SteadiHub
2009Follow Focus forum

Power supply tripping when operating focus motors on camera sleds

17 years old. Gear and prices may have changed since.

What the thread found

  • Rapid focus motor movements or hitting lens hard stops can cause sudden power loss on a camera sled, which resets by cycling the power switch.
  • The issue is typically caused by instantaneous current draw exceeding the battery's maximum output capacity, triggering its protection circuit.
  • Internal power wiring in some sled posts uses very thin gauge cables that create voltage drop under high current demand, even if not causing visible damage.
  • Upgrading sled post power wiring from thin coiled cables to thicker gauge speaker cable (approximately 1.5mm² or AWG 15) can resolve the problem.
  • Paralleling multiple batteries together using P-tap connectors increases available current capacity and can prevent tripping.
  • Focus motor controllers can draw abnormal amounts of amperage that may exceed what some camera sled power systems can safely supply.
  • Battery thermal overload protection circuits can activate during high current demand situations and cause temporary power loss that recovers within a minute.

Depends on

  • The solution of upgrading wiring applies specifically to sleds with accessible screw terminals and may not work for all sled models.
  • The exact current draw specifications of the focus motor system were not provided in the discussion.
  • One participant mentioned never definitively identifying the root cause of their similar issue.
  • The effectiveness of paralleling batteries depends on whether the specific battery plate has P-tap connectors available.
  • The discussion focuses on one specific sled model from 2009 and may not apply to more recent equipment.

Gear in this thread

BFD

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