O7Q battery low voltage when under 50%

M

Martin.G

Well-known member
Hi

Anyone else have problems with their NP-F970 batteries?

Mine are giving me low voltage warning and blinking on the O7Q after just a short while. So i have tended to use fresh batteries on the O7Q and swapping them into FS700 when they start to blink. FS700 eats these "low voltage warning" batteries with no issues, mostly its well over 50% left of juice on them too!

Annoying to have warnings when theres ample supply of power in the batteries.

I have seen this with two batteries so far. They are marked so i know which ones.
 
Martin.G said:
Hi

Anyone else have problems with their NP-F970 batteries?

Mine are giving me low voltage warning and blinking on the O7Q after just a short while. So i have tended to use fresh batteries on the O7Q and swapping them into FS700 when they start to blink. FS700 eats these "low voltage warning" batteries with no issues, mostly its well over 50% left of juice on them too!

Annoying to have warnings when theres ample supply of power in the batteries.

I have seen this with two batteries so far. They are marked so i know which ones.
Click to expand...

what battery plate are u using? if u search there are some topic talked about this before.
 
I have 4 of the NP-F970 (Sony Brand) batteries and use them every weekend with my 7Q. I definitely do NOT have an issue with low run time. I usually am able to get an entire wedding reception on 1 battery and that is recording 4K>HD ProRes.

PS I am using the CD battery plate

Thank you,
Robert Pfeifer
www.pifemaster.com
 
Problem 1: The low-voltage cutoff on an FS700 is lower than the 07Q as far as I know. This allows the FS700 to get more energy out of a 7.2v battery.

Problem 2: The Odyssey is powered from an adapter with a pigtail cable with a small connector. The combination of those things introduces some additional voltage drop which will cause the 07Q to shutoff sooner than expected. At very low voltages, it only takes a tiny amount of resistance to drop enough voltage to have a noticeable impact on run time. If you were able to measure the voltage, with the 07Q running, you would see a significant difference from the exit of the battery to the inside of the 07Q. The difference is what is lost in the connections and the wire.

If you were using a higher voltage battery, say a 14.4v or so. Even the voltage drop from a long and ugly cable would still allow the voltage at the 07Q to be above its 6v minimum and you cold drain that type of battery to the very end. Your problem is that an NP-F970 is not drained completely until its below the minimum voltage that the 07Q needs to operate.
 
Thanks Carlos. Makes sense.

My O7Q is testing the new firmware now. Ill just let the battery sit for a while and see how long it operates at around 6.7-6.5 volts.

Very annoying to have warnings when its a stable operating voltage.
 
I have both Westside AV and convergent design battery plate, both same given same problem as yours. Now i using v-mount with 2 sony NP970 battery and it work perfectly! Yes it is annoying i can't power the 7Q with one battery, but the V-mount give a great option to me as well can power my 7Q and fs700 at the same time, as well as act as a counter balance for my rig when working on shoulder.
 
I could make a tiny boost converter that can fully use an NP-F L-Series battery and output 12v to the Odyssey and accessories like wireless receivers. The question is: would anyone be willing to pay for it.
 
OK a little, and I mean a little battery science.

As batteries get older they age in 2 ways, one they no longer hold as much charge, two the internal resistance goes up.

What does this mean. Simple they no longer deliver as much voltage for an extended period.

An unfortunate byproduct of using more processing power in a camera and a recorder like the Odyssey is they they consume more watts. You run the batteries down faster. When the Odysssey first came out the internal processing was pretty light, so it only uses a few watts of power. But now that we are doing 4K->Prores ( and even 4KProRes) and high frame rates the Odyssey is using more watts, I think maybe even as much as 18 watts. A lot different than just HD monitoring maybe 8 watts.

A battery with 24 watts peak delivery is marginal at best for 18 watts continuous use especially as they get older.

Internal resistance goes up as more watts are drawn and the older batteries get the more internal resistance is developed. As resistance goes up voltage goes down and the Odyssey shuts down at 6.7v ore so.

There is another unfortunate thing about aging batteries, running them down too far will age them quickly or even kill them all together. I have lost at least half a dozen Sony batteries this way over the years and a few AB and IDX as well. This can happen if the battery is left on the camera with a low battery for a week or so the camera will drain the battery a little just being connected. Normally running the camera the cam shuts down when voltage is too low. But the slow drain in many cameras including the FS700 will age or kill batteries. I always take batteries out of the camera at the end of the day to avoid this, like I said I have already lost a lot of money this way.

Now if you want batteries that last longer and don't shut down early then the BPU XDcam 14.8v batteries may be the best bet, they are inexpensive compared to AB/IDX and are the same footprint as L batts. I may make these plates available for the Odyssey in the near future, you will need a different charger but it is much more affordable than the AB/IDX solutions, and I really like the SWit batteries for these plates.

This was a quick hurried post, my wife is yelling that dinner is ready...
 
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