By: Charlie Burket, Techkit Specialist

The "V mount" or "V lock" battery is a large capacity power solution which is defined by its unique locking mechanism. It has a V shaped power connector which fits securely by sliding into a V shaped port. Now, you may be surprised to know that there are so many different ways to connect batteries to gear, but the Vmount system has been used for professional broadcast and film applications for decades—so it’s very likely that you see this somewhere on set today. Vmount batteries are popular because a single battery can power one, or multiple pieces of gear for a few hours or longer.

A Closer Look At the Battery & Ports
If we take a closer look at the battery, there are a few features to point out. Behind the dust covers are terminals for supplying power simultaneously to other gear. This is important because you can use one battery to power all the items that you might assemble on a camera rig. The battery has a USB tap and a Dtap. The Dtap is named for its D shaped, four pin connector and is a standard for powering a variety of film specific accessories. On the other side of the battery is a power gauge which gives a quick representation of how full the battery is—Four blue bars means the battery is at or near full capacity.

Battery Capacity & Charging
As I mentioned, the V mount battery is able to power devices for an extended period of time. How much time depends on a variety of things such as total power draw and environmental temperature, but in general, you should get several hours of use from a single fully charged battery.

To charge the battery, simply connect the supplied AC adapter between the battery's Dtap terminal and a wall outlet.

TECHKIT TIP: use one outlet per charger and avoid using a splitter or power strip to charge multiple batteries at the same time.

When the battery is charging, the power adapters indicator light will show red. A fully charged battery will take about 6.5 hours to complete the charging cycle. When the battery is fully charged, the indicator light will show green.

Where It's Used
There are two items in the techkit—the camera and LED light panels—which can be powered directly with V mount batteries. Because our techkit ships with three V mount batteries, you can use them to create a wire free, portable three point lighting setup, or use them to power your camera rig all day when you are working on location. On the other hand, you could pack your reflector to use as a light source, allowing you to have two lights and camera all powered off V mount batteries. The point is, having three large capacity batteries gives you more freedom to be creative without stressing about finding power outlets!

Well, I think that about covers it. If you have any questions or concerns about V mount batteries, please feel free to reach out anytime, we are always happy to help! Thanks for stopping by Techkit Training.