Blackmagic Forum

My 5" Video Assist which has not had that much usage has suddenly stopped running on batteries. I have tried numerous sets in two's and singly, with and without card but it will just not fire up. It runs on it's mains supply just fine.
I was wondering if anybody else had experienced this. I suspect it's going in for repair but just in case there is some magical cryptic fix for it.....
Many thanks. Patrick.

None that I know. Sounds like the battery connection to th DC/DC power supply is not making contact.
Maybe obvious, but you did check to see the batteries were Charged?
The battery needs to have at least a 7.4 - 8 VDC charge, anything less than 7.2 VDC, will not run the VA.
Cheers

Denny Smith wrote:None that I know. Sounds like the battery connection to th DC/DC power supply is not making contact.
Maybe obvious, but you did check to see the batteries were Charged?
The battery needs to have at least a 7.4 - 8 VDC charge, anything less than 7.2 VDC, will not run the VA.
Cheers

Hi Denny. Thanks for replying. I tried at least two sets and checked them in a charger and all claimed to be 100% charged. I'm fairly sure it's not the actual batteries. It is out of warranty so I might whip the back off and see if anything obvious stands out. Probably not.
It just worked perfectly all day on the mains

Simple repairs in out of warranty equipment likemthe VA is not expensive, and if it is not really doable or too expensive, BM will let you know and advise replacement, but sometimes they will fix it if they feel,it was a defect, so worth a try to send it in under a RMA tomykur regional BM Support Office, you would,only be out the cost of shipping out.
Cheers

Thanks Denny. Yes I expect I will end up sending it in for repair.
Many thanks. Patrick.

A colleague of mine who has a better understanding than me of something like the VA noticed that not all the batteries I have for this and the 4K are the same mAh. Some are 1300 and some are 1800 for instance. He wondered whether the charging circuit in the VA's could cope with trying to charge two different mAh batteries and suggested that I should pair them in future. Would anybody know if it's a damaging thing to do having different mAh batteries in at the same time?
Many thanks. Patrick.

If you have batteries on the back and power it from a power supply.. What does the battery meter in the corner say? Both 1 bar and red while you have them fully charged? If so you might have blown a fuse on the PCB.

Patrick, not likely as the batteries charge one at a time, but if they do charge at the same time, the batteries may become unbalanced, and the larger battery not getting a full charge. I charge my batteries on an external,charger, one at a time. There are oeuoose made dual chargers that will charge two batteries, but these charge one battery at s time, switching from one when it is fully charged to the other.

I agree with keeping the batteries in matched pairs based in their MAmp resting, as your mate pointed out.
Cheers

Xtreemtec wrote:If you have batteries on the back and power it from a power supply.. What does the battery meter in the corner say? Both 1 bar and red while you have them fully charged? If so you might have blown a fuse on the PCB.

In that configuration the battery meter shows a lightning bolt. My colleague established through testing that the charging circuit isn't working. He didn't say he had found an internal fuse so are you sure there is one?
He has suggested we might change a push in capacitor to see if that has failed but otherwise he couldn't identify anything obvious.
Thank you for replying. I appreciate it.

Denny Smith wrote:Patrick, not likely as the batteries charge one at a time, but if they do charge at the same time, the batteries may become unbalanced, and the larger battery not getting a full charge. I charge my batteries on an external,charger, one at a time. There are oeuoose made dual chargers that will charge two batteries, but these charge one battery at s time, switching from one when it is fully charged to the other.

I agree with keeping the batteries in matched pairs based in their MAmp resting, as your mate pointed out.
Cheers

I do charge them in external chargers but if I run the VA on mains I have batteries in it if I can incase the mains craps out. Although it sounds like running odd batteries is actually not detrimental to the VA which is a relief but I will still run matched pairs going forward!
Many thanks. Patrick.

To follow up on this. I have just had a quote from Blackmagic's repair facility in the UK. The quote was £405. The price of a new one is £395! I did ask them if they realised how stupid that is but I don't expect a reply. Ludicrous.

Yeah you get a new one + transport. That is why they quote you this price.

BMD hardware is complex and there are no service companies besides BMD. So if anything breaks you have only 1 option.

Nope. The quote was to replace the PCB not to supply a new one. I don't know how they have the nerve. They have lost my business. They won't care but I do.

Patrick, what do you think it costs, to have a technician tear down the VA, figure out what components have failed, and replace them, reassemble and test the unit? Shop time is not cheap, £100+ per hour.
Sony in the 1990s charged $200+ to replace a $10 internal battery in their ENG Cameras that had an internal lithium battery soldered in the power board

The old “golden rule” of equipment repair was, once the repair costs exceeds 50% of the replacement cost, you replaced it.
Cheers

They are not "figuring" out anything. They have stated they will replace the pcb board. Please do not try and convince me that pcb costs anywhere like £295. Your example just proves that these manufacturers are gouging. I cannot believe you are defending them.

I am not defending them, just relaying his much even a simple repair can cost. That said, it is expensive, and cost more to fix sometimes, than it did to make a new one. Price car parts, and if you pay the “ parts” price for each part in a car, you wind up with two to three times more than the original selling price, and that is just the parts cost, now add labor to put it together.
Cheers