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Gear / Technical Help => Remote Power => Topic started by: walterneff on March 29, 2011, 08:24:42 PM
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Hi,
I've been using a Denecke AD20 for a while now and would like a better powering solution to remove the hassle of switching over 9v batteries during sets and repeatedly checking the power light - always stealth situations.
I believe its possible to use a 9v RC car battery to run the AD20 for a much longer time. Can anyone advise on what parts would be required to make up a cable to connect one of these batteries, and potential pitfalls to be avoided.
Alternatively if anyone would be interested in making a cable I'd happily pay to avoid me making a mess of it and killing my AD20.
Thanks,
Michael
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Michael,
External power can be supplied through the mini jack in the battery compartment (anything from 6 volts to 24 volts, positive tip). I think it is a Mini Phone Jack (like iPod Headphone but mono). I'll check when I get home.
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One pitfall to be aware of is always plug the cable into the AD20 first, then into the battery cause if the cable is plugged into the battery when you insert the other end into the AD20 the low battery light will be on permanently. Doesn't affect the performance of the AD20 but with the light on all the time it is annoying , as well as not knowing when you actually are about to deplete the battery's charge.
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Hi,
Thanks for the info. Hopefully I can get someone to make up a cable as I'd probably do something wrong.
M.
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The outboard powering on those Denecke boxes is perplexing.
It is indeed an 1/8" mono plug that supplies outboard power. Tip positive.
So, the act of connecting an outboard battery to it will always short the battery briefly.
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I had made a 12v SLA (Sealed Lead Acid) Set up that would power both my PS-2 and the AD20 (heavy to haul around) as when I contacted Denecke - I believe that they stated they would run on any thing between 7 + volts DC and 18VDC- but lower than 6VDC the units would degrad and sound horrible.
you could easily get a 9V DVD battery and make the set up with a 1/8" TS as mentioned above.
--Ian
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I've used DVD batteries and RC car batteries. Either will run for a long time.
Last year I used 2 RC car batteries to run a PS2/AD20 combo at the side stage of a weekend festival... checked them with a volt meter before starting and the "9.6V" battery said something like 10.4. I started it running at noon, let it run all day and all night... there was a show which ran like midnight - 4am... I hit record at midnight and went to bed, letting the rig run overnight. When I came back in the morning, the voltmeter... it wasn't even down to 9.6v yet. Somewhere along the way I did swap the batteries with each other... in other words moved the AD20 battery to the PS-2 and vice versa... I think the PS-2 uses more than the AD-20. But the point is that you can easily get 24 hours use from a RC car battery, maybe 2 or 3 days, I'm not sure.
Making up a cable isn't rocket science... buy 2 RC car batteries at walmart, comes with 2 chargers. Each battery and charger has a white connector on it. Use the connector and 6 or 12" of cable off one of the chargers, wire that connector up to a 1/8" mono-miniplug from radio shack. Red wire goes to the middle. Like everyone else has said, plug the mini-jack into the AD20 first. Might as well tape it in place and forget about it. Then connect the white connectors.
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Thanks again guys.
No walmart here in Scotland, but should be able to track down a couple of r/c batteries. Tried maplins here for the mono plug but poor quality, so I think I'll need to get them online.
M.
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Customized battery might help!! :D
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Recent festival story.... I had an 9.6V R/C car battery running a Denecke PS-2:
- I ran some AT853's with phantom adapters for a full day, probably 8 hours.
- I ran that same PS2 with that same battery with ADK A51 mics in the "late night cabin". I started the rig and went to bed. I came back 24 hours later, and the phantom power was still holding.
So that's 32 hours (and still going strong) on a PS-2 with an RC car battery. And I think the AD20 uses less juice than that, so it should run at least as long.