Hello all.
Speaking as one of the vidiots mentioned in the post as a user of power
hungry devises I can chime in w/ some information.
We do indeed rely on batteries for a lot of our power and there are several
systems out there.
Most of use have gravitated toward what is called a brick battery and the
Anton-Bauer system. Although that does not mean we use the Anton-Bauer
batteries, chargers, etc. It is just called that, I suppose, because they
developed it. It has more to do with the mounting than anything else I
believe.
I have 6 batteries that have a capacity of 130 watt/ hours per battery and
with that I can go pretty much all day with a lot of power hungry devices -
camera, on camera light (choice of 2), monitor (choice of 2), 2 wireless
receivers, vectorscope/ waveform, another video recorder, and a 4 channel
field audio mixer. Thankfully I'll never use all at the same time, but wit=
h
6 batteries and 4 mounts I could power a lot. The camera can power 2
phantom power mics and the mixer will power 4 phantom or tandor powered
mics. All of the mounts have a main output and a powertap. Depending on
load you can power 5 devices off of one battery (with a multi cable). It
will power one devise off the main output and 1 - 4 off the powertap.
The outputs are standard as 4-pin XLRs or powertaps and you can get the
other end in about anything you want or make your own.
Depending on the speed of the charger a battery can be recharged in 3 hours
and all can be charged overnight. I have 2 chargers - a one battery quick
charger and a 6 gang normal charger.
There is a downside to this - cost and weight. Each battery list for $500
(can be had for $400) and these are the stripped down models. Add another
$100 for the models with power gauges built in. Chargers are $600 to $2000
a piece. And each battery weighs 4 1/2 pounds. They also come in smaller
capacities, but for the weight trade off I think its best to get the most
capacity. Capacity starts at about 65 watt/ hours.
Li-ion batteries do not have the capacity for this much power per battery
yet. These are NiMH (nickel metal halide). I don't know why but the
biggest Li-ion is about 65 watt/ hours. They are lighter but more
expensive. Also don't take as many recycling if memory servers me
correctly.
NiMH are good for about 1000 cycles and no memory problems like NiCads
(again out of memory).
The mounts are varied. You can put one or more on a belt, some are molded
into belts, you can gang them with adapters that will allow you to power 12
volt or 30 volt devices, and mounts that are freestanding or made to go to
specific devices. Although they are 12 volt rated their power is higher
than that. The reason is that video devices shut off at 11 volts and older
12 volt batteries would not be completely discharges at 11 volts leading to
major memory problems.
There is another type of battery called a NP-1 that is used in video. Powe=
r
is about 25 watt/ hours. Again it is in the mountings that give them the
versatility. But not as versatile as the bricks. Bricks are about 4x 4
1/2x 5 and the NP-1 about 1 1/2x3x8 (inches).
For my money and experience bricks are it for major power. Several
companies make them - Anton-Bauer, Frezziloni, and others.
Eric Schmidt
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