Interesting Battery Discovery

T

Tim Naylor

Veteran
I bought a bescor battery belt to power my Marshall (the one Barry mentioned in his thread to use with the LH 80). Got tired of batteries dropping or dying and figured whatever weight I take off the camera is a good thing. So I power up and the damn thing lasts forever. Never timed it but it made it through a full production day.

So out of curiosity I hooked it up to my 17" BTH 1700, threw up some color bars and made breakfast, watched TV, etc. It lasted an hour and quarter. Considerably better than the dolly battery blocks from the rental house. Not bad for a 100 dollar battery. I think I'll buy another. The weight and the amp hours make using the 1700 on location all the more practical.
 
Ive been using the Bescor PRB15 battery belt to power my BTH80 and I've not had to switch in a second battery belt on a shoot yet!

If only they lasted as long powering a light off an inverter.
 
I think you guys may have sold me on this. i've been pricing V mount and gold mount Li-ion batts for weeks but I'm broke in this economy and hate to blow yet another $750 or more even on discount batts (2) and a charger. 1 belt that lasts all day for $100 + sound pretty good at the moment.

They're obviously heavier but i think you guys are right that you often want it off the monitor anyway.

Which charger did you get?.
It looked to me like B&H package with the auto shut off charger looked pretty good for $134.

How long does it take to charge with the different chargers?

Is the fast charger worth it? Sounds like a second belt might be more valuable.

What is the life of a sealed lead batt anyway - as long as an Li-ion?

Last question - did you guys try the little voltage readout that B&H sells for it?

Lenny Levy
 
Got the quick charger. Never times it but supposedly does it in an hour. I use a caribiner to hook the belt to my tripod and wear going hand held. It's nice to never have to switch out batts through the day.

I'm buying another just so I can take my 1700 out on the the field for 2 1/2 hours of run time.
 
Tim,
A B&H salesman told me that the quick charger might significantly reduce the life of the belt.
Of course he also told me charge time for the regular charger might be 15 - 20 hours. That left me in a quandry.
Did you ever try the regular charger?

- lenny
 
Ive got two belts, one with the reg charger, and one with the quick charger. Ive been using the quick charge mostly since its an 8 hour vs 16 hour charge.

Did he give any facts behind the life of the belt being decreased? Its only 2amps vs the 1amp charge on the regular charger.
 
I'm getting confused..
Tim said the fast charger was 1 hr and Rob is saying 8hrs. That's a big difference. Does the fast charger have an auto cut-off?

I don't think he really knew anything specific, it seemed like a "surmise" to me. How long have you guys had these?

- Lenny
 
The quick charger does not have an auto-cut off. The only difference btw it and the regular stock charger you get with the belt is that its 2amps vs 1amp.

I highly doubt they could make a charger that could supply a full charge to one of these belts in an hour.

I also bought a cheap voltmeter from B&H to go with this so I can make sure that Im not overcharging the batteries.
 
How do you know when you've fully charged the batts? What about avoiding overcharging - do you have to watch it like a hawk?
 
I could be wrong and just overly optimistic. Even if it's half the time, that'll come in handy after you buy another belt. Eitherway, I'm done with putting bricks on my monitor every few hours.
 
Still got lot´s of good ol trusty NiCa Batteries from my Betacam, a battery housing and a quickcharger. I strap the housing to the rails and have power for the monitor (LCD) and firstore for a whole day with 4 batterys. With a little car converter I even can drive the HVX also all te time.

Those batterys sell on Ebay for about 39 Euros.

Frank
 
I was using a Bescor battery for the longest time with my Marshall monitor. Would get about 5 hours of use from a full charge.

Nowadays, I use my Panny style camera batteries to power my Marshall monitor. Nebtek makes a battery plate converter for around $200. I have 5 of the 5400mAh Panny style batteries. I also have a Dolgin 4-port turbo charger. This combination makes for great battery usage on most shoots.
 
Lenilenapi said:
How do you know when you've fully charged the batts? What about avoiding overcharging - do you have to watch it like a hawk?
Click to expand...

Nah I don't really watch it like a hawk. I pretty much estimate that I need 2 hours of charge for every hour of use. I haven't fully discharged it yet so I don't have to worry about leaving it on too long.
 
The Lead Acid batteries made by Bescor are very forgiving, overcharging them does not cause any real damage. They are getting warm when full, so you can use this as a sign of a completed charge. No way you can charge it in one hour. Do a simple math. If a battery is 14AH capacity, and the charger is 2A charger, it is going to take 7A for a full charge.
HTH
 
Can I cook my eggs and potatoes with it in the morning? That would make it a slam dunk for me.

Hey thanks to everyone for trying to save me money in my hour of need.

Lenny Levy
 
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