Noob V-mount battery showdown

cjwolff

cjwolff

Well-known member
I've spent the past two days looking at V-mount batteries and have come to the conclusion that I can't find a major difference between IDX, Indipro, or Juicebox. Anyone have any opinions? Obvs would like to have Dtap and USB.

Thanks,
CJ
 
Will the other two that aren’t IDX be there if you need service/warranty work/general support? I tend to stick with the bigger brands partly for those reasons over just what’s just the least expensive. I was strictly Anton Bauer on my cameras until about three years ago then went with CoreSWX(formerly Switronix. One of their guys is a former A/B engineer). IDX has been around for probably close to ~20 years, A/B at least twice as long and Core has taken care of me when I had issues.
 
We have IDX batteries from 2011 that are still working within about 80%, but I recently replaced all of them because they were old and could fail. We've bee using IDX branded lithium batteries since about 2002 with no problems. I think the only problem we have ever had was an NP-1 style charger failed. All of our chargers are also IDX. I believe all of their newer style V mount have a D tap built in, but I see this as a problem not a benefit... There is no user replaceable fuse on the battery. I strongly advise that you use a v mount with D tap for when you get a short, then there should be a fuse inside the mount that you can change.

Word of warning, the batteries that are allowed on airplanes are sealed, and must remain that way or they can't fly (by regulations). IDX will be the only place you can get that fuse replaced if it pops, and still retain flight certification (maybe). That said, there may be a circuit breaker that resets when it cools, I haven't looked that deeply and assume it is fused. Either way, I'd not take that chance and I'd use a mount with D tap whenever possible. Fused cable would be second.

The built in D tap also adds a bunch of bulk that I'd prefer not to have.
 
built in Dtap is also dodgy because you do a big shoot, rent extra batts that don't come with Dtap out and you are pooped - because your rig cant handle 'stock' vmounts.
 
morgan_moore said:
built in Dtap is also dodgy because you do a big shoot, rent extra batts that don't come with Dtap out and you are pooped - because your rig cant handle 'stock' vmounts.
Click to expand...

Today, batteries without d-taps are probably in the minority. I believe I have one battery left in-service(at least 5 yrs old) that does not have a d-tap built-in. And very few that don’t have at least one d-tap AND a USB power port.

And I just added four IDX “Sony BP-U” batteries to run exclusively on d-tap for my audio bag, because BDS no longer makes the battery input cable that accepts A/B batts directly from the native mount(oddly enough, PAG made the plate), and to save size and weight.
 
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Well mine dont, and your average case of IDX from my local rental house doesn't.

Or if you are renting in Zambia or suchlike.. dont expect Dtap on the battery.

--

as an aside my hawkwoods Vlock plates have XLR power in.. so you can have 'anything to XLR' and run the plate (and therefore anything running off the plate). Meaning you can rig a conference Bcam, or whatever, off a mains or floor battery power souce to leave it doing its thing for hours. Or take power off a jib or steadicam while keeping the camera built but not having a vlock adding mass to the camera head.
 
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morgan_moore said:
Well mine dont, and your average case of IDX from my local rental house doesn't.

Or if you are renting in Zambia or suchlike.. dont expect Dtap on the battery.
Click to expand...

I guess only really a problem if you rent. I’ve got 15 full size gold mount batteries, 14 have d-taps or d-taps & USB. That being said, I’ve never used a d-tap or USB on a battery on one of my cameras. I go out of the battery plate.
 
All good points leading toward favoring the IDX. If we take a DUO-C150, for example, which still fits within the passenger limit, its maximum discharge temperature is 113F. Does anyone see this as an issue? I've been in landing gear bays shooting instructional videos in Arizona and I'm sure it was 113. I'm sure there's an engineering margin of safety in there...right?
 
Bern Caughey said:
If you fly often consider the new-ish generation of mini/micro/nano batteries from Hawk Woods, Bebob, Core, BlueShape, Swit, FXLion, Indipro Tools, & probably others. Most appear to be available in V-Mount, & some are also available in Gold Mount.

https://www.newsshooter.com/2017/09/18/hawkwoods-mini-v-the-worlds-smallest-v-lok-batteries/
Click to expand...

I have a few sets of these:
https://www.coreswx.com/product-category/battery/hypercore-prime/

They are 190wh and break down into 95wh halves to meet air travel restrictions. Saved my butt late last year when I ended up having to fly with them at literally the last minute(woke up to fly out that morning and checked the tracking numbers of the gear I shipped ahead and the batts weren’t going to be there in time).
 
One of my more useful bits of kit that runs off V-Loc batteries, sandwiched between battery and camera, is the Hawk_Woods VL-CA4X. It gives you an extra D-Tap with a regulated 12v out plus four switchable Hirose 4 pin connectors suitable for powering wireless mics or a number of other power requirements. Can handle a 50Watt draw and has a fused self-resetting device. Will also take a wireless mount plate. Works well to mount my dual diversity receiver and power it externally.

http://www.hawkwoods.co.uk/Prods/Product/VL-CA4X

Chris Young
 
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