Prices
 

The Swit battries as mentioned were bought 18 months back for the DVC Pro camera, pls check the links mentioned above.
I paid US 225/- plus shipping for the Anton Bauer Adapter, the Adapter came from a dealer in Singapore.

Can you buy these Swit batteries in the U.S or Europe? Google didn't turn up anything.

I just hooked up my gold mount and I see 15 volts in the viewfinder also. I am using an older AB ProFormer 30 watt battery. I also don't see any gauge that tells me how much battery I have left, not even with the stock battery. Unless I just have that turned off somewhere.

I don't see battery remaining in the viewfinder, just the voltage. When using the Gold Mount, I think it's supposed to be converting the 14 V to 7.2 V so I'm surprised you'd see something else.

A photo will up-loaded to our website shortly

How about price?

Yes, more info and pronto.

I'm not really hot on the idea of investing in A/B at the moment, when I know damned well it's overkill for this camera.

I basically want to know how much and how fast I can get them! I have a lot of work coming up and no desire to give A/B my money.

Same here.

Website
 

Here is the link to Swit

http://www.switbattery.com.

Any cheap (<200) battery recommendations? BH has "BN-V438U Lithium-Ion Battery Pack " for $139 is it any good? (link: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...lue=381904_REG)

Less expensive pro batteries
 

According to the manual that battery will give you about an hour of recording time.

If you are looking for more time then that then you are going to have to go with one of the professional battery options. I personally just had a great experience with a company that Nate Weaver suggested out of Miami FL, Batteries4Broadcast.com

Pick up a Sony V-mount or a Anton Bauer Gold Mount: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search

Then call Kevin down at Batteries4Broadcast and you can pick up a 90wh battery and charger for $300. With the 90wh batt you'll get about 5 hours of recording time. Need more time? Get the 2 90wh and simultaneous charger pack for $725. Either way you'll get alot more bang for your buck than if you go the standard IDX or Anton Bauer route.

I tested my home made 12,000mAH battery on a HD101 on Tuesday night and it powered up fine.

Cost me a bit under $100 to build. Its about a 60WH native 7.2v LiIon JVC mount battery.

http://www.glasseye.com.au/hd101e/battery.htm

That's pretty cool Guy. Got a couple questions though:

Did you do the solder on the batteries? I understand it's a risky deal soldering batteries and I was wondering what you did (if anything) to protect yourself and the batteries while doing so?

Could you run the same setup with twice as many batteries from the 10 you did, say using 20? And would it need to be in even jumps like that... 5 10 15 20, etc.? Or anything over the 5-10 in pairs would be OK?

Did you ever figure out how long that 5 pairs of 10 gave you on the 101? Or did the owner of the camera snatch it away and yank the Frankenstein battery before it did any damage? hehe ;)

My brother can custom machine a housing for any size extended battery I might come up with (nothing against the gaffers tape, you can wipe your butt and blow your nose with the stuff... I know, more info than you needed). I have 3 of the near worthless stock batteries, and I am itching to chop one up to put it to good use.

JVC if you are reading this don't worry, I'll not try this on my camera, I'll rent one! JOKING.

Normal batteries are a problem but these batteries have special tabs on them specifically to either solder or spot weld too. As far as I was concerned it was very safe, normal disclaimers apply, I can't attest to anyone elses soldering ability.

Sure thing, as long as you kept the electical layout the same and just added more pairs of two batteries in series to other pairs with the pairs connected in parrallel it would just increase the capacity. It will also increase the weight though and I wouldn't advise putting many more on than the 10 as it may become in danger of breaking the mount. It has never seemed to stress my DV301 mount though.

That about sums it up. I don't think he even wanted it on at all, but I was pretty dam sure, after running my DV301 on it many times for extended periods it wasn't going to hurt anything.

The gaffa was just my temp solution too, but it actually is working so well I really havn't felt the need to replace it yet. Sure I'd like something more solid but the gaffa is doing well so far. The edges are lifting a little, thats it. The HD100 had a little less extra space in the battery mount than my 301 so the gaffa did actually cause it to be a bit more difficult to take the battery on and off due to 'snugness'.

lol, and I won't say who my friend was!

Well it's worth a try.

I prefer weight on the rear of this camera, a little more than even the IDX combo has now would be fine. I was thinking more in terms of a long life battery for when the camera is on the sticks for extended periods of time. And, sometimes a power source is just not within range. I wonder how long a 10 or 16 or even 20 battery setup would gain me in actual record time? That's the real question.

And as for the setup on the camera, It could be machined with a quick-release two piece mount that mounts in the same location as the IDX and A/B batteries. He's building a dual G2 wireless mic mount that goes behind the IDX combo right now, very cool little setup that can handle 2-3 shoe mounted items (in my case the G2's mounted sideways). I needed the shoe on top for the Lite Panel, and it left my mic receivers without a home.

Sam, thanks very much for your recommendation of http://batteries4broadcast.com/ . I just sent them an email asking about the different charger combos. Good prices and seems like a reliable company. The easy-to-navigate site is the best part.

I have a few questions on the mounting plates. What's the difference if any? I would assume the variety of batteries you can buy will be different, but if you were just going to go with the 3rd party option like Batteries4Broadcast, I would guess there's not a lot of difference.

Actually on B&H I couldn't find any other mounts for the HD-100, so I guess that soves that question for now. Here's where I've been looking:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...s=&ci=3720&ac=

Anyone else find a good battery solution? I'm not about to frankenstein my own anytime soon. The electricity portions of my science classes never really hit home for me. ;-)

I'd estimate my existing battery would get close to 4 hours as a static camera (no power zoom or lcd etc), and any increase in capacity would be pretty linear with run time.

Good luck with a bracket, make sure you show it if you make it.

I would like to see around 6-8 hours (maybe 4 with a lot of LCD use) I never use the rocker and instead control zoom off the lens. A nice fat battery setup would be great, more so at that low of a price for raw materials.

And yes, once the Mic/Receiver mount is done being fabricated... maybe a battery now too, I'll post it for sure either way. We are considering doing a few of the custom mounts for sale, it would be a good addition to the IDX kit since it mounts right into it.

That reminds me, I need to tell my brother what thread size to use to tap into the side of that IDX kit... does anyone know what size thread that is (x2)on the IDX metal bracket?

I got my Anton Bauer kit today from expandore.com and I love it, really recommended!

i've heard that you're not allowed to take anton batteries on board an airplane. something to do with the hazardous materials in the batteries.

That is only the case with one of their batteries, the Dionic 160, which is a large-capacity Lithium product. You can take them on planes but only in cargo with the proper clearance. All of their other batteries including the smaller Dionic 90 (which will run the HD100 for many hours) are OK.

I just brought my camera with 2 anton bauer bateries. I only had been complained because my camera bag was too big and heavy. :D

MY Sole concern here now is,
I own a number of AB Hy120 Batts which are quite heavy(about 3Kilos & more), what will be the situation of the mount on HD100 when i use such heavy batt on its back, I also intend to use FS3 with AB mount along with Hy120 batt on the back of HD100. Any comments onb this such HEAVY weight issue...
Thx

Varizoom
 

Just to add more to the list: I have the AB mount with the Varizoom S-8080A. The combo, with the charger is cheaper than the AB batteries and it gives me a good 4 hours of operation per battery.

re battery
 

Ram, no DC conector on battery at all.

Its a cheep way of getting battery power just over $130.00 aus dollars.

rob.

re batery
 

yes it will as far as i know the camera are the same except the firewire in/out,
the battery fits the same way as the std one but a bit longer.

works fine on my cherger.

rob.

making a battery oneself
 

Like all HD100 users, I want a longer life battery too -- 60 minutes just doesn't cut it. I also understand the desire to have a professional battery, IDX or otherwise, but I don't have one. Spending $1000 to $1600 for 2 batteries is a major expense, though, and grates against my DIY sense. So, I am looking into making one myself, and thought I'd throw out a couple thoughts and questions.

Firstly, as with film cameras, I am thinking that a belt-pack would be fine in most situations. That way, the camera is as light as possible, which I like.

I have some 11Ah NiMH rechargeable D cells. Running 6 in series gives 11Ah @7.2V, or about 80Wh. That is comparable to the Dionic 90 that Kevin Tierney mentions in this thread, that runs for 5 hours. 80Wh might go 4.5hours. These batterries cost roughly $100 for six. The charger that the same company (Maha Energy) makes is another $100. The clips and belt bag, etc, are, at least in the DIY world, nominal -- say, another $20. Add six more batteries for another $100, and figure in some shipping, and you have two 80Wh batteries for about $350.

Ok, so it's still somewhat pricey, but it's $700-$1300 cheaper than the professional option, and that difference is large enough for me to consider it.

But, not being an electrical engineer and not being privy to some of the HD100's design specs, there are a few things I don't know. Somewhere on this list I saw a post from someone who mentioned a self-made battery, and I suspect that there may be others here who know: the stock battery has three terminals: +, -, and T. What is T? If I test a battery with a multimeter, it is at the same voltage as the - terminal relative to the + terminal, and there is 9.3k Ohms between T and -. This number varies a little between different batteries, 9.2k - 9.7k. So, What is it? And, can I ignore it? I taped over the camera T terminal, so only the + and - terminals were connected, and it worked fine, but it makes me nervous to leave something that is intentionally there disconnected. Can anyone say whether or not it matters? Or, is it safe to use only the + and _ terminals?

And, in general, are there any thoughts on this idea?

If you made a battery belt, the wire would just go to the DC input jack, which I believe is just a plain coaxial jack so you wouldn't have to deal with any terminals. The scary thing is I think it is non-locking jack (I might be wrong though).

But I wouldn't try to build your own batteries--not for this type of application. I've built some of my own packs for model airplane use but that's a hobby and here we're talking about professional videography.

Besides, if you built your own, the only way to do it cheap is to make it 7.2v, but then you won't be able to power 12v accessories like a light or LCD monitor. The professsional lithium-ion batteries are 12V and are just the right weight to balance the camera and they hold an enormous amount of power. Plus you don't have to deal with a battery belt and another cable to get in the way.

Batteries are without a doubt mission critical, so IMO, bite the bullet and buy a professional battery with a warranty. There are several lower cost alternatives than A/B or IDX.

Battery Recommendation For GY-HD100U
 

You mentioned that there are several recommendations outside the usual A-B and IDX route but I've failed to find anything outside those AND the weak little BN-V438 etc.
I'm scrambling to pull a rabbit outta my hat right now because I just got a JVC HD110U with the Varizoom dual mount and I've been working all week to cobble something together with very dismal results. If there is ONE design flaw in this camera, and believe you me I tried to find more, it is the lack of a simple XLR-4 power connector.
JVC designed the camera with the "handycam" battery in mind and when A-B and IDX stepped in with their solutions JVC was apparently happy to leave sleeping dogs alone.
To further add insult the blasted 438's are way overpriced for such a small unit and hard to find.
Please share with us those "other recommendations".
I'll shell out what I have to in order to get them.
Anyone who can come up with a reliable system could make some serious coin.
Here is my 110U with a homebuilt bracket to accomodate the Firestore.
(I'm waiting to receive my HD100/60 so the FS-4 is there as a "dummy")

Both the HD200 and HD250 have the standard XLR-4 connector and come standard with a "pro" battery plate. (In the U.S. all HD200 series cameras ship with an AB Gold Mount.) Unfortunately, the HD100/110 never had this implemented into the design.

Paolo, I know you posted this a year ago, but how are the Varizoom batteries holding up? I need to make a battery purchase soon and the cost savings from the Varizoom kits makes them tempting.

Varizoom Batt
 

will a VARIZOOM (V) mount Battery, work with my IDX Kit
Thanks
Joe

I just bought 2 globalmediapro 95wh vmounts
 

my camera arrives next week, will let you know how it goes, 2 batteries only cost me $440AUD, and I think about $280AUD for the 2 x battery charger. Thats just under 1/3rd the price of the IDX setup

Adam

What happened??
 

---What happened? I went to order some and you still have the same
COMING SOON post on your site.
Did you guys decide NOT to offer this battery?
I'd like to buy some!

re:Battery Recommendation For GY-HD100U
 

Oh well I guess dsmpower has left the building.
I've tried calling the business and no answer, and I've also emailed them a couple of times asking about these new batteries with no response.
Seems a real shame as I would have given them business and probably recommended them to fellow users.
Back to saving up for either the IDX or the AB I suppose.

Jeff don't jump to IDX too fast
 

I've so far got 3hrs fan and 1 hour Drum on my first battery as I've been playing around with my new HD251 and also been reviewing footage, and the battery is now down to about half charge according to the led's, and the voltage is showing about 14.4v. Even if I only get another 30 to 40mins drum hours out of these globalmedia pro vmount 95wh batteries, I think that make them a great buy.
Over here in Australia the IDX 75wh batteries are like $500 each, and the charger the plus pro version is about $800. These shipped from New Zealand cost me like $220Aust each, and the charger $280. I've only had them for a short time, so maybe count that into your evaluation as who knows what long life performance is like.

cheers

Adam

Battery Recommendation For GY-HD100U
 

Turns out DSMPOWER is very very busy.
Even more amazing, the US distributor gives off the impression that they don't think there is much of a market for the battery.

After receiving MY DSM-J7472 from H. Preston Media in the UK the other day I immediately plugged it in to my stock JVC charger. Two hours and change later the battery was ready for its first test, a battle of the bands at the Firewater Bar and Grill in Dallas, TX....five bands in six hours.
The DSM-J7472 held up for almost FOUR HOURS without a glitch.
I cannot think of a better $315.00 investment.
I haven't tried out powering my LED obie with the included accessory power jack yet but I will let you folks know how long the battery stays up with the obie turned on next post.

If you aren't ready to go the Anton Bauer or IDX route THIS IS THE battery for your HD100 or 110.

GlobalMedia 95wh battery
 

ok so my final count was 3 fan hours and 2 drum hours on one charge, the last hour was also spent first thing on a cold morning where the battery died quite quickly, maybe in warmer conditions you may squeeze another 30mins out of it.

---Beg pardon there David...any reason why you've appeared to have dropped the effort to make these batteries more available?
I'm convinced that quite a few folks would like to have a better go at it but your site hasn't been updated in quite some time.

Be a good sport and let us have a distributor here in the USA would you now?

JeffH in TX

Hey Adam are you able to email me the details on your battery set up?