I'd appreciate any insight into this mind-boggling issue I had while working on pre-production last week. I was working as Assistant Camera and preparing a rig for the DP, the kit was as follows: Sony A7s, DJI Ronin, Redrock Follow Focus, Atmos Ninja, Radian Pro Transmitter/Receiver. We ran a dummy battery from the Sony and plugged that into 1 of 2 PTAP connections that are built into the Ronin. The other PTAP was used to power the Redrock. Our USB connection was powering the Radians and both the transmitter and receiver were powered by the included USB to included battery packs. Lightweight setup, everything was working fine during calibration... When we powered on the Ronin, both the PTAP connection in the front AND battery unit for the gimbal started smoking. We had a technician on hand, and we quickly powered the solution down and started searching for the source of the extra heat. We had bongo ties that were holding our transmitter to the very bottom of the Ronin (where the battery is). Thinking that plastic from the ties were the issue, I placed velcro onto the bottom of the Ronin instead, and changed one of the PTAP connections for a lighter, shoestring cable. Powered the Ronin on a second time, and both the battery and the GMU on the front motor started melting to the baseplate of the unit, like a hot knife through butter. I have a background in electronics and I have never seen a steadicam unit act like this before. Fortunately, none of the equipment is permanently damaged, but we are left scratching our heads as to why this solution didn't work for us. We don't have a crazy amount of voltage running through the system and the Ronin battery was handling just fine when we were fine tuning the motors. Does anyone have any insight into something I'm missing? Pictures are included of the setup, any help would be appreciated. Thanks all!
