would from powering it from batteries [commence flaming...now!]

 

[Axel Mertes]

We have two of the AC adaptors.

Use it very often. Sometimes even on set, as its less weight than a RED battery, so you can tape it on the camera and become "cabled mobile". Worked out well in two shoots now. Video village was connected anyway, so cables where there, one more wasn't the issue.

What happend as the camera got damaged?

Axel

 

[jimhare]

David,
That must have been awful! So Elpac AC is the RED AC adapter (not battery charger?)

Does the battery charger have surge protection? Sounds like it provides extra security if using mains on the RED. Is this the case?

Jim

 

[Jarred Land]

I use the Elpac on mains.. its light and compact (somewhat) and is a little less awkward than chaining through the charger. On the road though.. the charger is a great double source because it takes up alot less space than carrying two supplies.

 

[Costelloe Michael]

I use the Elpac on mains.. its light and compact (somewhat) and is a little less awkward than chaining through the charger. On the road though.. the charger is a great double source because it takes up alot less space than carrying two supplies.

Jarred,

Do you use a surge protector as David Wyatt advises, or are we to take it that this was a freak occurence?

Michael C

 

[Jarred Land]

I use a surge protector only if its convenient.... Definitely a freak case with David.

 

[David Wyatt]

It kind of depends how much you trust the power supply in the location you're using (where we were appears to be pretty flaky and we all film in a variety of locations, some with questionable power). Another big problem with the Elpac is that the kettle plug doesn't lock in like an XLR cable does, so it can easily get kicked out (I've seen it happen - camera just powers down instantly which would be a problem if you were recording to RedDrive. After that we took to taping down the kettle lead which looked a bit Mickey Mouse). I've noticed the power units that come with things like the Panasonic 8" monitor et al have an XLR-like locking connector for the power cable - would it be possible for future models of the Elpac to have a similar connector? Obviously an uninterrupted power supply isn't a huge issue for a monitor but it seems to be essential for something that is essentially a computer recording to a hard drive.