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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 :)

Working Temp in the negative

Mark Thorpe

Mark Thorpe

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Anyone any ideas as to the prescribed safe working LOW temperature of the RED One? Just curious as I may have the option for some under ice stuff in the Antarctic in 2010.

Cheers,
Mark.
 
Mark,

I have experienced issues in cold weather and heavy wind chill last winter on an X camera. I believe them all to be power supply related, but I'm not 100%.

More recently, I put my RED in a freezer for several hours to conduct a thermal expansion test on the mount. Afterwards it booted up perfectly, but the batteries had not been frozen with it.

I seems like underwater the ambient temperature can never go below 0 Celsius? Maybe that changes at depth? You might add extra insulation around the batteries inside the housing, but I don't think such measure would be needed for the camera body or the Red drive for that matter.

IBloom
 
Water: salt or fresh...

Water: salt or fresh...

ibloom said:
I seems like underwater the ambient temperature can never go below 0 Celsius? Maybe that changes at depth?
Click to expand...

Fresh water freezes higher than salt water, water can be liquid down to about -20C if there is salt in it, see this link,

http://www.worsleyschool.net/science/files/saltandfreezing/ofwater.html

That is how you make ice cream...

I wonder if the salts in the battery help keep it from freezing until some temp below 0C, like maybe -5C or something?
 
At depth, seawater can be significantly colder than -20C due to increased pressure. -20C isn't all that cold anyway, at least not as far as air temperature is concerned, you wouldn't want to fall into water at that temp.

My first concern on a cold underwater expedition with RED (or other electronic gear) is condensation. But there are ways to control that. The RED generates a fair amount of heat itself and if it's enclosed in a housing, it should generate enough heat to keep itself warm I would think. Perhaps an additional air circulator fan in the housing may be useful? Possibly a temperature monitor and even a supplemental heater on that circulator fan in extreme situations.

But this is academic... I think the only way to know for sure is to run some tests. Put that RED in a housing, submerse in -20C water and see what happens. As long as condensation is handled, I think the RED will be fine once it's reached a stable operating temperature. Cold-starting it may turn out to be a problem, but maybe that's where that supplemental heater and air circulator could be a good idea, especially to keep the batteries from freezing.
 
condensation?

condensation?

Jeff Kilgroe said:
But this is academic... I think the only way to know for sure is to run some tests. Put that RED in a housing, submerse in -20C water and see what happens. As long as condensation is handled, I think the RED will be fine once it's reached a stable operating temperature. Cold-starting it may turn out to be a problem, but maybe that's where that supplemental heater and air circulator could be a good idea, especially to keep the batteries from freezing.
Click to expand...

I don't think you want to "Chernobyl " your RED ONE (tm)!

They were testing the cooling system to see if it was working, oops! Condensation across the pins of the CMOS chips could fry the camera, especially if any salt mist had gotten inside before hand.

My Brother suggested using two batteries, one for the camera, and another larger one to run heaters on the camera's battery and to heat the air to reduce condensation, it could also run fans. You can use light bulbs under run as heaters, as well as power resistors, i.e. VITREOUS ENAMEL RESISTORS.

http://www.ohmite.com/cgi-bin/showpage.cgi?product=200_series

I would also put some Desiccant Silica Gel in the underwater housing to absorb condensation and humidity when the power is off or the battery goes dead.

http://www.bestglide.com/silica_gel_info.html
 
www.DANCAD3D.com said:
They were testing the cooling system to see if it was working, oops! Condensation across the pins of the CMOS chips could fry the camera, especially if any salt mist had gotten inside before hand.
Click to expand...

Yep. But there are ways to mitigate condensation, even eliminate it. Possibly vacuum and flood the camera housing with moisture-free air as one method. Desiccants are also a possibility, but most have a rather slow absorption rate and abrupt temperature changes that can trigger condensation forming could come on too fast for the desiccant to help.

I think the supplementary heaters may be a good solution, along with a thermostat. As the camera heats up, you may need to shut the heaters off. The resistors may be good for heaters along with the circulator fans. I would be leery of using bulbs.

Once again, all academic. I would say some tests are in order. Perhaps we wouldn't want to throw a RED One right into such an environment without some preliminary testing though.
 
altitude limit?

altitude limit?

Jeff Kilgroe said:
Possibly vacuum and flood the camera housing with moisture-free air as one method.
Click to expand...

One should keep in mind the altitude limit of the camera if you pull a vacuum around it since the cover glass on the sensor might crack, or the ELECTROLYTIC CAPACITORS or some other parts might pop open or boil inside.
 
Good point and a vacuum is also something that should not be done too quickly. But in the end, it's not really any different than pulling a vacuum to suck out moisture around any other sensitive instruments.

...Always helps to have good insurance and be paid up on it too. :)
 
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