D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

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Satish More

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D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostMon Jan 16, 2017 1:44 am

Hi,

Can I use a regular D-Tap to 4-pin XLR to power the URSA MINI 4.6k?

The camera specs say 12v DC input, but what is D-tap voltage? Isn't it 16.8v?

Would it destroy the camera?

Please help!

-Satish
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Denny Smith

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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostTue Jan 17, 2017 7:40 pm

The 4-pull. XLR input should be fine for 12-16.5 VDC (volatage range of the V/AM mount camera batteries, and the older large 12-volt equipment batteries that used the 4-pin XLR were 12-14.5 VDC. You could send a note directly to BM Tech Support to confirm this.
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adamroberts

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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostWed Jan 18, 2017 7:21 am

The Cinema (BMCC) and Production (BMPC4K) camera both accept 11V-30V DC but the URSA Mini spec simply say 12V.

So it might be worth checking directly with BM support as many D-taps are not regulated to 12v (the D-tap on the BM v-lock plate is however regulated to 12v). V-lock batteries are 14v.
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Zac Gaetano

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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostWed Jan 18, 2017 5:28 pm

I use a 4pin to D-Tap to power the Ursa Mini when I'm on my Ronin (Granted I have the 4k version not the 4.6) So I have the 4 pin plug into the camera, and DTap on a Anton Bauer battery mounted on the bars. - I built the cable myself with a Anton Power DTAP kit
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Satish More

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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostSat Jan 21, 2017 7:15 pm

Thank you all for the responses.

I have posted a message to BM support. Will update with their response.

Thanks again!
Satish
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Satish More

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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostMon Jan 23, 2017 8:03 pm

Here is the official response for the tech sup rep:

"Thank you for contacting us. Unfortunately, we do not test with or recommend using a D-Tap to XLR cable to power the URSA Mini. If the power source is regulated, it might work, but I can not guarantee that it will. Also, if the external power source is unregulated, there is a chance that it could damage the camera. Considering this, I would strongly recommend using either a V-Lock battery, or powering the camera from a wall outlet."
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Denny Smith

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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostMon Jan 23, 2017 11:18 pm

This makes very little sense, unless the 4-pin XLR power l ads are not connected to the same side of the DC to DC power supply as the Vlock battery contacts. If they are both connected to the same input, then using the same size Vlock battery D-Tap or connecting it directly to the camera would be the same.

However, if the 4-Pin XLR is in a 12-VDC tap on the power supply, then BM's response would be valid. In any case, I would error on the side of caution, and follow BM's recommendation, and stay with a regulated 12VDC connection to the XLR power input, else the warranty could be voided. :roll:
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rick.lang

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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostTue Jan 24, 2017 1:17 am

Using the BMD battery plate's D-tap should be safe as its regulated 12VDC.


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Denny Smith

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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostTue Jan 24, 2017 5:54 am

Yes it would Rick, but you would not be using the 4-pin XLR if you have a battery mounted in the BM battery plate. The OP wanted to take the DTap out of a battery not attached to the camera to power it via the 4-pin power XLR input while using a Rohan or similar gimbal to "fly" the camera without a battery attached to the back.
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rick.lang

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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostTue Jan 24, 2017 6:02 am

Yes, but if there is uncertainty the battery D-tap was safe, wouldn't mounting the battery on the BMD plate and using the plate's D-tap solve that?


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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostTue Jan 24, 2017 5:42 pm

Yes, it would, but the OP wanted to power the camera without a battery mounted on the camera's V mount plate, and use the 4-pin power XLR instead. The camera regulatesmthe DTap port on the UM Battery plate. Most DTaps on other plates, like,the Sony VMount or AB Gold Mount, are not regulated, nor are the DTaps found on newer Camera batteries.
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Simon Baker

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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostTue Jan 24, 2017 7:59 pm

Zac Gaetano wrote:I use a 4pin to D-Tap to power the Ursa Mini when I'm on my Ronin (Granted I have the 4k version not the 4.6) So I have the 4 pin plug into the camera, and DTap on a Anton Bauer battery mounted on the bars. - I built the cable myself with a Anton Power DTAP kit


I have an upcoming shoot with my UM4K and the Ronin.
I was going to use V mount batteries, but feel the extra weight and length might be an issue on the gimbal. How long can you power the ursa off the ronin D tap power port with a fully charged ronin battery?
Thanks.
Simon.
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Zac Gaetano

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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostThu Jan 26, 2017 9:20 pm

Simon Baker wrote:
Zac Gaetano wrote:I use a 4pin to D-Tap to power the Ursa Mini when I'm on my Ronin (Granted I have the 4k version not the 4.6) So I have the 4 pin plug into the camera, and DTap on a Anton Bauer battery mounted on the bars. - I built the cable myself with a Anton Power DTAP kit


I have an upcoming shoot with my UM4K and the Ronin.
I was going to use V mount batteries, but feel the extra weight and length might be an issue on the gimbal. How long can you power the ursa off the ronin D tap power port with a fully charged ronin battery?
Thanks.
Simon.



I haven't done super extensive testing as I rarely let my batteries get down to 0% , but I was safely getting about 40 minutes of the camera and the ronin being powered on and about 10 minutes of active usage
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Simon Baker

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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostMon Jan 30, 2017 2:10 pm

Good to know. We ended getting the ronin extension arms and powered the camera directly off the attached V mount batteries. Balancing was tricky but worked well.
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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostMon Jan 30, 2017 10:30 pm

I'm using a coiled 4 pin xlr to d-tap and it works fine with my ursa 4.6k. But if the ursa really requires a stable 12v signal, I don't feel confident using it anymore. I checked all my v-mount batteries and none of them have a regulated 12 d-tap output. When fully charged they have peaks up to 16,5v.
Soldering a 12v voltage regulator in between the cable might be an idea? Those regulators are very tiny so it might be even possible to fix it inside the relatively big xlr plug.
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Valentin Remy

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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostWed Feb 01, 2017 12:29 pm

Simon Baker wrote:
Zac Gaetano wrote:I use a 4pin to D-Tap to power the Ursa Mini when I'm on my Ronin (Granted I have the 4k version not the 4.6) So I have the 4 pin plug into the camera, and DTap on a Anton Bauer battery mounted on the bars. - I built the cable myself with a Anton Power DTAP kit


I have an upcoming shoot with my UM4K and the Ronin.
I was going to use V mount batteries, but feel the extra weight and length might be an issue on the gimbal. How long can you power the ursa off the ronin D tap power port with a fully charged ronin battery?
Thanks.
Simon.


Don't plug anything more than the ursa to the Ronin.
Did a shoot a few days ago, we had a DJI follow focus, and when the motor was functioning, the ursa went off everytime.
http://www.instagram.com/valentinremy.be/
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James Alexander Barnett

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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostWed Feb 01, 2017 2:11 pm

Valentin Remy wrote:
Simon Baker wrote:
Zac Gaetano wrote:I use a 4pin to D-Tap to power the Ursa Mini when I'm on my Ronin (Granted I have the 4k version not the 4.6) So I have the 4 pin plug into the camera, and DTap on a Anton Bauer battery mounted on the bars. - I built the cable myself with a Anton Power DTAP kit


I have an upcoming shoot with my UM4K and the Ronin.
I was going to use V mount batteries, but feel the extra weight and length might be an issue on the gimbal. How long can you power the ursa off the ronin D tap power port with a fully charged ronin battery?
Thanks.
Simon.


Don't plug anything more than the ursa to the Ronin.
Did a shoot a few days ago, we had a DJI follow focus, and when the motor was functioning, the ursa went off everytime.


Did you find it worked okay with just the camera mate?

I rigged up the just the URSA to my Ronin powered off the P-Tap on the Ronin and from the test's it worked great, I'm guessing only powering the camera is the Ronin's limit?!

Do you know the battery run time you get from the Ronin when powering the URSA?
James Alexander Barnett
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Valentin Remy

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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostWed Feb 01, 2017 7:45 pm

Yes, with just the camera, everything's fine !
I don't know about the battery life on the Ronin, we ended up using a V Mount.
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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostWed Feb 01, 2017 11:06 pm

Valentin Remy wrote:Yes, with just the camera, everything's fine !
I don't know about the battery life on the Ronin, we ended up using a V Mount.


Thanks fella, will do a few tests and run the Ronin till it dies and report back.
James Alexander Barnett
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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostWed Apr 01, 2020 7:16 pm

I know this is a very old thread, but I wanted to post an important update. The current manual (released January 2020) clearly labels that port as a 12-20 volt DC input on Page 11 and recommends using it for portable batteries on Page 49, item 29 on the list.

https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/ ... Manual.pdf

I'm very excited, as this means I can move the battery to the bottom of my Steadicam and shave off a significant amount of counterweight, and this will surely help gimbal operators as well.
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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostWed Apr 01, 2020 8:38 pm

i do that from over two years. i had a plate to mount a gmount battery, and on camera a battery connected.
The plate go to camera by dtap to xlr and is main power, when battery is exausted camera auto switch to direct connected gmount battery and recording continue to work, then i can change battery on plate and record hours without stop for concert, theatrical rappresentation and more.
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Ed_Mantle

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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostTue Sep 29, 2020 1:03 pm

Just chiming in here -

Looking to power a UMP G1 from a MoVi Pro on a shoot on Friday. My understanding is there's a d-tap output on the base of the Movi underneath the sledge. Then a d-tap out to 4 pin XLR should power the UMP safely, correct? Any idea on runtime?
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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostWed Sep 30, 2020 12:32 pm

Picked up one of these:

https://cvp.com/product/hawkwoods_pc5r

So I guess we'll find out Friday!

I've seen a few videos on youtube that suggest it'll be fine so long as the power is coming from the 12-14v output on the Movi but that the ursa can take between 12 and 20v without freaking out.


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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostFri May 07, 2021 2:30 am

So has this been working okay for people? Is it possible to go from a D-tap from the battery to the D-tap on the plate on the camera? I feel like if I could just get the battery off that camera and have it on a belt that would really free me up for gimbals.
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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostSat May 08, 2021 12:20 pm

I do that from some year but I cannot out from dtap of battery, I came out from battery plate that give me regulated 12v.
If you a doubt about voltage, don’t do it.
More volt = fried camera


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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostSat May 08, 2021 1:44 pm

Eric Thornett wrote:I feel like if I could just get the battery off that camera and have it on a belt that would really free me up for gimbals.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... n_xlr.html

...remove the 4 pin xlr and attach the stripped cable to an extra battery plate that is attached to the belt. plug the other end into your camera battery plate.
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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostSat May 08, 2021 10:42 pm

Bunk Timmer wrote:
Eric Thornett wrote:I feel like if I could just get the battery off that camera and have it on a belt that would really free me up for gimbals.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... n_xlr.html

...remove the 4 pin xlr and attach the stripped cable to an extra battery plate that is attached to the belt. plug the other end into your camera battery plate.
OK, brain fart as the connector is male and not female. However you can attach this female v mount plate to the cable https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32298410240.html to connect to your camera and use the male connector from swit to connect to your battery ...and use a ‘SmallRig Mini V Mount Battery Plate with Belt Clip 2990‘ to connect the battery to your belt.
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Travis Hodgkinson

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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostThu May 13, 2021 9:58 am

Waned to clarify something. With our URSA 12K, are we able to run a D-Tap to XLR cable to power it?
That way our operator can chuck a couple v-mount batteries in a camera bag and simply run a cable from the bag to the camera. Our goal is to obviously make the U12K as light as possible.
Freelance Camera Op & Cinematographer based in Brisbane, Australia.
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Weapons: URSA 12K + Canon XF605 + Hero 10 + Pocket 6K Pro
Optics: DZO Pictor Zooms + SLR Magic Hyper Prime + Tokina Cinema Zoom
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Ed_Mantle

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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostThu May 13, 2021 12:17 pm

Travis Hodgkinson wrote:Waned to clarify something. With our URSA 12K, are we able to run a D-Tap to XLR cable to power it?
That way our operator can chuck a couple v-mount batteries in a camera bag and simply run a cable from the bag to the camera. Our goal is to obviously make the U12K as light as possible.


It'll work. I'd be careful about rigging though - don't want the cable coming out of either the batteries or damaging the XLR input on the camera from being tugged in the wrong way. That's why on a gimbal it's so effective as the cable is static or controlled. If the op slipped I can see it going wrong.

Check with whatever dealer you have in Aus to see if they can do a custom cable with some extra length - the one I linked above is short for your purposes. You could also get a plate like this: https://cvp.com/product/hawk-woods_vl-mcf1 and hot swap batteries all day long.

But if your goal is for a lighter experience for the op, an easyrig seems more flexible?
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Travis Hodgkinson

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Re: D-tap to 4-pin xlr to power ursa mini 4.6k?

PostThu May 13, 2021 4:13 pm

EasyRig would be great, but we’re not looking to spend another chunk of change just yet. What with the M2 Macs creeping up...

We’ve found 2 metre cables for around $50 AUD that should work well. Our concern was whether one could actually power through XLR from a dtap source.

We run IDX 198 DUO batteries as well as the piggy back ones at 145. (Powerlinks)
Freelance Camera Op & Cinematographer based in Brisbane, Australia.
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Weapons: URSA 12K + Canon XF605 + Hero 10 + Pocket 6K Pro
Optics: DZO Pictor Zooms + SLR Magic Hyper Prime + Tokina Cinema Zoom

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