170 blows fuses with the AB Elipz Batt

S

Sanchez

Active member
It's the second time in less than a month that our 170 has gone in for warrantee repair -- panny engineers said it was (2) blown fuses.

The 2nd time we sent it in, we sent in the Anton Bauer Elipz battery that we use with the camera ...

The Panny engineer says that we have to use Panasonic batteries with this camera, or else if it blows again -- they will have to charge us for the repair. They can't definitively say that the blown fuses were due to the Ellipz battery even after testing the battery, but they insist that we use Panasonic batteries in order to recieve warrantee repairs.

We've had an Elipz battery that we've used for years before we got our 170 (used with a DVX). Our vendor packaged our recent Elipz with our 170 purchase.

Anyone else having this problem ??


-Jay
 
Yep. I've seen multiple HVX's blown when using the Elipz. The problem is in the Elipz's battery cable design, I think it's a simply terrible design. Look at the cable that connects to the battery -- it's symmetrical. It's possible to plug it in upside down, at least close enough to short out the pins! They should have made an asymmetrical design so that if you reversed the cable, the pins wouldn't line up. Worst design decision I've ever seen from Anton Bauer, a company that normally gets it completely right.

It's the exact same scenario with six-pin firewire cables, it's possible to insert them backwards in the socket just enough to ground out the power pin and send a blast of electricity over to the camera and fry it. And the solution is the same -- never ever ever connect the cable to the camera, until the other side is properly attached. So always disconnect the power cord from the camera, and THEN plug it into the Elipz. And when the cable is firmly and properly attached to the Elipz, then you can plug it into the camera.
 
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