Which vlock batteries will power the Arri Alexa Classic?

[norvan5]

Hi again all,

I’m running a vlock adapter plate into the ‘bat’ port of my Arri Alexa Classic but when I attach a vlock battery, I get an error message on the bottom of the screen and the battery voltage (which is listed as 14.4 V on the battery body itself) fluctuates around 12.9 V. The camera powers up enough to display this info in the evf but won’t permit me to record. The cam works fine from mains power when I use it that way..

I am based in Ireland/UK and the vlock battery model I have is Patona premium series for BP-190WS Li-ion 14.4 volts 190wh.

The Arri manual says, “not all vlock batteries deliver enough power to supply the camera. We recommend to not use any batteries with a capacity of less than 90 wh.” Mine is rated 190wh so I don’t know what the problem might be.

What vlock batteries are you using/did you use successfully with this camera? Anybody have any suggestions for me to try?

Thanks all!

 

[DustinSchmidt]

You want high amperage batteries for power hungry cameras like the Alexa.

The battery you listed appears to be rated at just 10 amps if I found the correct listing online. Other batteries can be purchased with higher amperage.

Not sure if this is your issue. But it may be worth trying a battery with a higher amperage rating?

 

[norvan5]

You want high amperage batteries for power hungry cameras like the Alexa.

The battery you listed appears to be rated at just 10 amps if I found the correct listing online. Other batteries can be purchased with higher amperage.

Not sure if this is your issue. But it may be worth trying a battery with a higher amperage rating?

Cheers for that. I contacted CVP today who sells vlock batteries and they said the camera accepts batteries from 10-30v and added:

Power draw of just the camera and EVF is 85W.

Are you planning on running other accessories from the batteries?

I'd suggest minimum 150Wh Vmounts such as
https://cvp.com/product/bebob_v150micro_battery
Will work with normal V mount chargers

if just running the camera, you'll get around 1h-1h15 on a charge.


Hawkwoods make these higher voltage batteries designed for the needs of Arri cameras and high voltage lights
https://cvp.com/product/hawk-woods-rp-m180-mini-180wh-battery
Price of these is £414+VAT

These would need the RP series charger
https://cvp.com/product/hawk-woods-rp-mx-2-ch-fast-charger
£237+VAT