RED Power Voltage

[Joe Taylor]

Will the RED 1 power up and run safely with my vast collection of 12 Volt batteries that currently power my Arri 2c?

Thanks

[Jonas Nyström]

Good question, I found the answer (using the search function ;-)


"Yes, You could run the camera from a standard 12V / 14.4V source, But, you should monitor your voltage. When the battery voltage drops below the cut off threshold, the camera will shut down with out warning. The RED Brick has a voltage monitoring circuit, which communuicates with the camera to indicate low voltage, allowing time to swap batteries.

I've not measured the current draw yet, but, it would appear to be around 6A based on the 60-75W rating mentioned above.

On the subject of people making their own cables, I have repaired a lot of devices for people that made their own, as they "knew what they were doing" I've also corrected their cables. Yes, Reverse polarity protection would only cost a few Dollars per unit for the device, add in the enginering cost, it would add up in the end, and put the repair dept out of business.

It goes with out saying that any voltage source to a device SHOULD have some form of protection in the event of excessive current draw, let's say a $2.00 Fuse to protect your investment

Wes"

I've seen picture here somewhere, RED powered with AB Dionic 90.

[jbeale]

I have to say it seems odd to me that they would put a low voltage monitor in the battery, but not put one in the camera. Monitoring your battery implies you are looking for a specific voltage- what is the low-voltage cutout on Red, is it 12.0 V? Given how many amps it draws, the voltage at the battery terminals may be significantly different than the voltage where it counts, at the camera itself (resistance of cable & connectors & fuses counts for something at high currents).

[Wes Printz]

I have to say it seems odd to me that they would put a low voltage monitor in the battery, but not put one in the camera. Monitoring your battery implies you are looking for a specific voltage

The RED Brick, like the Anton Bauer Dionics, Hytrons, IDX and other Li-Ion batteries have circuitry built in to monitor charge conditions to prevent overcharging along with attempting to prevent deep discharging and display an approximate remaining capacity. The RED Brick converts this information into serial data then sends it to the camera to indicate a % of battery capacity remaining, same as pushing the little black button and watching the red LEDs light up. The Anton Bauers have the LCD pie/bar graph gauge. RED does it differently with proprietary circuitry. There's a Difference between voltage and capacity readings.

Given the power lead is about 19" long on the battery cradle, and well rated for the current draw, I would not expect too much voltage drop. The F900 does not read the voltage at the input, but further down the path on the power supply PCB. SONY only shows the surface charge, and NOT capacity. If it's low enough there, to indicate a problem, why wait till it is in the middle of the circuit. I've seen a lot of SONY's hit the cut off threshold and just DIE. What better place to monitor your voltage / capacity than at the source.

The manual does state 11.5 - 17VDC input. I would imagine the cutoff threshold is around 11-11.5 maybe Jarred could confirm the low cutoff. Is the low battery warning indicator adjustable?????

[Steve Gal]

usually a camera that accepts 12 volts will cut out at about 10.5 volts. I have anton bauer dischargers with voltage readings and a timer and it cuts out at 10.5 volts for a 12 -14.8 volt source.

[Stuart English]

The manual does state 11.5 - 17VDC input. I would imagine the cutoff threshold is around 11-11.5

The lowest acceptable voltage is 11.5V, and no the low battery warning is not user adjustable.

[s3eed z]

The manual does state 11.5 - 17VDC input.

what about Amps ?

[Wes Printz]

The lowest acceptable voltage is 11.5V, and no the low battery warning is not user adjustable.

Thanks Stuart.