All 3 of my Pyxis(s) are shutting when battery percentage

Hi Pyxis Friends!

I'm in need of some advice (or emotional counseling)- I recently bought 2 Pyxis(s) L-mount from B&H and 1 from Adorama. They all seem to have the same problem regardless of which V-mount battery brand or BPU battery brand.

When I use my V-mount batteries from Core and Small Rig, the camera shuts off somewhere around the 40% mark. I'm using Core 98w, Core 150w, and a Smallrig 212w. When I use my Core and Sony branded BPU 98w batteries, the Pyxis shuts off at or around the 20% mark or less. This is driving me crazy.

I'm terrified that while recording, the Pyxis will shut off and I'll corrupt my memory card!
I received the Titlta V-mount battery plate that passes the power through the BPU battery compartment, but it hasn't changed anything. I was hoping it would make a difference. =/

The only way my cameras stay on is if I have them powered using the 2-pin lemo from my wall unit or any of the V-mount batteries I mentioned above.

I know people have been talking about this, but I didn't realize how bad this was until today when I was filming with all 3 of my Pyxis AND THEY ALL STARTED SHUTTING OFF AT DIFFERENT TIMES!!! That's insane. Any other camera brand would have been crucified over this!

Do we know if Blackmagic is treating this as a priority? This can't be a firmware fix that's "down the pipeline." This is super urgent!

Until then, I'll be using the 2-pin lemo to power the cameras, but if anyone asks me how I feel about these cameras, it's not going to be positive.

Any other suggestions? I'm heading over to the Blackmagic Forum now to voice my concerns.

Also, why haven't or didn't any of the influencers say anything about this? They were sure happy to tell us this camera was like an "Arri Alexa" right? Last time I checked, none of the Alexas I have ever worked on just randomly shut off between 13-40%! of battery capacity.

*And yes, all the cameras are registered and up to date with their firmware.

Did you notice the voltage when they shut off? not the %

[Kristian Lam]

Hi,

OK we're working on a fix. However, if you use the voltage reading, you should be warned that the camera thinks the battery is running low. The Core battery provides both % and Voltage (V) readings and tapping on the battery icon toggles between both displays.

I have to agree with Jonathan. Hard to say anything positive about a camera that you can't rely on.
I've been using the Swit 90Wh BP-U batteries and the camera is either mis-calculating the remaining power level, or it's drawing way more power than it should be.
I'm getting a shut off warning from the camera, with it saying the voltage is 12.6V, but the same battery is powering a monitor via D-tap and that monitor is reading the remaining power level at 14.1V. The indicators on the battery at this point are still showing somewhere around 30-40%.
A solution needs to be the number 1 priority for Blackmagic.

Hello,

what is the possible fix on that? When can we expect that?
What Voltage amount should indicate that it's the time to change to battery for Pyxis 6k?

Very helpful details in your post. I think Kristian Lam agrees with you on the priority of a fix. He’s the man.

Thank you, Kristian Lam! I will attempt to use the voltage reading on the camera and set the core BPU and V-mount to the suggested "voltage reading" scale.

I don't know how to reply to individuals' comments but:

@KSFSHHMMJ I totally agree!
@rick.lang Thank you!
@CoreyNJ Sorry, I was not keeping track at the voltage. I was checking the battery percentage. I'm going to switch the camera's battery read out to "Voltage" and monitor. I'll see what happens.

I have the same issue when the battery goes to 45% or so. It just shuts down.
I have the 100W PD vmount batteries from Neewer and SmallRig . Same experience on both

BMD will get to the bottom of this. I’m wondering what’s the largest capacity BP-U battery from a reputable manufacturer? I’ve never regretted putting a 250Wh V-Lock on the UM4.6K.

It seems to be an issue only when the BPU interface is used. Either direct BPU battery or BPU to vmount places etc. If you use a vmount external plate and connect via lemo pins, it is working until battery is essentialy dead or until the battery goes below 12.6V ( I am on the 9.1.1 firmware )

Any update on this? I'm thinking of purchasing the Pyxis but want to know the camera is solid. I was looking into the 12K LF but I think it's too large a camera for my productions.

It seems to be an issue only when the BPU interface is used. Either direct BPU battery or BPU to vmount places etc…

You want to be on the latest version of the firmware as there may be improvements in the last update. Please let us know if the problem is addressed in the latest Pyxis update, 9.2.1.

I know that this is not a solution to a problem that should not be happening but there may be a workaround for the time being.

Is it possible to work with 2 battery sources. At least this way the camera will not shut down and you will have time to swap out the main battery.

Keep a BP-U battery on board and also battery power through the 2 pin input.

I haven’t experienced this issue with Core Nano 98x batteries. Are you running any accessories off of the battery plate?

The latest updates appear to have fixed the BP-U battery issues. Now showing the correct voltage. Yet to do a proper test to check runtime though.

Would be very interested to find out if the BPU batteries are still shutting down at 20%.

I tested with an official BP-U35.
When the battery is full charge the Pyxis display 98% and the Pyxis shut down when the battery is display as 10% (the Pyxis was in recording 6K 8:1)