After having the MoVI for almost a month, here's some suggestions I have: -anything but LiPo batteries! Plugging them into a charger is a real pain! The connections feel fragile and having to worry about over draining them is frustrating! -Hot swappable batteries on the gimbal. I don't like that you lose all your set parameters on your tablet or computer when the gimbal is turned off. Custom settings on the configurator would be a great fix also. -The remote and tablet (and possibly monitor) should become one. -The remote has too many extraneous buttons and really needs to be designed for a MoVI device and not a retrofitted airplane remote. -A way to mark balanced positions for certain cameras and lenses -A better way to keep the Movi M10 level when adjusting the height of the tilt balance -A stand that mounts to a C or Combo stand! -More monitor and various mounts should come with the MoVI Any thoughts/suggestions or fixes anyone else has come up with would be great to know also! Otherwise, I'm loving the MoVI! The Epic worked great on it. The Alexa M... not so great!
Just to be sure, you're aware that you can save the parameters from the tablet or computer by pressing "write config" so they won't reset when you swap batteries, right ? Custom settings are also coming, they said.
Thanks for the tip Nils, I wasn't aware of the "write config" but that's extremely helpful! I would like to see an option for hot-swappable batteries on the gimbal though. I used my M10 on a Western and we were between takes when the battery was getting questionable low. I decided to pull it off and change it while we were between shots and not actually shooting. Turning the Movi M10 off and on again always scares me because it doesn't always balance configure the first time. I'd prefer to have it on and ready to go as I'm swapping batteries. There's nothing for nerve-racking when an AD is breathing down your neck to get the MoVI set up and running again ASAP!! Wolfgang, great suggestions as well! I'd also like to add it would be great if there was a way to confirm your MoVI M10 was level. The tilt axis balance can easily throw off your horizon.
The PC version of the Configurator app allows you to save and load settings and it has a basic version of a HUD to show where the artificial horizon is. I have also found that a lot of people don't realize their DSLR has a digital level built in as a feature on their camera.
I wonder whether you could use a JST Y-cable so that you could connect up the LiPo charger to the LiPo while it's mounted on the MōVI and while the MōVI is powered up. That would both keep the MōVI "hot" but also charge the LiPo. Note: The above is actually a question. I don't know whether the LiPo charger would allow it -- it might think that there was something badly wrong with the LiPo and refuse to charge it. The only reason why I wouldn't want to do the same thing with the Y-cable and another LiPo is that there would be nothing to stop a significant amount of current flowing from a fully charged LiPo into the partially charged one. The charger, on the other hand, specifically limits the amount of current. Andy.
Andy, I think the problem with the Y-cable and two LiPos is not only that the one you want to use is being discharged, but also that the other one is charged without being balanced and probably well over the actual C-rating. I´m not a specialist though (in fact I know close to nothing ;-)) - it would be interesting to hear from somebody who really knows what that would do to the battery/connection.
Wolfgang if you are using the supplied charger why do you say the fresh battery would not be balanced. I'll disagree with Andy on using the charger as described. Others have posted that they have done hot swaps by using a Y connector. Yes you would get some power flow to the low battery but for the few seconds the old one/new one are connected I doubt that there would be much change.
Gary, I was not referring to using the charger, but only two batteries and y-cable. The current would flow unbalanced from the lower voltage battery to the other. As I said, I´m in no way a specialist and I don´t know how fast the voltage will be equalized and therefore also how much "C-rating" there will be during this process. I´m just a very sheepish LiPo user ;-)
OK that makes sense. Good question. My guess would be that if the MōVI is stationary during the swap there just wouldn't be that much current magic going on for the short period of time required for the swap. But maybe one of the EE's will have an opinion.
Wolfgang: Yeah -- that's the problem. The higher voltage one will attempt to charge the lower voltage one with a fairly healthy current. For example, assume that the partially discharged one is at 14 volts and the fully charged one is at 16.8 volts. Also assume that the internal resistances of the batteries are both, say, 30 microOhms. (A typical value). So you have two resistances is series, totalling 60 microOhms and 2.8 volts across them. Ohm's Law suggests therefore that the in-rush current would be (based on I = V/R), 46 Amps. Those LiPos are 2,800 mAH, so the typical charging rate would be 2.8 Amps -- so for some period of time, while the in-rush current is flowing at its worst, you'd see 46 Amps (16 times the partially discharged battery's optimal charging current). That said, some folks charge at twice the mAH rating of the battery, so maybe only 8 times the optimal charging current. Still too scary for me to try. On the other hand, if you substitute the charger for the second LiPo, it should hold the MōVI powered on while you change a LiPo from a discharged one to a fully charged one. The charger has built-in current limiting logic -- it has to have this to avoid charging the LiPo up with too much current, too quickly. We don't need to be specialists! We just need to (at least in my case) be daft enough to try it! Andy.
Andy, your knowledge base is both vast and dizzying! I'm envious... Kurt, I've been pretty successful with swapping the MōVI batteries by doing this: Have your AC hold the gimbal's roll bracket and tilt rods in position while you power it down. AC doesn't let go, and holds it very still. Quickly swap, turn back on. A few seconds and you're good to go, with no changes (provided you "wrote config"). I do agree that a second battery slot on the other side of the M10 would be nice for hot swapping. On the other hand, every ounce adds up after holding that beast up in "Lion King" pose for 7 hours....
"Chapeau", Andy. Can someone please change Mr. Johnson-Lairds icon to "flying encyclopaedia"? I´ve already prepared it for you ;-)