Arri 16S 8V power

Zac Fettig · February 5, 2013

Hey,

I know a lot of people are buying old Arris then trying to figure out how to power them. I don't know how many people are interested in getting 8V to their Arri 16S or S/B. Most people will want to convert to 12V if you plan to use it a bunch. There are a bunch of professional shops that will do that if you want to. I thought I'd share how I powered mine, if anyone wants to go down the same path.

I modelled a shell in Solidworks, then sent it out to be 3d printed in Nylon from Shapeways. It cost about $10. When it came in, I needed to drill out the holes. Otherwise it was ready to go.

I pulled out my old Quantum batteries. These were intended to power handle flash units. Also old digital cameras. These can be bought fairly cheap on ebay (~$30/ea). But most need to be re-celled. The cells cost about $20/each. This was a good solution, since they run 8V DC in a portable package. Also they are sealed lead acid, so high current draw isn't a big problem. Also, I already had them on hand, as well as a sacrifical cable.

I cut the end off the sacrificial cable. Positive goes to the big pin on the left (9/64"), negative to the smaller pin on the right (7/64").

I had intended to build plug sockets out of 240 Brass tube. But I got impatient, and just ran the wire through, and bent it at the edge. I press fit the shell, with wires, over the pins with a hammer using light taps. It's all in the wrist. They make a good contact. I ran a few feet of film through and everything seems to be working well.

This is a semi-permanent installation. I don't intend to remove the cable, but could if I ever had to.

Guillaume Collignon · February 6, 2013

Powered an arriflex in 8V is an interesting topic. I learned a lot for that in this Forum. I bring my little experience about that. Me too I bought one month ago an arriflex 16s with the variable speed motor, who run in 8V, and like most of the case, without power cable and batterie. With the great help of a forum member, Jean Louis Seguin, He supplied me a modified power cable with the arri original "banana plug", and at the end, he welded a XLR with 3 pin.

After for the battery pack, I bought on ebay a 8,4V - 5000mah Nimh battery pack, originaly for RC cars or planes. Bought it for 30€ in germany. I've cut the original plug and welded an XLR female pin. For carrying the battery, I put it on a little bolex 8mm camera leather case.

And for the charger, it's a Imax b6, also well knowed in the RC cars/planes world. Like the battery pack, I welded a XLR plug at the end. You can set lots of things on it.

So know my camera run perfectly, fully charged, I have a good autonomy.