3rd party Batts

[Rich Schaefer]

Guys, let's be civil & professional here. Red has seen the problem, they know it is a problem, they will address it in due time.

Here is my proactive (my beer glass is half full!) solution. Check it out maybe it will help you:

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=8397

Cheers,
Rich

[NateWeaver]

One final thought; I hope it's not the attitude of Red that, "you're either with me or against me." Everyone has their own needs and ways of working.

I'll go one step further and say that I know that's not the intention of Red, but the guys there are working so hard that I'm sure it's hard to respond to requests with a smile and a "yes, sir" everytime.

I think it's safe to say that everybody here wants to see the Red reach it's potential, even the guys that curse and moan.

I know I do. Especially now that I've shot my first job with one.

[Finner]

I also feel this should have been asked in a nicer way but is a definate need. Camera displaying battery voltage really seems like a simple standard feature I find on all high level cameras. Especially when runing a battery below required voltage results in such a big problem.

Jarred I understand you and the rest of red stating "just use our batteries" and from working with red battery bricks I am actually quite impressed with both the quality and price of them. I have 2 major issues with the red battery system though #1 poor quality red v mounts (not the battery), from what I have found these are very cheap and many that I know of have failed. #2 No quad charger, this is really needed (please dont say just buy 2 duals). #2 is frustrating but I can live with it. #1 is a deal breaker and the reason I am leaning towards an AB system.

[Jarred Land]

Finner, RED batteries and some other 3rd party batteries display the voltage on camera (depending if they are intelligent or not), just not all, "dumb" connections to the camera that is purely voltage wont at this point.

You can use a IDX quad V-lock charger if you want to charge our batteries, it works pretty well ( we use them at RED sometimes ).

The original cradle battery plate did suck bigtime;. but we have improved them along the way. If your using one of the old janky ones, send it back and we will take care of you.

[Finner]

Thanks for the info Jarred, good to hear the mount has been improved.

[Wes Printz]

RED batteries and some other 3rd party batteries display the voltage on camera (depending if they are intelligent or not), just not all, "dumb" connections to the camera that is purely voltage wont at this point.

Jarred, may I ask the question without sounding harsh: Which 3rd party batteries will display the voltage on the camera display? IDX Endura / Elite series is deemed "Intelligent", as I'm sure the A/B's are, since they communicate with the charger. Are you referring to the RED specifically, or other makes/models of cameras? This may help clear up a lot. I recently saw #23X, Build 13, with a RED Brick, the display was showing 85%, that is not a voltage, but a percentage of remaining capacity as I understand the concept. Is there a menu setting to toggle % to V?

This brings another question to mind. We already know the camera shuts down at 11.5V and is not user selectable, fact of life. Since the display shows %, what does RED recommend would be an appropriate percentage point to swap the RED Brick battery?

Respectfully submitted.

[Harry Clark]

I said it in his original post and I'll say it here too:
I think Rich's "ghetto" voltmeter is a great interim solution. An alarm at 12v would give some wiggle room, time-wise, before you hit the magical 11.5v shutdown.
Is it really accurate since it's not in-line on the power cable? Or does it work because the 12v out is unregulated?
I'll be interested to see what A/B comes up with in collaboration with Red.
Cheers,
Harry

[Rich Schaefer]

Good Question Harry, I think it should be accurate. From what I understand from the Red ops manuel, the outputs are unregulated.

[Mike Prevette]

Would it be that hard to build a 4pin XLR to LEMO (RED) converter box that also encoded the line voltage into RED's lingo and then sent that to the camera?

[Nick Gardner]

Great googley moogley.....

I typed that yesterday, my computer crashed, and I assumed it didn't post. I was glad because I thought I was a little bit of an asshole. I was going to rephrase the issue a little nicer today and saw this......

Anyway, I didn't mean to an ungrateful pain in the ass, but I do think it's an issue that needs to be addressed.

Thanks for the info, Red Team.

Cheers,
Nick