Batteries for Moviecam Compact

[Alexander Boyd]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm trying to find out what batteries best to use with the Moviecam Compact? I don't wanna fry the camera, so just hoping to find the right batteries/polarity to make this beauty work.

 

Thanks in advance!

[charles g clark]

Hi Alexander,

 

A 24v cine battery is the best, although if you're on a tight budget mine ran happily for 2000 feet with video assist off of 2 x 12v 7.2ah sealed lead acid batteries wired in series

[Alexander Boyd]

Hey Charles,

 

thanks for your reply. Do I need to look out for a certain polarity or does any common 24v cine battery do the job?

[charles g clark]

Hi Alexander

Any 24v cine battery will do, can't tell you if there's a universal standard for pin outs on 4 pin xlr, but you can get a local electrician to check the wiring and make a cable if needed, it's no major job and quite straight forward - my cable was made for less than the cost of a replacement

 

Here's the moviecam pin out diagram to check against from the service manual

[Satsuki Murashige]

Be aware that depending on the camera's service history, the pin outs in the camera may be different from the manual. My Moviecam SL's power port was changed at some point before I got it. I opened up the camera to check and made a new diagram. Then had a buddy make me a new XLR3 to XLR4 cable.

[Dom Jaeger]

Didn't the camera come with a power cable?

 

Moviecam used 4 pin XLRs for their 24V system at a time when Arri were still using 4 pin XLRs for 12V (with the same pin 1 - GND and pin 4 - POS wiring), so some rental houses changed the wiring to avoid potential problems plugging 24V into a 12V appliance. If the camera came with a power cable you should be able to check its wiring. The battery end is usually a 3 pin XLR, the Arri standard for 24V.

 

Any 24V battery with a capacity of 7 Amp hours (7Ah or 7000mAh) or more will be fine, should give you a good 2 hours of run time.