Battery Charger

[Dustin Cross]

Aloha,

Would one of these battery chargers work with the Red batteries?

IDX VL-4S Endura Lithium-Ion Battery Charger - 4-Channel Simultaneous Charging
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&A=ShowProduct&Q=&sku=230256&is=REG

The Red batteries are a great price, but I would like a simultaneous charger.


Thanks,
Dusty

[Dominic Jones]

Great question Dustin - I was just about to post a similar one, so I'll just second yours, if that's ok!

Simultaneous charger pretty much a must in my opinion - don't worry though Jim, I'll still have to get the Red charger to run the camera off mains, so you're not losing out!... :biggrin:

Even wider information would be great though - what are the parameters for a charger to work with Red Bricks? Does it just have to be a V-Mount Li-Ion charger or is it more complicated than that?

[Stuart English]

One thing to check into when considering simultaneous chargers: what is the sustained charge current to each battery? If with a dual simultaneous charger, one battery can be charged at 4A, or 2 at 2A each you are no better off than having a dual sequential charger that can charge the first battery at 4 Amps then the other at 4 amps. Same is true of quad battery chargers...

[Matthew Rogers]

One thing to check into when considering simultaneous chargers: what is the sustained charge current to each battery? If with a dual simultaneous charger, one battery can be charged at 4A, or 2 at 2A each you are no better off than having a dual sequential charger that can charge the first battery at 4 Amps then the other at 4 amps. Same is true of quad battery chargers...

Good thing to consider.... Another question I have is, when you buy just the body, does that come with AC power to run the camera, or do I need to buy the red charger to run the camera off AC?

Thanks,

Matthew

[Fence sitter]

What are the output specs for the charger. Anyone?

Fence

[Jim Arthurs]

If with a dual simultaneous charger, one battery can be charged at 4A, or 2 at 2A each you are no better off than having a dual sequential charger that can charge the first battery at 4 Amps then the other at 4 amps.

Good point, but one exception... if you're charging several batteries overnight and don't want to get up every couple hours to swap out...

BTW, this is a possible option as well...

http://www.batteries4broadcast.com/combo_order_sm.htm

Scroll down to the C4-SM4010-150WH package of 4 batteries (150Wh) and quad simultaneous charger...

Worth looking into if you think you need 4 batteries and a charger right out of the gate...

[Matthew Rogers]

Good point, but one exception... if you're charging several batteries overnight and don't want to get up every couple hours to swap out...

BTW, this is a possible option as well...

http://www.batteries4broadcast.com/combo_order_sm.htm

Scroll down to the C4-SM4010-150WH package of 4 batteries (150Wh) and quad simultaneous charger...

Worth looking into if you think you need 4 batteries and a charger right out of the gate...

That's exactly what I am looking at unless I need the Red charger to run the camera. Sure, they don't look as pretty as the RED batteries, but they work very well. I've got one of the 150's for my JVC 110u, and it will run forever on it (of course, the JVC draws FAR less power...)

Matthew

[Blair S. Paulsen]

The body does not come with an AC adapter included, in fact I did not even get a cable to go from the charger to the camera so my only functioning power source at the moment is off battery. No offense to the Red Team but with all on the ongoing design upgrades and the push to get the camera delivered the parts list is kind of a moving target. They're a sharp crew and I look forward to a catalog of parts that includes pictures so items with similar names can be more easily differentiated.

Big shout out to Matt who seems to be the Madman's right hand man in making the rail, baseplate and cage systems, there have been some clever improvements since NAB.

Note: I have been getting around 2 hours per RED battery.

[Jim Arthurs]

That's exactly what I am looking at unless I need the Red charger to run the camera. Sure, they don't look as pretty as the RED batteries, but they work very well. I've got one of the 150's for my JVC 110u, and it will run forever on it (of course, the JVC draws FAR less power...)

Matthew

I'm glad to hear confirmation as to the build quality of the batteries... I'm pretty sure the charger will run the camera as well, no problem... tying into what Stuart was saying, the manual for the charger mentions 2.5A per leg of charging... which isn't bad when your running 4 batteries overnight...

When my time comes up I'll weigh all the options on the table in regards to power, but I like the idea of 2X more batteries and charger for just 500 bucks more than the RED 2 batteries and charger combo... subject to change, of course...

[Jim Arthurs]

Big shout out to Matt who seems to be the Madman's right hand man in making the rail, baseplate and cage systems, there have been some clever improvements since NAB.

Note: I have been getting around 2 hours per RED battery.

Blair, thanks again for being the point of the spear on all things RED... I can't wait to see the changes to the cage, and it's good to know the expected battery times... I'm sure I need four as a minimun now...

[Dominic Jones]

Thanks for all the feedback guys - you're life-savers! So I'm looking for a high sustained current simultaneous charger to go with my Red batteries - I'll keep an eye out...

Out of interest, anyone know what sustained charge the Red Powerpack gives out to charge a Red Brick in ~3.5 hours? That would be useful info as then I can work out roughly how long each battery will take to charge on a given simultaneous charger.

[Jaime Vallés]

Thanks for the info, guys. I'm also tempted to get the quad charger with four 150v batteries for $1900. I'll see what others report before getting anything, though (that's the ONLY advantage of not being one of the sub-100 reservations).

[Gary McClurg]

Out of interest, anyone know what sustained charge the Red Powerpack gives out to charge a Red Brick in ~3.5 hours? That would be useful info as then I can work out roughly how long each battery will take to charge on a given simultaneous charger.

My idea also... was thinking last night go with two chargers... and a total of six batts....