How much power in your bag?

G

ggrantly

Veteran
Could anyone give feedback on the running time for their field bag given your typical load and the model battery you use. I realize this will vary quite a bit depending on a host of things, but I just want to get a feeling for how many amps people are carrying to get through a 8 hour day with the equipment you have. Or, do you plan on half day battery capacities to save weight or space and carry two? My own kit now has a SD mixer and recorder which technically could draw 25w = ouch! That seems like a lot of trons and would like to get closer to a reality number before I finalize my own battery purchase.

I rarely if ever work audio for a full day, but I want to be prepared to do so moving forward. A while back I got some feedback on power option types and decided I want to use one of the battery systems I already own instead of buying a new (and additional for me) system like an NP1. I'll purchase more copies of a battery type I already own that will work in a bag. So I need to finalize the sizing of my system and purchase enough amps to cover it, and of course enough spares to cover it again.

TIA
Grant
 
almost everyone I know is using NP-1 batteries, and typically get a half day per lithium ion battery, depending on load out. Something small like a Maxx or 633 plus one or two wireless might get all day. A bigger setup like 664, CL-6, and 6 Lectro SRB receivers requires at least two NP-1 batts, if not three.

Current draw is really going to depend on the gear you have. Voltage the same, but most gear is running on 12 volts.
 
I run a 744, 302, three Lectro receivers (a 411 and two 211s) on two 14.4 volt 82Wh NP1 batteries. I switch to battery #2 at lunch, though I get nervous toward the end of a 16 hr. day and have internal batteries installed in the mixer and receivers just in case, I keep two additional lesser capacity external batteries on location as well. This is for a bag based feature film shoot and everything usually remains powered up between scenes unless there's a very long set change or company move. I run my additional G3 receivers and a Comtek portable transmitter on internal rechargeable batteries.
 
I think the most we've taxed a battery was back in December following a few college football players around at a children's hospital. My audio guy was running three channels of wireless(2x Lectro SR receivers) into the mixer(SD 664), boom(phantom power), two channel wireless cam hop to me(2x Lectro UM400a's), running timecode and recording all ISO channels and the L/R mix. I think we got about two-three hours on a three-four year old 65 WH Li-ion battery before changing to be safe. My newer batteries for the audio bags are A/B 95 WH Dionics(Li-ion). My audio bag are set-up to take gold mount batteries to match my camera batteries. Makes no sense if you're a shooter to have different mounts of batteries(I use bigger batts on my cameras, though) for your BDS than what you use on your camera, but if you're just doing audio, you can get whatever makes the most sense for you and your situation.
 
I finally made a move on my bag power. The main point here was to NOT add a new battery type to my inventory, as I already have more battery types in my locker than I care to discuss. I rarely work my bag for an entire day, often for only an hour or two. So I purchased an IndiPro LP-E6 (canon DSLR) mount which holds two batteries in parallel giving me a total of 3600W at 14.4v. I realize this is a pretty wimpy amount of power for a full time recordist, but given my circumstances should fill my need for most days. If I have bigger power needs, I have some Bescor brick options. The entire battery combiner weighs only 11oz. The same IndiPro unit can be switched out to Sony L series by changing the plate. The Sony battery system might have been preferable since it would fit my 744 natively and can be had in larger sizes, but again, I just don't want to add a battery system which I don't already own.
 

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