Battery Backup/Power Options for Video Production Systems

[@FelipeAdventures]

Thank you Doug, I always learn a lot from your videos.

[@emanspeaks]

Doug, I’m in Houston, and this video was timely. I have a Goal Zero Yeti 1500X that I’ve run my mobile racks on for a couple years and served me well with about 3 hours of run time…but still was just barely enough to cover me as an emergency battery during Hurricane Beryl. Now with power still slow to come online for many coworkers here, I sent your referral link to my coworkers when I found the sale is still going. They won’t arrive in time to be helpful for this storm probably, but this won’t be the last. It’s a good time to jump on it, so I did as well to augment the Yeti.

[@djp_video]

Thank you so much! I understand the inconvienience you all are going through in Houston. It's my home town. And my parents, one of my sisters, and several good friends live there and I'm getting regular updates.

[@cgibbons881]

Love the EcoFlow. I have the River 2 and use it for Live Streaming outside events. When you connect with the Solar Panel for your EcoFlow, you have all the power you need.

[@lnxpenguin4ever]

Nice video! This weekend, I'm going to be using an Anker Powerhouse 522 (similar to that Jackery) to power electronics for my jib crane (Proaim pan/tilt head and an SDI -> HDMI converter), and an Anker Solix F2600 to power the production truck. Based on the max wattage of each device, I should be able to run everything for about 4 hours if power goes out. I could almost run everything just off solar too! It's amazing how far battery technology has come, and how power efficient newer devices have become!

[@carpetbomberz]

I realize you rushed to get this out and thanks for doing that. I realized I could buy 2 of the River 2 for the price of 1 APC 1500VA 900W UPS (with a paltry 11 minute run time). I paid $323 this time last year for a APC BR1500M2!! So even if it's smaller less output, what's not to like! And I dare say, I only really need them to be UPS's so they're not likely to ever really see a full discharge cycle. Maybe 10 minutes before our house generator comes on. Thanks Doug! 👍

[@DallasSoundGuys]

$499, just ordered one through your link. Thanks!

[@VegasDominic]

So cool you can daisy chain them to reach up to 10-12hrs ❤

[@QuicksilverSG]

Great tips on the EcoFlow! I bought into the EGO Power+ system three years ago, and it's served me well through several extended power outages, as well as running camera and lighting gear in the field. The 2000W base unit weighs about 30 lbs and isn't that portable, but it can use up to four hot-swappable EGO 56v batteries in any combination of 5Ah, 7.5Ah, or 10Ah capacities. With battery swapping, you can run it uninterrupted as long as you need. It's not cheap, but there's a 400W portable one-battery inverter that's about $150. What I don't like about the 2000W base inverter is how long it takes to recharge a set of batteries. That forced me to buy additional fast chargers for $100 each. They also make an unfoldable 10K-lumens 4-panel LED area light that can be hung or tripod-mounted. It has no remote control or CRI rating, but it's a diffuse daylight, very flexible and sturdy.

[@djp_video]

I have EGO's 400W inverter. I mainly got it so I could take advantage of the batteries I have for my EGO lawn mower and other outdoor power equipment in an emergency situation more than anything else. But so far I haven't really found it to be that useful. 400 Watts isn't a lot. It won't run my refrigerator, even with my 10 Ah battery (ask me how I know -- and how that was actually the impetus behind the purchase of the Ecoflow power stations in the first place). And the EGO batteries are so expensive that it doesn't make sense to buy batteries just for an inverter; you can get a really nice power station for a lot less than most of the EGO batteries.

[@QuicksilverSG]

@@djp_video Yeah, the EGO-branded batteries are overpriced. Internally, they use stacks of 18560 lithium batteries and a BMU, both of which are readily available wholesale. EGO's success has spawned a third party compatible battery market which offers the same tech at half the price. I got EGO's four-battery inverter three years ago at a steep discount, and its hot-swap feature made it worthwhile.

[@nightdesigns395]

I've had an EcoFlow Delta for a number of years now and it has completely eliminated my need for generators or long extension cords. Great for tossing in the back of a car for charging batteries on the go to powering a 2-4 speaker PA system and small rack of equipment for an event. I've purchased a second as a backup, but have never needed it and my original unit is still going strong. I've recommended them to many people who have also enjoyed them. One thing to note: while it will take over if the source power is lost, it's not a clean switch like a UPS. It will 'blip' as it kicks over to full battery and depending on your equipment, may go into protect. I guess another thing to note (at least on my units): they don't give any audible warning when getting low. They do however still run for a while on 0% remaining.

[@djp_video]

I'm definitely rapidly adopting power stations for use in my video projects as replacements for long power cables. At a big event I was producting the last two days, we ONLY used power stations for the cameras (no stingers), and I used one to power one of my Yamaha Tio1608-D Dante stage boxes. It was going to be a long day, and I didn't want to use one of my bigger power stations to run the Tio, so I used a River 2 and plugged a 100-Watt solar panel into it. That kept it going all day long. And I was able to connect to the device with my phone from 300 feet way away so I could monitor the battery level without having to walk that distance over and over. I haven't explicitly used any of my units for a PA system just yet, but I just also ordered a Delta Pro 3 and I can imagine that that will run a small PA system for quite a while. I'm aware of the UPS issue, and that's why I mentioned in this video to buy from someone with at good return policy in case the power station someone buys causes reboots with the gear they're powering. I haven't gotten any of my power stations down to 0% but, yeah, it doesn't seem that audible warnings are considered an important feature.

[@JohnUntivero]

To keep the benefits of a UPS, I would suggest getting one that is big enough to lasts at least a minute. Then have that plug into the EcoFlow. The smaller UPS will last me minutes but will take 1ms to switch power sources. The EcoFlow will last hours but will take 30ms to switch. If you go [ mains -> ecoflow -> UPS -> flypack ] you can get the benefit of 1ms switching and hours of battery. Crucial in my usage, where my DIT cart has drives plugged in that I don't want to risk 30ms of power outage that might disconnect during a 30ms switch. Bonus if your UPS has a sine wave corrector.

[@criticom]

This is what I do. I run all my gear into two UPSs, and then plug those into an Anker 2000wh power station. Those Ecoflows at $499 is a great deal.

[@Alex-456]

Great video!!

[@compositephilip]

Thanks Doug, very timely as I'm looking to replace an APC UPS system as it's way too noisy for my studio. Is the Delta 2 quiet?

[@djp_video]

It might be too noisy for you. When it charges or has to supply more than a few hundred watts the fans will turn on. You can reduce the charging rate to prevent this. Otherwise you might have to relocate it to where fan noise won't be a problem.

[@IsaacMayMusic]

Hey Dan, I always appreciate your videos. How would you recommend getting into the production truck world without working in Sports trucks? For instance do you ever hire freelancers? I work in the live event side of things and would love to transition into something else

[@djp_video]

I (and most production companies) hire contractors all the time. If you want to get into that world, your best bet is to find a company that does what you want to do and work for them until you have the experience, gear, and contacts to find work to get out on your own. It can be a tough transition, as you don't want to burn any bridges by stealing customers away from anyone.

[@IsaacMayMusic]

​@@djp_video Helpful advice, thank you sir!

[@IgnacioMadero]

Great video Doug. Do you think power stabilizers are useful for AV equipment? I am mostly working in live environments.

[@djp_video]

A power conditioner would likely be more useful. Dirty power is more of a problem with modern electronics than voltage variations. Most modern equipment power supplies are designed to handle a really wide range of voltages. But dirty power is potentially another story.

[@IgnacioMadero]

​@@djp_video thanks a lot!

[@zaheerclarke]

Hey. You said that the Eco Power ran your whole production trailer. Does your production trailer include audio mixers and amplifiers?

[@djp_video]

Mixers, yes. No power amplifiers. Several sets of speakers though.

[@zaheerclarke]

@@djp_video@djp_video, do you have any suggestions for amplifiers for passive speakers?

[@FuneralLiveStream]

Can you get an Anker Solix 3800 to test?

[@djp_video]

That's a lot of money to spend just to test something that I don't need.

[@robertharker]

The Delta Pro Ultra could power your trailer. Your trailer with a cellular or satellite up-link can do remote production any where with no location/facility infrastructure required. No negotiating for an AC outlet or internet connection. BTW 1800 watts at 120 volts is 15 amps.

[@djp_video]

Not for very long. Not only do I have to run the electronics (at about 1800 Watts), I also have to run the air conditioner (also about 1800 Watts) to offset the heat created by the electronics and people inside, not to mention the sun. So the base 6 kWh Pro Ulta wouldn't even last two hours. Yeah, you could add additional batteries, but it gets to the point where you'd need a second trailer just to haul the batteries. And then you've spent a fortune, have a ton of extra weight, and still have a fixed capacity. Once the batteries are depleted you've got no recourse to create power after that. I've got a portable 10,000 Watt generator on the way. 10 gallons of fuel will run all day and then some. And if I run low, a trip to the nearest gas station takes care of it pretty easily. As ugly as it can be to have to run off of gasoline (or Diesel), batteries don't have anywhere near the same energy density yet.

[@sidestreetvideoproduction7278]

Does your Xantrex inverter and battery work better or about the same as one of these EcoFlow or Anker units? Can you run your truck off just the Xantrex inverter and battery? How long would it last? I'm looking into a small production truck with 4 cameras, switcher, audio board, monitors and V-Mix replay and wonder about running all this off the Xantrex & battery power or an EcoFlow for an entire Football Game or Baseball game. Do you think this would work? Love your videos and information. Thanks.

[@djp_video]

The three 12V 75Ah AGM batteries I have in the trailer will run it (just the electronics) for about 90-100 minutes (without the solar panels making any contribution). That setup cost about $1300. The same run time in an EcoFlow, depending on what sales are going on, would be over $1500, likely well over. And I'd still have to figure out a solution to power all of the 12 Volt devices. (All of the lighting, SDI/HDMI converters, quite a few of the computers and monitors run natively on 12V). That system doesn't power the air conditioner, though... which is needed to keep the equipment (and crew) from misbehaving. After the AGM batteries wear out I'll be replacing them with LFP, which will give me more capacity at a lighter weight. But so far the existing batteries are still going strong. I would have liked to have gone with LFP out of the gate, but when I built the trailer the cost difference was about 5:1. Getting a battery setup that can go for the 5+ hours needed to run a sporting event will get costly pretty quickly. A generator is likely a much more feasible solution.

[@sidestreetvideoproduction7278]

@@djp_video Thank you so much for your great and informative reply. Love your channel.

[@JoshC.]

When you unplugged the Delta 2 at 8:39 kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJnMnpmhaZKZna8 did your fly pack fully reboot? It seems it did not stay up like it did in the other examples.As others have pointed out I could put a UPS past the ecoflow to have the fail over and then the long running time of the eco flow.

[@djp_video]

In this case, it did. I rushed through setting it up to get this video out quickly and I think I didn't have something setup right on the Ecoflow. Every time I've done it in testing it hasn't caused the reboot.

[@737gez]

Audio is King!

[@SportFlow]

Thanks. To be honest, Blackmagic devices are not specially power efficient. For instance, the URSA broadcast camera eats battery very fast. Again, you get what you pay for.

[@djp_video]

Yeah. The Sony cameras I use will run for about 6 hours on a 75 Wh battery. A bit different in energy consumption than the Blackmagic cameras.