HELP! Odyssey 7Q record 240fps got problem!

[Alan Ting Judson]

Finally i received my battery plate from westsideavstore for odyssey 7Q last week. I only try 4k2hd recording last few days and working fine. Today i test slow motion 200/240fps and here's come a big problem! After i start record just a FEW sec of 200fps, the monitor of odyssey 7 start blinking and turn into dark! i need to power on the odyssey 7Q again, and yes the video clip only rec few sec of slow motion video down. No matter how many times i tried and changing from 200fps to 240fps the problem still there, BUT the problem gone only while i using ac power supply that included with odyssey 7Q, it record without the having the problem like with battery plate. 100fps/120fps also working fine.

Anyone please help? What is the problem or any setting need to take note? By i think it is the problem is battery plate/battery/power supply from it. Tomorrow i need start go shooting with my friend, hope can solve the problem tonight. Thanks

 

[cuervo]

what battery are you using? and how old is that battery? if the battery won't hold a charge under load(ie with the O7Q turned on) the O7Q will drop out as you are experiencing. I have an older, after-market (non-Sony) battery that does this same thing with my O7Q.

 

[Prendi]

I have a brand new Sony battery and it does exactly the same thing. CD will never admit it's a 7Q problem though.

 

[olof]

Finally i received my battery plate from westsideavstore for odyssey 7Q last week. I only try 4k2hd recording last few days and working fine. Today i test slow motion 200/240fps and here's come a big problem! After i start record just a FEW sec of 200fps, the monitor of odyssey 7 start blinking and turn into dark! i need to power on the odyssey 7Q again, and yes the video clip only rec few sec of slow motion video down. No matter how many times i tried and changing from 200fps to 240fps the problem still there, BUT the problem gone only while i using ac power supply that included with odyssey 7Q, it record without the having the problem like with battery plate. 100fps/120fps also working fine.

Anyone please help? What is the problem or any setting need to take note? By i think it is the problem is battery plate/battery/power supply from it. Tomorrow i need start go shooting with my friend, hope can solve the problem tonight. Thanks

Sorry you are having problems. Sharyn is emailing you.

It does sound like there is a problem with your battery. The plate is very simple, only a device to connect the + and - terminals on a battery to the CD cable. We test every single cable/plate assembly here before we ship. There are no electronics in the plate, just a straight connection. And these connections are soldered and encased in molten plastic that sets up hard for strain relief.

The cable and Nano connector is made by CD, we buy them from CD made up. These connectors are a bit finicky you have to make sure the cable is pushed all the way in to the Odyssey so the button pops out a bit, other clients of ours have had intermittent connections that were solved by seating the NanoConnector all the way into the Odyssey.

The Odyssey does draw more current when "working harder" like high frame rates so if you have a marginal battery this is when you would notice a problem with wattage of the battery.

 

[Gene Sung]

I have a brand new Sony battery and it does exactly the same thing. CD will never admit it's a 7Q problem though.

Hey Prendi,

Did you try it with the AC power supply and not the battery? If it works with the AC power supply, then it's probably the battery plate or the battery. If it doesn't work with the AC power supply, then it's probably the 7Q.

What kind of battery plate are you using?

 

[Mitch Gross]

Your battery is not getting a full charge. There could be several reasons for this.

- It is an old battery no longer capable of giving a full charge.
- It is a non-Sony battery and is not capable of delivering a full charge.
- It is a dud battery. It could happen.
- It is a proper Sony battery, but it is being charged by a non-Sony charger. The proper Sony chargers use the battery's Infolithium circuit to monitor how the battery is accepting the charge and therefore are able to charge it fully in an accurate and safe manner. Generic chargers use basic heat and resistance to gauge how far the battery has chartered. This is not a good way to charge a high yield lithium cell, and since overcharging a lithium cell can lead to fire, these chargers are chronically set to undercharge to prevent fires. A good battery on a bad charger means a weak charge.

 

[Alan Ting Judson]

Thanks all for the respond and help. My batteries are Sony NP-F970, and i retried to recharge all battery and leave it there for few hours even fully charge, then finally now it work. I guess last time after i fully charge i not straight using it but leave it for few days, it might be a reason. But anyway so far i test few of my batteries it wokring now, will keep on observing. So a battery must get a full charge every time before using on odyssey 7Q? or need to full charge in the 1st time?

 

[Prendi]

Mitch, I'm genuinely not trying to be that guy but for me, it's none of the above for the following reasons;

>> Brand new battery (came with the FS700). I got it the same time as I got the 7Q (March).
>> It' Sony
>> Maybe it's a dud (but seems to work fine on the FS700)
>> I only charge this battery on the FS700 charger, as that's the only battery that charges in a decent amount of time on that charger. The non Sony ones that I use on the camera take forever on the Sony charger

I know I'm the thorn in your side at the moment. Trust me, it's only because I see so much potential in the 7Q but right now I'm nervous to take it on shoots.

Your battery is not getting a full charge. There could be several reasons for this.

- It is an old battery no longer capable of giving a full charge.
- It is a non-Sony battery and is not capable of delivering a full charge.
- It is a dud battery. It could happen.
- It is a proper Sony battery, but it is being charged by a non-Sony charger. The proper Sony chargers use the battery's Infolithium circuit to monitor how the battery is accepting the charge and therefore are able to charge it fully in an accurate and safe manner. Generic chargers use basic heat and resistance to gauge how far the battery has chartered. This is not a good way to charge a high yield lithium cell, and since overcharging a lithium cell can lead to fire, these chargers are chronically set to undercharge to prevent fires. A good battery on a bad charger means a weak charge.

 

[Mitch Gross]

When you first use your batteries you should fully charge them. Whenever you have only partially used them on a shoot it is good to charge them back up to full again. This is best practice for a lithium battery.

An Odyssey7Q does not require a fully charged battery, but when you shoot 240p 2K RAW it does require a lot of power and it is best to have a good charge available on the battery. Otherwise you may experience the issues you described.

 

[Mitch Gross]

Mitch, I'm genuinely not trying to be that guy but for me, it's none of the above for the following reasons;

>> Brand new battery (came with the FS700). I got it the same time as I got the 7Q (March).
>> It' Sony
>> Maybe it's a dud (but seems to work fine on the FS700)
>> I only charge this battery on the FS700 charger, as that's the only battery that charges in a decent amount of time on that charger. The non Sony ones that I use on the camera take forever on the Sony charger

I know I'm the thorn in your side at the moment. Trust me, it's only because I see so much potential in the 7Q but right now I'm nervous to take it on shoots.

You are not a thorn, you are a new user looking to get assistance. I would say though that you should try reaching out to us directly, rather than me having to fill in the blanks via the bits & pieces I glean from your forum posts. Just want to help you.

I believe the battery that comes with the FS700 is a smaller unit, not the 970. Perhaps it is the 770, or maybe even smaller? The smaller the battery the shorter it will last of course.

I have four NP-970 and two NP-770 batteries here in my kit. Three of the 970 bricks are actually from my old Z1-U camera kit, which means that they are a good eight years old by now. The 970 batteries last for 3-4 hours of regular usage on my two Odyssey7Q units. The 770 bricks are more like 2-3 hours. This is with me pushing them and using all of our high-draw advanced performance modes for the Odyssey7Q. I know that others find the same.

While anything is possible, every Odyssey7Q is bench tested for quite some time before shipping out. If it is drawing a higher than normal load then we should catch that during our QC process. There is a power draw and battery input voltage meter on the Upper Menu Bar near the far left. We can help to analyze your unit if you continue to have problems. However I do recommend the use of Sony NP-970 batteries and a Sony charger.

 

[Alan Ting Judson]

OH NO, the problem come back to me again after 5minutes playing with it, now no matter what battery i changing the problem still there. is it something due to tempature? i now testing in door under aircon.

 

[Gene Sung]

Alan and Prendi,

Try to eliminate the various issues. The easiest thing to do is just to run some tests using the AC power adapter. If it works fine with that, then it's probably the battery bracket. It's a lot easier / quicker to do a process of elimination rather than mail in your 7Q and have CD figure out.

FYI, I've been running my 7Q with 3rd party batteries (Watson and Synergy Digital) that got good on-line reviews and I've had no problems at all.

 

[cuervo]

As I said, earlier, I have the same problem with SOME batteries and the WestsideVideo battery plate. Not sure it's related to the battery plate unless something is amiss with the connectors. I, routinely, use an IDX V-mount battery brick to power my FS700 + O7Q. Have never had this problem this problem with the brick.

 

[Alan Ting Judson]

I test for my odyssey 7Q with 200fps again with my all brand new batteries and AC power adapter.
With AC power adapter, it does not occur the problem, but with Sony battery and battery plate, it occur the problem after 2-3min. It only last 2-3min recording under 200fps with first recording, after that will just keep failing under 5sec. I have no idea how to solve it now, all my sony battery are brand new received not even 1 week yet. I decided to buy odyssey 7Q or other brand battery plate to test it out again. This is driving me crazy

 

[Mitch Gross]

It is possible that there can be a fault somehow in the system that is causing excessive power drain at high speed. Highly unlikely, but possible. I suggest you contact our Tech Support desk via our website. We will help analyze this more closely and we will get to the bottom of the problem together. If an RMA for warranty repair is needed we will be there for you.

 

[olof]

I test for my odyssey 7Q with 200fps again with my all brand new batteries and AC power adapter.
With AC power adapter, it does not occur the problem, but with Sony battery and battery plate, it occur the problem after 2-3min. It only last 2-3min recording under 200fps with first recording, after that will just keep failing under 5sec. I have no idea how to solve it now, all my sony battery are brand new received not even 1 week yet. I decided to buy odyssey 7Q or other brand battery plate to test it out again. This is driving me crazy

It is possible your charger is not giving your batteries a full charge, so it could be a faulty charger. What voltage does the Odyssey report on batteries, and does the voltage drop when recording 240 fps.

The battery plate is just a very simple spring loaded set of pins that make contact with the terminals on the battery, you could check that the pins don't have some contamination on them (some sticky substance perhaps) try cleaning them. The rest of the battery plate is just direct wire soldered to these pins that go to the plug that goes into the Odyssey, as I mentioned we test every plate we ship out with a Sony battery and read the voltage at the 3 pins on the Odyssey end. And we check for a short to the sleeve.

IDX and AB plates with the larger batteries are capable of much more wattage 55w or more, versus about 20w on a new smaller 7.4 v battery. So it is much less likely to have any problem supplying power to the Odyssey. Having said that I have not had any problem with Canon, Sony or Swit batteries in our plates for the Odyssey, I have field tested all those myself. If your Odyssey actually needs 20+ watts every once in a while when doing "heavy" work then a marginal or not fully charged 7.4 v battery may cause a problem with the Odyssey. I have not experienced this myself, but I see it as a possibility.

 

[MaverickLTD]

I too get a voltage drop when recording high speed on the Odyssey7Q and the Sony battery plate. I see the low voltage warning at the bottom of the screen, but it still records fine and when i stop recording, the voltage returns to normal. What is a good operating voltage for the Odyssey?

 

[olof]

I don't know the exact voltage the Odyssey shuts down at, my guess is somewhere around 6.8v.

I would like to see at least 7v on the meter because the voltage will drop quickly after it goes below 7v.

A fully charged 7.4v battery should be at least 7.8 or higher.

As a battery ages or is damaged (by over discharging) it builds up "internal resistance" this will cause the voltage to drop when a lot of amps are drawn, this can have very serious consequences when flying a drone, don't ask me why I know. Since starting to fly MRs for filming I have learned more than I ever wanted about battery chemistry. It is very complex and lots of things can go wrong.

If this problem becomes more prevalent for more users, then I may make a double plate for 2 7.4v batteries in parallel (they could be in series as well for higher voltage), though this can also cause problems unless both batteries are identical and equally charged.

I will keep an eye on this thread to see if this is a wide spread problem, it seems a few users are experiencing this. If you are post here please.

 

[Alan Ting Judson]

I don't know the exact voltage the Odyssey shuts down at, my guess is somewhere around 6.8v.

I would like to see at least 7v on the meter because the voltage will drop quickly after it goes below 7v.

A fully charged 7.4v battery should be at least 7.8 or higher.

As a battery ages or is damaged (by over discharging) it builds up "internal resistance" this will cause the voltage to drop when a lot of amps are drawn, this can have very serious consequences when flying a drone, don't ask me why I know. Since starting to fly MRs for filming I have learned more than I ever wanted about battery chemistry. It is very complex and lots of things can go wrong.

If this problem becomes more prevalent for more users, then I may make a double plate for 2 7.4v batteries in parallel (they could be in series as well for higher voltage), though this can also cause problems unless both batteries are identical and equally charged.

I will keep an eye on this thread to see if this is a wide spread problem, it seems a few users are experiencing this. If you are post here please.

When it is not recording it will be around 7.8volt, and recording 25p 2kraw will be at 7.5v, but when start recording 200fps 2kraw, it will start dropping to 7.0v-7.2v when the battery is still on above 90%, my longest record was able to record nearly 8-10min. After that it will be dropping down below 7.0, then after it drop to 6.8v, soon it will start blinking and turn black. It had tested many times and with different batteries, low % of battery occur this problem more faster. If i put my odyssey 7Q shut down like 8min or more and on it again, it will giving me more longer time to record 200fps(like at least 10sec or more than that) before screen turn black. But if i re-power on immediately after screen turn black and start recording 200fps again, this problem will occur very fast in less than 5sec.

So, if i want to re-fully charged my battery, i should use my battery to 0% and recharge to full again right? i want to re-fully charged and try it again. Hoping can faster solve this problem, going start shooting for few short film that require 200fps that coming soon =(

 

[Gene Sung]

Hey Alan,

You mentioned that you did a record of "Nearly 8-10 minutes," IMO, that's INSANE for 200fps and that will probably kill any battery. I've had no real problems with 240fps, but it does drain the battery much faster than 24fps. The longest shot I've done in 240 fps (we are NTSC) is maybe 20 seconds, and that's even pushing it.

So yeah, if you are doing 200fps and recording for several minutes at a time, that's going to be a real problem on Sony Batteries. The whole point of 200fps + is just to get those special moments. You should not be running 200+ fps shots for several minutes at a time because 1) That is a serious amount of useless footage for an editor 2) That will kill the batteries super fast.

for super slow motion, you just need to set up the moment and record maybe about 30 seconds max (and that's pushing it). You need to be real economical with high speed. I think my 240fps shots are on average maybe 10 seconds, sometimes a little longer. And yes, I do notice it sucks the battery way faster, but for obvious reasons.

So here's my suggestion.

1) Let us know if you are indeed recording 200fps shots for more than 1 minute. If so, that's your problem right there.
2) Try shooting multiple 200 fps shots for maybe 20 seconds or so and see how your battery holds up. If it still doesn't work, then there's a problem with either the battery plate or the 7Q (but not likely IMO since your AC adapter works fine).