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-   -   Firestore FS-4, not enough battery for the job!! (https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/focus-enhancements-firestore/43420-firestore-fs-4-not-enough-battery-job.html)

Daniel Kohl April 29th, 2005 08:22 AM

Hi Jon,

I was going to ask you to tell us what the consequences of you covering the fan will be. But it sounds like you have already change that.

DK

Daniel Kohl April 29th, 2005 08:31 AM

I also have a suggestion for a belt clip. I have a cell phone holster that will accept the stud on the back of the FS-4 from "Krusell". Krusell is a Scandinavian company that has a clip holster system made of metal and with a leather loop that you slide your belt into.

It is very stable, but has one slight danger in that it is possible to force the clipped object (cell phone, or FS-4) up and out of the clipping mechanism with enough force. I think that it is designed this way to enable one handed use of the release mechanism.

Do you think it might make sense to modify the FS-4 clip so that it would not clip to your belt but work rather like the Krusell, a fixed loop? Or did the locking mechanism for the stud malfunction on the FS-4 clip?

Jon Omiatek April 29th, 2005 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daniel Kohl
Hi Jon,

I was going to ask you to tell us what the consequences of you covering the fan will be. But it sounds like you are going to change that.

DK


I would not recommed covering the hole. I just didn't do it prior to posting pictures. It now has a hole for the fan to pull in air.

Jon

Jon Omiatek April 29th, 2005 11:52 AM

Picture of a working battery pack, 2.5lbs.... Just a bit heavy, but I will put on a belt.

http://www.trulux.com/pictureuploads/web-IMG_1578.jpg

It's 14.4v, 4500mAh... The stock battery is 1100mah and it's suppose to work for 90 minutes. If that is the case, this should work for 4 times that, 6hrs.

I will test it this weekend at a wedding and let everyone know.


The battery is from www.batteryspace.com, it's for a bike light setup. Charger and battery are just shy of $70 plus shipping.


Jon

Jon Omiatek April 29th, 2005 09:28 PM

Earlier tonight I captured about 80 minutes on the FS-4 and it's battery. I then plugged in my custom battery pack until my firestore battery read a full charge and then uplugged my custom battery... The custom battery was plugged in for about 3 hours and then I ran the firestore battery for another 72 minutes. Total camera time was approximately 300+ minutes and I am sure the custom battery pack still has life left. I just didn't have enough time to run it completely dry.

I would assume that you could get 7 hours or more out of the combination of on board firestore battery and a custom pack like mine.

It's great! I will post pictures soon of my shoulder mounted camera support, it takes all the weight off our arms. I don't think I could hold it up for 6 hours without it!!

Tomorrow I have an all day wedding. I am planning to run the custom battery pack until it dies. It's so cool to have all of your footage captured without having to capture tape. Tape is only a backup now, like it should be!!



Jon

Mark Geiser April 30th, 2005 05:25 AM

That's great news Jon, hope all goes well on the wedding...

Could you perhaps post the component parts that make up your custom battery, that way I can try and replicate.

Regards

Mark

Jon Omiatek April 30th, 2005 06:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Geiser
That's great news Jon, hope all goes well on the wedding...

Could you perhaps post the component parts that make up your custom battery, that way I can try and replicate.

Regards

Mark


Sure. It's pretty simple actually.

Go here and buy this battery pack, connectors and charger

http://www.batteryspace.com/index.as...OD&ProdID=1276

http://www.batteryspace.com/index.as...OD&ProdID=1277

http://www.batteryspace.com/index.as...ROD&ProdID=386

The connector size is 5.5(Outside Dim)

I forgot to order the connectors and had to wire it myself. Cost about the same and it be a lot easier!

You could also make your own battery pack and save $10 but time is money and shrink wrapping in plastic is a pain!

Buy the items listed above and you will have exactly what I have.

Last night I had the battery in my back pocket and the wire from the battery went straight to the firestore. It worked so well I might not make a belt for the setup.

Jon

Mark Geiser April 30th, 2005 10:10 AM

Jon...

Thanks very much...

So what were saying is that pretty much any 14.4v battery so long as its high ampes will do the job !!!!

Can anyone from Focus confirm if the voltages from a 14.4v battery at around 4500mah to 6000mah would be fine long term to use ???

I also thought too Jon that a cable from you back pocket to the FS4 would probably suffice....Also those battery packs look like the type I used to run on my RC Cars years ago. I remember they came in 7.2, 9.6 and 14.4 if you really wanted to run that motor ragged !!

Mark

Jon Omiatek April 30th, 2005 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Geiser
Jon...

Thanks very much...

Can anyone from Focus confirm if the voltages from a 14.4v battery at around 4500mah to 6000mah would be fine long term to use ???

Mark


When choosing the battery, I refered to a post Focus made about the Anton Bauer battery pack. It's 14.4volts with 90 watt hours.

It just makes sense that the power supply pushes +15v. The 14.4 battery pack doesn't actual put out 14.4 volts, it's more like 16v. At least that's what my volt meter reads.

I will test it throughly considering I have over 200 hrs of recording to do over the next few months.

Jon

Mark Geiser April 30th, 2005 11:17 AM

With that many hours the time saved would allow you to do perhaps a couple of jobs extra a month, meaning it would pay for itself in the first month.

Also the ability to have 2 recoding sources is a selling point also, knowing that if you had any tapes issues you always had the FS4 files. Priceless !!!

I suspect these little units are going to become quite common place, and as early adopters we unfortunately suffer the little issues that will be ironed out in the future to make it a truly essential purchase.

Mark

Jon Omiatek April 30th, 2005 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Geiser
With that many hours the time saved would allow you to do perhaps a couple of jobs extra a month, meaning it would pay for itself in the first month.

Also the ability to have 2 recoding sources is a selling point also, knowing that if you had any tapes issues you always had the FS4 files. Priceless !!!

I suspect these little units are going to become quite common place, and as early adopters we unfortunately suffer the little issues that will be ironed out in the future to make it a truly essential purchase.


Mark

Actually, it really doesn't save me much time. I have a DSR-11 to capture tape and I have many computers to use. It takes me like 2 minutes to change a tape and hit capture.

The priceless factor is this.... If you need to edit and don't have one hour to capture tape...! We do a lot of wedding day edits. On the way to the reception you can edit and show it at the reception... Priceless advertising... People say, "Wow.." :)

I like the firestore because of the oh S**T my tape was bad. That happened once and it will never happen again. Yes, 2 sources are better than one!

I just cannot believe that they plan on marketing the firestore as a portable capture DTD unit without the following items:

Battery's = I called 2 week back ordered????
NO EXTERNAL BATTERY CHARGER???????

I know I read that an external battery charger is in the works, as well as an extended life battery. It's not like this is there first unit, FS-1.....now the FS-4. We also have the ADS DV Drive. Much lighter than the FS-4, only a 30gb hard drive and it lasts 2 hours. The unit only weighs 8.8 oz's versus a pound. The only reason I chose the FS-4 is for the High Def. I record in HD as well so it was the only option. Although, I have yet to see it record in HD.

Jon

Jon

Jon Omiatek April 30th, 2005 11:14 PM

Well, field testing was just over 5 hours tonight. That was 70 minutes on the internal battery and then the rest on the battery pack.

I will do more testing this week.

Jon

Mark Geiser May 3rd, 2005 04:28 AM

Jon..

Hope the wedding went well, how did the battery pack stand up to use ??

What do you think of this little beast, only 12v max but 7200 mah, do you think that would run it ??

http://www.pjbox.co.uk/Archos%20Accessories.htm

its the second item down..

Mark

Mark Geiser May 3rd, 2005 04:45 AM

or this

http://www.battech.co.uk/product_inf...roducts_id=784

Universal Li-ion Battery Pack for Digital Devices **Output voltage: DC 3V-12V **Output current: 0A-1.5A **Capacity: 32.6WH **Dimensions: 105 x 75 x 23mm **Weight: 244g

Jon Omiatek May 3rd, 2005 06:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Geiser
Jon..

Hope the wedding went well, how did the battery pack stand up to use ??

What do you think of this little beast, only 12v max but 7200 mah, do you think that would run it ??

http://www.pjbox.co.uk/Archos%20Accessories.htm

its the second item down..

Mark


I got 6 hours of use out of the combo. It's really not the best test because I also used it to transfer 3 hours of video during dinner at the reception to my laptop. I should have plugged it in to the wall for the transfer. Even though, 6 hours is plenty of time.

I also have another solution, which worked well last night. They have portable jump packs, used to jump your vehicle in case of emergency. It has an internal 12v car battery with a built on dc to ac inverter. I put it under my tripod and plugged it in(like plugging into a wall socket) and used my firestore for 7 hrs without ever using the internal battery. If you are stationary, it would work the best.

I don't know if the 12v battery will power the firestore or damage it in any way. I used information from Focus Enhancements post to come up with the 14.4v I used in my pack. I didn't use the same battery they used, an Anton Bauer pack because they are very expensive and I would also need a very expensive charger as well. I can purchase about 8 of the battery packs for the price one of the AB pack.

Jon


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