Pan-Euro Production Company Taps Anton/Bauer Batteries for Kilimanjaro Shoot

Pan-European production company United Broadcast Facilities relies solely on Anton/Bauer battery power for some of its most demanding shoots, including a recent project on Tanzania’s world-renowned Mount Kilimanjaro. Anton/Bauer (a brand of The Vitec Group) has remained the exclusive battery of choice for United Broadcast Facilities and its veteran Technical Manager, Kees Knepper, since 1988.

When Knepper and his crew were on-location covering a project about the climb up Mount Kilimanjaro, the world’s highest freestanding mountain, they relied on Anton/Bauer batteries and a Honda generator, modified for use at high altitudes.

“My team recently did a 10-day climb up Mount Kilimanjaro and as you can imagine, there was no infrastructure there for charging camera batteries,” says Knepper.  They needed the reliability of Anton/Bauer’s Solar Panel, a unique charging option provided with the Tandem 150 Modular Power System.  Thanks to the Solar Panel, they made the 19,341-foot climb effortlessly.

According to Anton/Bauer, the Tandem 150 Modular Power System is the smallest and lightest charger and on-camera power supply available on the market. For shoots in isolated areas the Tandem 150 provides two unique methods to charge any Logic Series battery. Crews working out of their cars can use The CA-TMCL with their vehicle AC power outlet. The CA-TMCL is the smallest portable car charger on the market and does not require an inverter. For productions where sunlight is available, the Solar Panel is also ideal. When operated from the AC Mains at 100 to 240 volts AC or 50-60 Hz, the Tandem 150 (QR-TM and PSU-15) is a fully automatic system. It will simultaneously charge a battery and power a camera under a 75-watt draw and revert solely to a 150-watt power supply if a 75 watt draw is exceeded.

In addition to shooting in challenging environments, such as Mount Kilimanjaro, United Broadcast Facilities also relies heavily on Anton/Bauer when shooting entertainment events.

“Most recently we modified an Anton/Bauer CINE VCLX Battery for the MTV African Music Awards,” says Knepper. “There was a limitation on the available power so we used the modified VCLX to power up a scanner crane. The VCLX supplies unregulated 24V out and for the scanner crane we needed a stabilized power of 24V. Due to the fact that the scanner crane will damage if the input power hits 26V we needed to stabilize the VCLX at the required 24V. The VCLX output power can go up with a full charged battery to 29V. The crane worked for the entire production on this alternative power from Anton/Bauer and it was just remarkable.”

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