Odyssey 7Q DC Connector question

G

Gene Sung

Veteran
Hi Mitch or Dan,

One of our forum members, Fresh Tea, runs his FS700 and his Small HD DP 4 using the Swit S-8972 battery with a built in DC output.

http://www.swit.us/s8972-dv-liion-bat8972.html

Here's how he rigs it.

smallhd.jpg

My question to you is:

1) Do you feel this procedure is safe as long as the cable is PROFESSIONALLY made?

2) If it's safe, on the end that goes into the Odeyssey 7Q, what DC connector do I need? Like I said, I will have this cable professionally made as I obviously don't want to damage the monitor or camera.

3) In your estimation, how much battery life will I get using this to power the FS700 + 7Q monitor + Recording? Fresh Tea says that he gets about 3 + hours of power for the FS700 + Small HD DP 4"

I saw the Nebtek camcorder battery solution, but it says not shipping till December, so that probably means early next year sometime and I cannot wait that long for a small battery solution. Plus, the Swit solution just seems so clean, simple and light weight, while the Nebtek solution is an entire cage which means a weight penalty. I shoot steady cam a bit, so lighter the better.
 
Last edited:
gene_can_sing said:
Hi Mitch or Dan,

One of our forum members, Fresh Tea, runs his FS700 and his Small HD DP 4 using the Swit S-8972 battery with a built in DC output.

http://www.swit.us/s8972-dv-liion-bat8972.html

Here's how he rigs it.

View attachment 77899

My question to you is:

1) Do you feel this procedure is safe as long as the cable is PROFESSIONALLY made?

2) If it's safe, on the end that goes into the Odeyssey 7Q, what DC connector do I need? Like I said, I will have this cable professionally made as I obviously don't want to damage the monitor or camera.

3) In your estimation, how much battery life will I get using this to power the FS700 + 7Q monitor + Recording? Fresh Tea says that he gets about 3 + hours of power for the FS700 + Small HD DP 4"

I saw the Nebtek camcorder battery solution, but it says not shipping till December, so that probably means early next year sometime and I cannot wait that long for a small battery solution. Plus, the Swit solution just seems so clean, simple and light weight, while the Nebtek solution is an entire cage which means a weight penalty. I shoot steady cam a bit, so lighter the better.
Click to expand...
Wired professionally, this is perfectly safe. Convergent Design uses a special Neutrik connector that we modify for reliability, so we make a cable which is this connector to "flying leads" (36" of cable with bare wires on the end to attach whatever you want). This cable (CD-OD-Flying) can be purchased through our dealer network.

I can't recall the wattage draw of the FS700, but I know it's not huge, maybe 10w. That SWIT battery is 47 watts, so that means it would run it almost 4 hours. The Odyssey7Q draws about 9 watts in most modes (it can pull up to 15w when doing something like high speed), so assuming about 20w combined draw you'd get about 2.5 hours out of that brick.

Convergent Design is going to make some basic battery plates for the Odyssey7Q and we're also providing specs to other 3rd party manufacturers to get some options out there. You could use those battery mounts you linked but how would you attach them to the Odyssey7Q? We have mounting holes in the back so you could pick up a thin piece of sheet metal from Home Depot and use that to marry them with a few screws.

If you use that SWIT battery you could do a cleaner version of what Fresh Tea does and just run a cable. You're going to have to run an BNC cable right next to it anyway.
 
Mitch Gross said:
Convergent Design uses a special Neutrik connector that we modify for reliability, so we make a cable which is this connector to "flying leads" (36" of cable with bare wires on the end to attach whatever you want). This cable (CD-OD-Flying) can be purchased through our dealer network.
Click to expand...

Hi Mitch,

1) Can you tell me how much I should expect to pay for the CD-OD-Flying cable? I can't find any info on-line about it.

2) It's 36", but I am assuming that I can cut it down to about 18" and then attach a DC plug so it will fit into the Swit Battery? The cable can be cut down, correct? Since 36" is really long for my purposes. Not modified by me of course, but by a pro.
 
Something like this looks perfect, I assume cables designed for nanoflash should work?

http://dolgin.net/zen_dolgin/index....id=106&zenid=b836513e2e9b50bc4892af2b4874ef27

Only problem is those Swit batteries say 15W/2A max which would not be enough for an FS700+7Q...

But if the cutoff is 6A, maybe 20-25W is fine despite the spec... perhaps the rated capacity will just suffer. Seems like the battery is intended to run a camera and a light which I imagine would often be >15W.
 
Last edited:
gene_can_sing said:
Hi Mitch,

1) Can you tell me how much I should expect to pay for the CD-OD-Flying cable? I can't find any info on-line about it.

2) It's 36", but I am assuming that I can cut it down to about 18" and then attach a DC plug so it will fit into the Swit Battery? The cable can be cut down, correct? Since 36" is really long for my purposes. Not modified by me of course, but by a pro.
Click to expand...
I believe MSRP is $40. Pretty inexpensive, but then the labor charge for someone to add the second connector will likely far exceed this.

The cable can be cut as short as you need. We make them long so you can decide.
 
nyvz said:
Something like this looks perfect, I assume cables designed for nanoflash should work?

http://dolgin.net/zen_dolgin/index....id=106&zenid=b836513e2e9b50bc4892af2b4874ef27

Only problem is those Swit batteries say 15W/2A max which would not be enough for an FS700+7Q...

But if the cutoff is 6A, maybe 20-25W is fine despite the spec... perhaps the rated capacity will just suffer. Seems like the battery is intended to run a camera and a light which I imagine would often be >15W.
Click to expand...
The power plug on the Odyssey7Q is not the same as the one on the nanoflash.

I do not have firsthand knowledge of the SWIT batteries so cannot comment on their capacities.
 
nyvz said:
Only problem is those Swit batteries say 15W/2A max which would not be enough for an FS700+7Q...

But if the cutoff is 6A, maybe 20-25W is fine despite the spec... perhaps the rated capacity will just suffer. Seems like the battery is intended to run a camera and a light which I imagine would often be >15W.
Click to expand...

Hi Mitch,

Just to double check to see if this Swit battery solution for the FS700 + 7Q would work, here's the specs. for the Swit battery. Do these specs seem to be OK?

Voltage: 7.2V
Capacity: 47Wh
Max output power: 15W
Max output Current: 2A
Over Current protection: 6A
Compatible Battery: SONY L series NP-F970/960/950/770
 
gene_can_sing said:
Hi Mitch,

Just to double check to see if this Swit battery solution for the FS700 + 7Q would work, here's the specs. for the Swit battery. Do these specs seem to be OK?

Voltage: 7.2V
Capacity: 47Wh
Max output power: 15W
Max output Current: 2A
Over Current protection: 6A
Compatible Battery: SONY L series NP-F970/960/950/770
Click to expand...

Well that's what I was saying, someone will likely have to test it since according to the specs it wont work and Mitch said he doesn't have any additional information about the battery. FS700+7Q is 20-25W or about 3.5A at 7.2V, so that's almost twice what the battery says its maximum current/power is according to those specs.
 
I'd say the most useful thing to me would be a 7Q power plug to 2.1mm DC barrel adapter since 2.1mm DC barrel is super common and easy to adapt to everything (and not easy to reverse polarity on like d-tap) and is used for 7.2v 12v power on a lot of battery plates that have regulated outputs (including the tilta I have and the li-ion batteries I have).

Mitch Gross said:
The power plug on the Odyssey7Q is not the same as the one on the nanoflash.

I do not have firsthand knowledge of the SWIT batteries so cannot comment on their capacities.
Click to expand...

Is it the same as anything that has come before or is it a new thing completely that will require specially made cables that do not work with any other devices? It's different than the gemini as well? Is there some reason those existing power plugs werent used? They are all 4pin hirose of some kind right? Will they plug into each other? Hopefully that isn't confusing for people who owned previous CD products before the Odyssey...

Is there any other info on the Battery CD made for the Odyssey? I keep seeing it listed but there is no information at all besides that it is 14.4V and $135 plus a $65 charger. As it gets closer to the 7Q's ship date, it would be really nice to know at least what CD's power options are that will be available at shipping so we can make sure we order one with the device and can power it when we receive it despite the non-standard power plug...
 
Last edited:
Hello everyone, I just saw this thread - it is a good question to ask. The battery most likely will support both devices, the 2A number that Swit lists in the spec is more like a target than the limit. The internal overload circuit is set to 6A, meaning that even as high as 5.5A will not trip it. In general, loading a battery to about 50% of max current is OK. We have a few in stock, if for some reason the real life experience is not what you would expect and it does not work out - no problem, will take it back :-)
 
adolgin said:
Hello everyone, I just saw this thread - it is a good question to ask. The battery most likely will support both devices, the 2A number that Swit lists in the spec is more like a target than the limit. The internal overload circuit is set to 6A, meaning that even as high as 5.5A will not trip it. In general, loading a battery to about 50% of max current is OK. We have a few in stock, if for some reason the real life experience is not what you would expect and it does not work out - no problem, will take it back :-)
Click to expand...

That's great, thank for responding to our questions. I kind of figured that made sense since my understanding was that Li-ion is pretty safe up to or even a bit beyond a 1C discharge rate (45W), so if there was any issue with 0.5C discharge it probably wouldve been imposed by the manufacturer. I imagine they mostly just protect against 6A because it might reduce the life of the battery.
 
Westside AV is a dealer for CD and we have been making custom cables for the NanoFlash and NanoFlash mounting solutions for years.

We are very exited about the Odyssey7Q and its small brother 7, we are receiving our first units this week for pre orders.

We are stocking the pig tail power supply cables and we will be selling those, as well as D-tap versions and Swit battery compatible cables, and any custom cables you may need. We are also stocking the SSD's needed for recording and yes of course we are making mounts for the Odyssey, very compact for the FS700 that integrates with our FS700 shoulder mount system as well as our universal kits. These kits are in beta pre production version at this moment, but we will have finalized versions back from our anodizer in about 2 weeks, after testing the kits on the first actual shipping units.

We are also currently making SMPTE 424 compatible BNC cables (thin cable) to custom lengths, and we are stocking 3G 90∘ adapters.

The first few Odysseys are arriving here this week and we will be shipping those to our pre order customers on a first come first pre order bases.

To order the Odyssey 7Q call us 603-383-9283 or check our website for ordering info:
http://www.westsideavstore.com/index.php?p=product&id=75

Call us for the latest info and to discuss SSD, mounting kit and custom cabling. We are still waiting for our shipping version of the 7Q to do final testing. Kits and cables are made right here in our CNC shop and anodized locally so our production time is less than a week. Cables are made the day order comes in.
 
Last edited:
Noah, I kind of focused on your original question, and answered it a bit too narrowly. After I posted the answer, I remembered that it is not only the connector that is different, but voltage requirement. Unfortunately, the new Odyssey7Q device needs at least 12V to run, so a 7.2V battery will not do it :-(
We make a vDoubler that will accept a Sony battery and boost to 12V, but it needs to be mounted somehow, maybe Olof and I will come up with a solution...
 
Last edited:
HI Dolgin,

Actually, I believe CD lowered the Voltage requirement of the 7Q to from 12v to 6.5v because a number of us wanted a small, light camcorder batter option (I'm almost positive that's what Mitch said). If 6.5v is the case, will the Swit battery run both the FS700 and 7Q?
 
Hmm, I talked with Dan on this exact subject about 1 month ago, and at that time it was 12V. It must be something very recent. It should work then, needs to be tested to be sure.
 
adolgin said:
Hmm, I talked with Dan on this exact subject about 1 month ago, and at that time it was 12V. It must be something very recent. It should work then, needs to be tested to be sure.
Click to expand...

Hi Dolgin,

I just pulled these specs. from the CD 7Q sheet. Hoping the Swit solution will work since it's so light weight.

[TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl73, bgcolor: #D8D8D8"]DC Power Input[/TD]
[TD="class: xl74, bgcolor: #D8D8D8"]6 to 34 VDC with built-in reverse polarity protection; locking Neutrik connector, built-in power switch[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl73"]Power Dissipation[/TD]
[TD="class: xl74"]8 Watts (monitor only), 9-15 Watts (simultaneous monitor/record mode)[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
 
Hi Alex, yes the spec was changed.

So the nice Swits will work. The Swits I got from you for the 700 are great, I did a shoot Saturday and I ran one batt for 4 hrs, outside in seasonable cold wx. And it still had power left at the end of the day.
 
Sensing a whole lotta love here ...

Absolute official voltage range spec on the Odyssey7Q & Odyssey7: 6.5-34v

The connector is a new one for this purpose, a small Neutrik 3-pin. We switched connectors because too many people connect to power blindly and just twist the plug until it lines up, which means that we see a lot of bent & broken pins on connectors. It also means that there can be shorts, reverse polarity issues and intermittent power problems. To try to prevent all of this, we switched to a new connector and actually rebuild the thing ourselves. We had to make a special jig to assemble and solder them, and then we fill them with glue to harden & protect the connections. This is why we make the pigtail cables available inexpensively to all 3rd party manufacturers. We're really not making money on these flying lead cables, trust me. We do it so that everyone has a solid connection and we just don't have to worry about lots of service returns due to bad power connectors. You have no idea how huge a problem this is but this is why we went to such extremes. We also chose this connector because it is small enough to allow us to use such a petite case for the Odyssey. The whole thing is only an inch thick.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top