FS1 on battery power

[Ken Saltzman]

I purchased the FS1 with the field case, and now Im purchasing some batteries....couple questions...

1. Im trying to get an idea of the power cosumption of the FSI and 1 portable hard drive (80gb firelite).

I purchased one battery already. It is an Aspen NiMH 13.2v, 50wh, 3.8AH.

How much recording time should that battery reasonably give me?

2. I have a Sony BC-1WB charger. Is that the appropriate charger for this type of battery? It does seem to be charging it, but I'm thinking, perhaps, it's not charging it to it's full capacity. Anyone know?

3. What happens if you run out of battery power while recording? Do you risk corrupting the video file?

4. What has been other people's experience running the FS1 on battery power? Which brand, model, type, rating...etc...has given you the best results?

Thanks.

Ken Saltzman
And Cut! Video
Northridge, CA
877-AND-CUT-1
www.AndCut.com

[Matt McEwen]

Hi Ken,

To answer your questions....

1) The power consumption on FS-1 is about 5W. I am not sure about the FireLite drive, but my old 10GB mini SmartDisk used on average 4W (max. 7W). So, you can probably expect around 10 hours operation from your 50Wh Aspen. It all depends on how often the drive is spinning or idle.

2) The Sony BC-1B is indeed an NP battery charger. I cannot think of a reason why it would not charge the battery to its full capacity. How old is the battery?

3) If the battery runs out during a recording, it is possible that the current recording may be corrupted. However, using ScanDisk on a computer, it is possible to repair the file (our FS-3 and DR-DV5000 products have a built in scan disk feature). FireStore also breaks recordings up into 9 minute, 13 second clips if it is a continuous recording. Any problem would only effect the last clip (our FS-3 and DR-DV5000 products have a built in scan disk feature). Some of the newer NP batteries have a built in "fuel gauge" such as the IDX NP-23x and NP-1dx.

If you know the battery is getting low, it is possible to continually press the REC button during a record session which will break up the recording into smaller clips (without loosing any frames). This way, you will minimize the risk of loosing a big file.

4) I'll let an end user answer this one...

Hope that helps,
Matt McEwen

[Ken Saltzman]

Hey Matt...

Thanks much for the quick reply.

I have been using the FS1 for a few months now, so I know all about the clips being 9:13. But still losing 5, 6,7 minutes of video can be devastaing if it happens at the wrong time.

Would you guess that the MAJORITY of the time you lose power while recording, the clip can still be rescued? Or would you say that it most likely could not be rescued? Or are you even sure?

As for 10 hours with this battery...Ill be shocked (and pleasantly so) if that turns out to be the case. I would have been happy to just get 3-5 hours with it. (Seeing as it only cost me $50.)

We'll know for sure soon. I am running a test recording right now. Just letting it continuously record for as long as possible. Up to 2:24 right now. I'll post the final numbers later.

It will also give me an opportunity to find out what happens when the power goes off during a recording. I'll let you know if the clip is corrupted and if I can recover it.

Lastly...regarding the BC-1WB...of course I am aware it's an NP charger. I've already charged an NP battery with it.

The issue was this battery being NiMH. I was thinking the BC-1WB might only be intended for NiCad batteries, and that I would need something newer for a NiMH battery.

Anyone know?

Thanks.

[Ken Saltzman]

OK....


Well, unfortunately, I only got 2h40m of continuous recording before the battery gave out.

Also unfortunately, I completely lost the last few minutes of the recording.

The last file on the disc shows up as a zero kb file, with no way of recovering it (that I can tell.)

Not quite the results I was hoping for.

But again...Im not sure Ive got the best battery...I'm not sure I've got the correct charger for this battery...and I'm not sure how much record time I SHOULD be getting.

Any other thoughts anyone?

[Matt McEwen]

Ken,

Sorry...you're right. I need my head read...I calculated based on just the FS-1...the FS-1 + drive is about 5 hours. It sounds like you have an older battery. Was it a brand new unit? As you have discovered, as these batteries get older, they start to loose their charge. I would recommend that you give Anton/Bauer tech support a call at 800-541-1667 or email support@antonbauer.com. They should be able to advise you on this. Anton/Bauer now handles Aspen batteries.

Anyway, regarding the lost file, take it over to a computer and run a scan disk. This will recover the file up until the point where power was lost. It is there even though it only shows 0KB...it is just missing its complete file header.

The precautions I mentioned in my first email should prevent this from happening.

Let us know how it goes.

Matt McEwen