Converting Rig (M2/1 hybrid) M2 Top -M1 base

[Damien King]

Hello everyone,

Considering converting my rig across to Dionic 26 volt 98 Wh batteries/plates moving forward. Does anyone have any thoughts if this is bad or good?

Love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks

 

[Tom Wills]

Most Steadicam rigs are not built in a way that can accept 24v batteries. The only rigs on the market that I know that can accept them are the XCS Ultimate and the Artemis 2. I think the new MK-V V5 electronics might also be able to accept them, but I am not sure. 

 

The issue you’re going to run into is that the whole rig is designed to primarily run off of 12v, since that is always present even when running the rig in 24v mode. Even the 24v mode of the rig is using one (or 2) batteries to produce the 12v and then using a second 12v battery to “boost” that 12v to 24v. So if you ran a 24v only system on a traditional rig, you’d lose all your 12v outputs, including your monitor, any P Taps or accessory ports, etc… or you’d run the risk of outputting 24v to an accessory looking for 12v!

 

How the Ultimate accepts 24v is that it uses switching to provide 24v from one or two batteries to the 24v outputs on the rig, and you then fly an additional 12v battery to power your monitor and accessories. The Artemis 2 seems to use internal power supplies that up and down convert whatever batteries you put in to give you both 12 and 24.

 

The Tiffen rigs are just not meant to run a 24v system, so I believe it would require some significant re-wiring and perhaps dedicating an individual battery plate as a 24v plate. You would need to bypass the 12/24v switch and feed the 24v directly from the plate into the 24v lines of the sled, and also tie the grounds of the 12 and 24v systems together (and fly a 12v battery) to ensure you didn’t have any ground loops. Overall, I think it’s probably more trouble than it’s worth.

Edited November 15, 2023 by Tom Wills