Topic: External powering for SXM2?

[Nick Graham]

Anybody know of an external battery source for the Sonosax, either SLA or L-ION? I've done a few serarches, but just keep coming up with more questions and no real answers.

Has anyone successfully powered one using the Wal-Mart lithium 9v?

[fozzy]

you got ricks lemosax right?

I ran it via 12v 4.5ah SLA w/ 4pin > adaptaplug B.  The adaptaplug was about a 90% fit(needs to be a few mm longer) so i secured it w/ some gaffers tape to secure it.  I figure it would run for a few days w/ that SLA.

[Nick Graham]

you got ricks lemosax right?

I ran it via 12v 4.5ah SLA w/ 4pin > adaptaplug B. The adaptaplug was about a 90% fit(needs to be a few mm longer) so i secured it w/ some gaffers tape to secure it. I figure it would run for a few days w/ that SLA.

Yep, it's Rick's old Sax.

I was kinda worried it'd need a 12v SLA. I had a 12v V2 briefly, and lugging that SLA was a PITA.

Thanks (and +T) for the help.

[fozzy]

yea the SLA sucks.  maybe look into a li-ion battery w/ a boost circuit.  I think it likes 12-24V

[F.O.Bean]

they do make 12v rc packs, NIMH preferred

check www.batteryspace.com

[leegeddy]

Anybody know of an external battery source for the Sonosax, either SLA or L-ION? I've done a few serarches, but just keep coming up with more questions and no real answers.

Has anyone successfully powered one using the Wal-Mart lithium 9v?

nick;

you can run it off 2x 9v lithium batteries. i'm building dwonk a powersupply for his sax.

two 9v is waaay lighter than a 12v sla, too.

marc

[neumannkid]

Nick you can also run the sax on two rc batterires wired in series I have been doing it for a little over a year now with no problems. I picked the adapter plug up from radioshack, just like fozzy and then wired the two rc packs in series to it. It works quite well and almost as light as a lithium but does the job well of one set of 9.6v 2100mah batteries = 19.2v 4200mah in series thats a lot of run time with the regular sax. Since I picked up those two batterys I have not had a power problem when running the sax.

[JasonR]

Nick you can also run the sax on two rc batterires wired in series
....
one set of 9.6v 2100mah batteries = 19.2v 4200mah in series

There's no free lunch.  With two 9.6v/2100mAh units it's either:
- parallel: 9.6v, 4200mAh
- series: 19.2v, 2100mAh.

With four batteries you could create a 19.2v, 4200mAh setup.  Regardless, good to know that the Sax runs for a good long while on just 19.2v/2100mAh!  At some point I've gotta run some battery tests with my Sonosax and see exactly how long it goes with various battery setups cuz I'm always way too anxious.

- Jason

[neumannkid]

Ah... my fault bad night time calculations , I meant 19.2v 2100mah thats still a long run time. Ive gotten over 16 hours on that set up.  Still pretty good and I know you could get 9.6v batteries with a larger amount of mah.

Ok here is the equation for calculating run time ( Battery Capacity [mAH] / Current Draw [mA] ) * ( .80 )
So technically speaking (2100[mAH]/80[mA])*(.80)=21hrs

Im not positive that the sax pulls 80mA but thats what I read on the oade boards archive(I believe, it has been a while) and it says on the Sonosax website the power requirments are
External:12V DC to 24V DC, minimum 30mA, maximum 80mA
So I assumed that 80mA could be its maximum draw, Im sure some one will correct me if its wrong \

Now I just started playing with these batteries before this I ran 19.2v 1000mah bats it wasnt until recently (this summer) that I added the bats with larger mah. The last time I ran them was the longest and it was over 16hrs for a July 4th festival. So I cant really tell for sure what the max runtime will be with this setup but its way better than using regular 9v batts.

[JasonR]

Thanks again for the advice.  +T  I already have a high quality RC charger so this might really be worthwhile.  And with the SX-M2/LS powering capsules, I'll bet I could go for 20-25 hours on a charge based on your numbers.   

[neumannkid]

When I just added the equation to my above post I realized that I had actually ran that setup over 16hrs and I dont think I was really too close to fully draining the batteries after I did the run time equation.

Hey Jason I was wondering if you were able to fix your static problem when you applied some heat to the gain pots. Oh yeah and +t for catching my bad math

[Nick Graham]

Hmmm....

Just now saw all these responses, +Ts all around.

leegeddy, wanna buld another sax power supply? 

[dlantelme]

how about this:
http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1287 
 since the M2 warns you at 14v, is a 12v SLA(or any 12v rc battery) really adequate?
 I'll let you know how it works for me, also bought
 http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=319
for stealth purposes.            Doug

[dlantelme]

http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1287
  this showed up today,output is 15.29v on my meter, plug fits the sax fine and tip is correct polarity, this looks too good to be true.
 My first open taping with my new sax was SK&F 7/28,29 (available on LMA) and my batteries ran out during the second set of night 2. I didn't receive a manuel fron Sonosax and like most of you, don't need any fucking directions, thank you.
  When I got home from that show I downloaded the manuel from the ts archive, and found out why that light was blinking so fast. Also that the lf filter switch was on, not off as I thought.
  Taped Garage A Trois Friday night with the filter in correct position- nice to be able to hear the difference. I previously noticed a pronounced increase in , for lack of a better word, clarity, with the high gain position vs low gain and higher settings on the pots and UA5. I like this thing alot, too bad it's not built like the MP2, that thing is a tank and I fear breaking the sax battery trays every time I remove them.                                   DougL

[dlantelme]

I expected the SX-M2 to be the battery hog, but at Earthdance (officially no taping but no heat at all) it( the rechargeable li-on in my previous post)  far outlasted a 6v sla battery running an M1 and recharged easily off an power inverter in my truck.

[Terry]

You should use SKITTLES to power it up. Skittles keep me going when I'm on my skates.

[silentmark]

you got ricks lemosax right?

I ran it via 12v 4.5ah SLA w/ 4pin > adaptaplug B.  The adaptaplug was about a 90% fit(needs to be a few mm longer) so i secured it w/ some gaffers tape to secure it.  I figure it would run for a few days w/ that SLA.

Doesn't this cause the on/lo light to flash about every second, but still be ok and have plaenty of juice? I have a 12v 5ah sla with a similar plug but just never used it ...

[neumannkid]

IF you run it at 12v you may have the light blink a little more but all in all technically speaking the sax should be working fine. The lower the voltage the more sensitive it becomes.

[silentmark]

IF you run it at 12v you may have the light blink a little more but all in all technically speaking the sax should be working fine. The lower the voltage the more sensitive it becomes.

Sensitive ? In what way ?

[neumannkid]

I believe as the voltage drops the "noise floor" of the unit changes making it easier to overload the channels. If you have ever powered the unit with 9v's you should have experienced this problem when the batteries were very low and the red light was blinking almost continuosly.

[silentmark]

I believe as the voltage drops the "noise floor" of the unit changes making it easier to overload the channels. If you have ever powered the unit with 9v's you should have experienced this problem when the batteries were very low and the red light was blinking almost continuosly.

I always used 9v's and only had the power get that low once, but the only thing I saw happening was my levels were WAY low ... Plus I run my SBM1 almost wide open (8-9) after I get my gain levels set, then just adjust the sbm1 accordingly ...

[neumannkid]

Well when it happens my levels get low on the recording device but the pre gets really "sensitive"

[F.O.Bean]

you got ricks lemosax right?

I ran it via 12v 4.5ah SLA w/ 4pin > adaptaplug B.  The adaptaplug was about a 90% fit(needs to be a few mm longer) so i secured it w/ some gaffers tape to secure it.  I figure it would run for a few days w/ that SLA.

hmmm, wonder if the normal sx-m2 has a diff DC plug than the lemosax cause i bought a radio shack adaptaplug B to fit my normal sx-m2 and its WAY too small to fit the sax gonna try maybe the M or whatever is a size bigger than the B plug

anyone know what radio shack adaptaplug fits a normal SX-M2 like a glove

thanks,
Bean

[fozzy]

you got ricks lemosax right?

I ran it via 12v 4.5ah SLA w/ 4pin > adaptaplug B.  The adaptaplug was about a 90% fit(needs to be a few mm longer) so i secured it w/ some gaffers tape to secure it.  I figure it would run for a few days w/ that SLA.

hmmm, wonder if the normal sx-m2 has a diff DC plug than the lemosax cause i bought a radio shack adaptaplug B to fit my normal sx-m2 and its WAY too small to fit the sax gonna try maybe the M or whatever is a size bigger than the B plug

anyone know what radio shack adaptaplug fits a normal SX-M2 like a glove

thanks,
Bean

I think it is the M but I remember it wasn't long enough so I had to secure w/ a piece of gaffers tape.  This was w/ Rick's lemosax i borrowed a few years back.  I remember i hacked some of my old UA5 cabling to get someting for the lemosax

[F.O.Bean]

you got ricks lemosax right?

I ran it via 12v 4.5ah SLA w/ 4pin > adaptaplug B.  The adaptaplug was about a 90% fit(needs to be a few mm longer) so i secured it w/ some gaffers tape to secure it.  I figure it would run for a few days w/ that SLA.

hmmm, wonder if the normal sx-m2 has a diff DC plug than the lemosax cause i bought a radio shack adaptaplug B to fit my normal sx-m2 and its WAY too small to fit the sax gonna try maybe the M or whatever is a size bigger than the B plug

anyone know what radio shack adaptaplug fits a normal SX-M2 like a glove

thanks,
Bean

I think it is the M but I remember it wasn't long enough so I had to secure w/ a piece of gaffers tape.  This was w/ Rick's lemosax i borrowed a few years back.  I remember i hacked some of my old UA5 cabling to get someting for the lemosax

i think it is the M plug, i have a rubberband to secure the dc plug so......

[fozzy]

you got ricks lemosax right?

I ran it via 12v 4.5ah SLA w/ 4pin > adaptaplug B.  The adaptaplug was about a 90% fit(needs to be a few mm longer) so i secured it w/ some gaffers tape to secure it.  I figure it would run for a few days w/ that SLA.

hmmm, wonder if the normal sx-m2 has a diff DC plug than the lemosax cause i bought a radio shack adaptaplug B to fit my normal sx-m2 and its WAY too small to fit the sax gonna try maybe the M or whatever is a size bigger than the B plug

anyone know what radio shack adaptaplug fits a normal SX-M2 like a glove

thanks,
Bean

I think it is the M but I remember it wasn't long enough so I had to secure w/ a piece of gaffers tape.  This was w/ Rick's lemosax i borrowed a few years back.  I remember i hacked some of my old UA5 cabling to get someting for the lemosax

i think it is the M plug, i have a rubberband to secure the dc plug so......

yea I made a typo, i suck

[F.O.Bean]

you got ricks lemosax right?

I ran it via 12v 4.5ah SLA w/ 4pin > adaptaplug B.  The adaptaplug was about a 90% fit(needs to be a few mm longer) so i secured it w/ some gaffers tape to secure it.  I figure it would run for a few days w/ that SLA.

hmmm, wonder if the normal sx-m2 has a diff DC plug than the lemosax cause i bought a radio shack adaptaplug B to fit my normal sx-m2 and its WAY too small to fit the sax gonna try maybe the M or whatever is a size bigger than the B plug

anyone know what radio shack adaptaplug fits a normal SX-M2 like a glove

thanks,
Bean

I think it is the M but I remember it wasn't long enough so I had to secure w/ a piece of gaffers tape.  This was w/ Rick's lemosax i borrowed a few years back.  I remember i hacked some of my old UA5 cabling to get someting for the lemosax

i think it is the M plug, i have a rubberband to secure the dc plug so......

yea I made a typo, i suck

that typo cost me 5 bucks for an adaptaplug b