Blackmagic Forum

Hi everybody, I am a BMPCC user and I am looking for an external power bank/battery. Some years ago I bought an Anker® 2nd Gen Astro Pro2 20000mAh and it worked fine together with my BMPCC. But now this battery model is old and it's hard to find it.

Do you know any alternative that works fine with a BMPCC?

Thank you!

Check out the Juicebox batteries. I have one of these for my Micro Cinema camera and it's excellent. http://juicebox.direct/shop/ (click on the battery models to see compatibility; several of them are compatible with the original BMPCC)

I've also ordered one of these: https://www.xtpower.de/XT-20000QC2-PA2- ... 12V-to-24V
Cheaper, smaller, lighter, and more powerful than the Juicebox batteries.

Will be testing it tomorrow and can post an update then.

You can check my 14.8V Battery Module project here viewtopic.php?f=2&t=71520

But it is still under development ...

My solution to power the BMPCC4K for extended run and gun shoots is to wear an over the shoulder, across the chest sling bag with an Anton Bauer battery. Then I simply attach a PTap cable (available from BMD) from the battery in the bag to the camera. The cable is long enough to allow free range of motion and since the AB battery is in the bag, there is no additional weight added to the camera. Depending on which battery you use you can easily record for several hours at a time. Anton Bauer batteries with a charger are expensive, but if you have already invested in them for use with other cameras, it's an easy fix.



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Grand idea Norman, I used a similar approach with the Micro camera.
Cheers

Yes, so simple, but very effective. For both Pocket cameras. AND for the 4K, you can put your tethered Samsung T5 SSD in a separate pocket in the sling too!

Australian Image wrote:I've mentioned this before, but I have one of these and tried it out on the BMPCC4K (yes, not the same) and it powered the camera without any problems: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/AU-20000-16 ... rk:27:pf:0. And given how cheap they are, it's not a big impost to try out.

While this is an interesting and tempting find, can anyone please comment on possible bad consequences for the camera by using such a cheap battery besides unrelieability? Thank you.

Hi guys,

I have a problem with my BMPCC4K and the power bank I want to use. I ordered in June, got the cam in december with a screen defect and now got it back from BM.

But I'm again very disappointed. I used two 20'000 mah Anker powerbanks like the ones mentioned in the original post with my old BMPCC. They can output 12v and it worked great for years! Now I bought the original BM power cables and my camera indicates "AC" when I connect the powerbank, so far so good.
But it seems that the powerbank can't supply the power drain. The battery loses its charge and dies after about 30mins. I tested with the original BM LP-E6 and one from Patona. Unfortunately I don't have an original Canon battery.

I use an active Viltrox ef-m2 speedbooster. Could it be that this is too much for the battery? I haven't even connected my T5 yet! I'm starting to get frustrated by this camera... (shipping delay, faulty LCD, power consumption...)

Has anyone encountered the same problem?

edit: the powerbank loses about 5% over that time if that's helpful.

Deleted

Denny Smith wrote:It seems the Anker powerbanks do not have enough current available to meet the camera demand. I doubt they are 20,000 MA, that is 20 amps! More like they are 2,000 MA. The smallest 20-amp battery I could find is 7x3x6.5 inches in size. The zanier is an OK battery, but not what I would choose for a camera battery.
Cheers

I think that would be 20000 milli Amp hours (mAh) capacity rather than being able to deliver 20 Amps at any one time.

I've been looking at what happens at different supply voltages powering the camera via the DC input connector. I found that with my camera it takes 8V before the camera will turn on and the current draw is about 2.1A when idle, 2.3A when recording to CFast.
However that only works if there is no battery in the camera! When a battery is installed the camera will draw power from there and wont take power from the external connector reliably until about 10V. Also, it won't charge an internal battery properly until at least 10V. That implies that you will have no reliable backup power if you try to supply the camera with only 8.4V.

The Anker is 20'000mah, that's the capacity.
It outputs 12v/1.5a
Could that be insufficient? The bmpcc4k wall charger states 12v/2.5a if I remember it right, don't have it at hand right now.
So voltage and capacity shouldn't be the problem, but maybe amps?
What are the exact specifications of the external batteries you are using?

Thanks!

Whoops, yes, I was meaning the BMPCC4K. Wrong thread.

Australian Image wrote:
I've been using this power pack for years with the LED light that it came with and have had no issues whatsoever. Given that people are quite happy to use cheap and often crappy aftermarket batteries in their camera, I can't see why there should be a concern using these outside a camera.

Thanks Ray.

Thanks again, Ray!

Hello,

Sorry for bumping an old thread.


I just wanted to ask you guys whether I can juice both my original BMPCC and the Tascam DR60D Mkii + Sennheiser MKE 600 from my external battery Anker Astro Pro 2 (20,000mAh) AT THE SAME TIME.

I've tried the BMPCC (via 12 V DC) and the audio combo separately (via USB), but I'm afraid using everything together at the same time might fry something.

Have any of you guys tried this in the past?

Thank you in advance.

Norman Lang wrote:

Norman is a Boss! love that low angle shot!!!!

I'm sure Norman is the boss. He certainly looks like it, but

Does someone have an answer to my question about the Anker Astro Pro 2 juicing both the bmpcc and Tascam DR60D Mkii + Sennheiser MKE 600 simultaneously?

Thanks (and sorry for the re-bump).

Hello again,

I think I may have found the answer in Amazon's comments:

Can it charge one device at 9v and another at 5v at the same time?

Answer:

Good question! The manual says nothing about "parallel charging" as you specify, but the FAQ from the Anker web site may provide the answer.

"Q9. Can the 2nd Gen Astro Pro2 20000mAh external battery charge multiple devices simultaneously?
Yes, it can charge four devices simultaneously. But please note that when using 4 output ports simultaneously, the total output current must not exceed 4A.

Actually, I want to charge two devices at 12v, the Tascam DR60D Mkii/Sennheiser MKE 600 combo plus BMPCC, but I don't know if they will exceed that total output of 4A or whether it would be dangerous for any of those two devices if I exceeded it.

What do you guys think (or know)?