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BDS Battery + AC


codyman

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I'm currently using a Remote Audio BDS which has been working great, but I'm curious if anyone has any ideas as how to maybe power the BDS off an AC adapter and then if power fails, have a battery input kick in?  It would be great to do this for sit down shoots / bag cart stuff.  It seems like buying a PSC Triple Play might be the only way to do such a thing but I thought it would be worth asking if anyone has any novel ways to do it!

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I was using my IDX charger/power supply to run my cart through a BDX, once-upon-time.  Fried the 411 receiver, 744 had blue flames, as did two new Panasonic cameras.  House we were working in was old and wiring may have been the problem.  I never did this again after doing it many time without a problem.  Ya live and ya learn.

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21 hours ago, bilagaana said:

House we were working in was old and wiring may have been the problem.

 

I’ve not heard of a problem in New Mexico (You’re from NM, aren’t you?) but I was working in San Francisco once and we fried a light because some random outlets were wired 120-volt. I understand this is an occupational hazard in old San Francisco buildings. 

 

David

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If you're working out of a bag and power everything off an NP1 this could be a good solution:

http://www.hawkwoods.co.uk/Prods/Product/AD-NP1

Thinking of this myself, however, I rarely do sit down interviews.

 

Maybe this is better suited to your needs:

http://www.hawkwoods.co.uk/Prods/Product/APD-PS

Requires NP1 powering of your kit.

 

I haven't tried either.

 

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I don’t know of any bag sized DC distro that is able to automatically switch from one power source to another. The Triple Play seems like it would but actually I think all three of it’s TA4 inputs are just in parallel. So even if you had an AC adapter plugged into one of the inputs your NPs would still drain... I think. Checking with Ron now. 

 

Several brands make dummy NP AC adapters but that doesn’t provide you with the functionality of a UPS. 

 

Actually, I don’t see why an off the shelf UPS from ADP or Tripplite wouldn’t work if you put that in between mains and your NP AC adapter. Might want to disconnect the alarm bell that they usually have though. 

 

Otherwise you’re looking at a PSC cart power, power star, or Remote Audio Meon and $$$. Could be worth it though. 

 

Or float a charger over an SLA lawn mower battery. That’s the cheaper, DIY option. Not bag friendly. 

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I started working on something like this a while ago but haven’t finished it yet..

Im going to base it around this http://mini-box.com.au/Y-PWR Hot Swap Load Sharing Controller.html

The circuit basically switches to and uses the highest input voltage so I’ll feed it an AC supply of 15v on one input and an np1 on the other input. Once the np1 drops bellow 15v it’ll use the AC supply and if that fails it’ll switch back to the np1. The output from the circuit will feed my remote audio bds same as always. 

I might also have 2 np1 inputs in parallel so they can be hotswapped also. 

Essentially it’ll be like a modular ups just without the battery charging facility. 

 

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4 hours ago, daniel Brooks said:

If are shooting with ac in a 'sit down' situation and the power fails, likely the lights and camera will also fail.  It seems like more gack to carry and deal with and you will end up with track but no pictures to cover it....

 Agree. Not to say, "don't do it" but I had the same thought and eventually come to the same conclusion.

A 6-series recorder can swap power sources, so if you're a sit-down with a boom you still have the boom. Also if you're doing a sit-down with wires you should have ample time to keep an eye on battery levels. And with Hi-Q batteries those times are longer than ever.

For the amount of time/$ it could cost to implement the A/C system you could just buy more batteries. Maybe run two battery shoes in parallel so you can hot-swap them? That's the feature that I would want. Pull the battery mid-take and swap without powering down.

 

A

 

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Yeah at this point I should follow the "If it's not broken, don't fix it" ideology.  Currently I'm using 190wh V-Mount batteries which last about 2/3rds of a day on set for me (and I have three of them).  One day I might splurge and upgrade my cart to a PSC Cartpower or something similar but at this point I've been doing more bag than cart gigs so rather than forking out for an all new distro and cables, I think I'm just going to stick with what I have for now!

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I use something similar but with np-1 cups. Switching diode is in one cup with cables going out to a switch to turn on all wireless. 1 lead to a 4 pin xr white I have going to wireless.  A Hirose to go to recorder that all ways on with no switch. One cable goes to external np-1 battery cup which I use with either an np-1 battery or an old battery empty np1 with a 4-pin XLR built inso I can either use AC or battery. 

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I’ve not heard of a problem in New Mexico (You’re from NM, aren’t you?) but I was working in San Francisco once and we fried a light because some random outlets were wired 120-volt. I understand this is an occupational hazard in old San Francisco buildings. 
 
David


David: I assume you mean 220 volt? 120 volt is standard in most cities (at least on theory-reality is a bit different!)

-Scott


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  • 3 weeks later...

Apologies for coming in late...

We're working on something that may help. We developed it based on feedback from sound engineers who have been using our products & it's due for release in Feb 2018. It is based on our existing MPL205 battery holsters:

http://www.inspired-energy.com/mcl205.html

& it will operate from an NH2054HD34 battery:

http://www.inspired-energy.com/nh2054.html

It will include charging circuitry built-in & it will come with an AC:DC adapter, so you could run it plugged into the wall & then if the power fails, it will seamlessly operate from the battery. (Technically the output is always from the battery anyway so there is no "switch-over" when the AC goes away).

The onboard smart charger will be fully SMBus compliant & will talk to the battery & turn off when the battery is fully charged & will reduce the charge rate if the battery is hot or cold etc...

So it will look  like our long battery holsters, but the output cable will be removable via a locking connector. It will have an onboard charger & also a USB charge port for cellphones & tablets etc. 

It will also have an ideal diode built-in so you can wire two or more outputs in parallel to give you hot swap capability with multiple batteries.

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One issue I have encountered when running rig on AC and being hardwired to the camera(s) is a ground loop.  You, cameras, monitors all on AC and all connected together.  Different circuits, a piece of gear missing a ground connection, etc.  

Has not always happened, just something to be aware of.

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12 hours ago, Dave Baggaley said:

Apologies for coming in late...

We're working on something that may help. We developed it based on feedback from sound engineers who have been using our products & it's due for release in Feb 2018.

Very cool!  Does your company sell direct or just through dealers/OEM (noticed the Hi-Q Remote Audio batteries).

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