Blackmagic Forum

Hi all,
I am a bit confused in this area. Too much information and I am kinda of stuck. So I have a 6 k pro and had wanted to use an external v mount battery. I was hoping to power my Portkeys from that but have read not to do so. I also read in the manual that it was better not to have a battery in the camera. Can someone explain in simple terms- on how to do this. Do I remove the battery and run the d-tap to the connector on camera and then power the portkeys with a whole different power source. Just cannot seem to get that down. thanks so much

Lauro

I run the 6KP on a v mount with and without a battery in the camera. If the battery is in the camera the v mount battery will charge it. If you have a battery in the camera you can hot swap v mount batteries and the in camera battery will keep the camera recording without stutter. I don't have a portakeys (whatever that is) so I can't comment on that.

The mystery that remains to me is, I heard there are external battery solutions that have isolated outputs, thus avoiding the ground loop problem.

But I cannot seem to find them. Strangely no manufacturer bothers to make a selling point about it, if they exist.

Smallrig seem to be developing new external batteries which seem nice, but no mention at all in the documentation about the ground issue.

BMD recommending against the internal battery stems IMO from a worse case scenario, the combination of the camera not shutting off at too low input voltages (which seems to have been changed in recent firmware ?), plus several users that have too low voltage external batteries (which also do not shut off when below say 11V), plus some battery/plate combinations that do not have enough power to give the full 30-35W, resulting in SSD troubles etc.

IME if you use an external battery solution that has a safe voltage range, and enough power, there are zero issues, even when it needs to charge the internal battery whenever I forgot to put in a fully charged LP6.

I believe that you power your cam from the battery place using Dtap and power your Portkeys Monitor from the Vlock battery, and only attach the cable from your battery to the monitor after you have powered up the camera.

I'm sure I have also seen similar when using an HDMI cable but not having used my monitor on my 6kP I have kept on the safe side but you look at one suggestion and it's counterminded by another.

I'm certain the 1st suggestion came from Jordan Vanderplate on Youtube

Yannick Willox wrote:The mystery that remains to me is, I heard there are external battery solutions that have isolated outputs, thus avoiding the ground loop problem.

But I cannot seem to find them. Strangely no manufacturer bothers to make a selling point about it, if they exist.

There are 3 paths to ground in a camera setup, power, chassis, and signal. Device power should be tied to a common. Isolating power eliminates a path for incident voltage to ground, leaving only chassis and signal.

Good Luck

Thank you all so much, I really appreciate the information. I am sure I will have many more questions in the future and I truly appreciate you all being here to help users out. Thanks .

Lauro