Become a Site Supporter and Never see Ads again!

Author Topic: NiMH Rechareables/PMD660  (Read 21965 times)

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

Offline d5

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Taperssection Regular
  • **
  • Posts: 185
  • Gender: Male
Re: NiMH Rechareables/PMD660
« Reply #45 on: September 14, 2007, 08:39:40 PM »
I just purchased a couple sets of Maha Powerex NiMH 2500 mAh batteries. I tested them in a PMD660 against the regular alkalines I had been using and the increase was pretty good. With Energizer alkalines I was able to get 4:24 of record time and with the Powerex's I was able to get 7:04. I'm using a 4GB CF card, so at 16/44.1, I can fill up the card before having to change batteries. The 7:04 time was on the 2nd charge cycle, so I expect a slight increase on future charge cycles.

Both tests were done with the PMD660, 16/44.1 stereo, with JW mod AKG 461's, phantom power on, attenuation on, normal meter lights on

I purchased the Powerex's in late 2005 and was initially able to about 7 hours out of them fresh out of the charger. After a year and a half and roughly 100 charges on them, their capacity was reduced to about 3.5 hours fresh out of the charger and even less for an actual show. I'm a little surprised and disappointed that they wore out so quickly, but I ended up replacing them with a new set of Powerex 2700's.

With the 2700's I was able to get 7:24 from the first charge in an ACM PMD660. Same testing as above; 16/44.1 stereo, JW mod AKG 461's, phantom power on, attenuation on, normal meter lights on. Also using the same charger, a Maha MH-C401FS.
JW mod AKG 460/ck61's > Sound Devices 702

Offline spcyrfc

  • Trade Count: (8)
  • Taperssection Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 941
  • Gender: Male
  • Live from River City
    • BordersCrossing.net
Re: NiMH Rechareables/PMD660
« Reply #46 on: September 19, 2007, 03:38:16 PM »
just got my 660 and love it.

now for power, i guess in all good conscience i cannot continue to run alkalines, so im looking into rechargables.  Seems that the Maha Powerex 2700's are the way to go.  any suggestions on charger - online, batteries with a charger got close to $100 on the sites i was viewing - i hoping there is a cheaper way.... sites or charger suggestions??

i looked at the lacrosse charger listed over at Oade, but still, a bit rich for my blood

thanks for the Adv

luke
mkh8040>aerco mp-2>pcmd-50
PFS: AKG 414xls

Record Local

www.borderscrossing.net

Offline NOLAfishwater

  • is not taping much these days
  • Trade Count: (72)
  • Needs to get out more...
  • *****
  • Posts: 6344
  • Gender: Male
  • I LIKE FISHIN
Re: NiMH Rechareables/PMD660
« Reply #47 on: September 19, 2007, 05:40:50 PM »
The LaCrosse charger is money. It is the best charger out there and will preserve your batteries for longer. It is well worth the money you will spend on it.

Offline d5

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Taperssection Regular
  • **
  • Posts: 185
  • Gender: Male
Re: NiMH Rechareables/PMD660
« Reply #48 on: September 19, 2007, 08:25:05 PM »
I agree that investing a good charger is worth the money. My 2 year old Powerex 2500's died after about 2.5 hours in the middle of a show resulting in cuts in 2 songs. You have to be able to trust your batteries.
JW mod AKG 460/ck61's > Sound Devices 702

Offline tfs8271

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Needs to get out more...
  • *****
  • Posts: 2593
  • Gender: Male
  • Hand polished by Chris Lindsey
Re: NiMH Rechareables/PMD660
« Reply #49 on: September 19, 2007, 10:05:34 PM »
I don't even bother with NiMH batteries anymore. None of them hold a good charge after a while so I only use them for my kids toys & my camera. I found the universal battery to be more trust worthy......

http://www.batterybarn.com/pr2310.htm

Expensive but well worth it in my opinion.
A six pack a day, that's all we ask.

Neumann skm140>ACM Oade PMD660
or Oade Mod R4

Offline elwoodblues

  • Trade Count: (1)
  • Taperssection Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 729
  • Gender: Male
Re: NiMH Rechareables/PMD660
« Reply #50 on: September 20, 2007, 01:22:12 AM »
I agree that investing a good charger is worth the money. My 2 year old Powerex 2500's died after about 2.5 hours in the middle of a show resulting in cuts in 2 songs. You have to be able to trust your batteries.

I agree, the charger is where to put your money.  I got a decent sony that came with 4 AA's and 2 AAA's at costco for 30 bucks and the charger has a memory refresh to keep them from not taking a complete charge after 20 or 30 charges, it was a steal in my eyes.  The way I look at it is, so what if I have to replace them even once a year  or every 6 months in extreme cases, its as much  $$ as alkalines for 2 or 3 shows and your not filling up landfills with your batteries. 
$899.00? Whats this thing made of, moon rocks and bald eagle?

It's all in the Reflexes-Jack Burton
Open > SP c4's>SD MP2> R-09
007 > CA cards>CA ST-9000>R-09
Shows on Archive:
http://www.archive.org/bookmarks/elwoodjr
posters: http://www.expressobeans.com/members/collections.php?id=11730

Offline drewloo

  • Friend of Salsa
  • Trade Count: (5)
  • Needs to get out more...
  • *****
  • Posts: 3060
  • it's recreational
Re: NiMH Rechareables/PMD660
« Reply #51 on: September 20, 2007, 08:46:05 AM »
Yeah I also learned the hard way that those good ol' NiMH AA's only last around a year, maybe year and a half.  The first couple of times I ran out of juice I thought I grabbed some batteries that weren't fully charged but then realized that the capacity on the 'go-to' Maha powerex 2500's was significantly diminished.   I'd like to get one of the chargers that can analyze each battery and displays the actual total capacity left.

Offline spcyrfc

  • Trade Count: (8)
  • Taperssection Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 941
  • Gender: Male
  • Live from River City
    • BordersCrossing.net
Re: NiMH Rechareables/PMD660
« Reply #52 on: September 20, 2007, 09:36:07 AM »
tfs,
what sort of runtime can you get on that batterybarn batt?

thanks for the advice on chargers, i guess iffin i go nimh ill get the lacrosse and maybe save some $ on batts for a while and see how the cheapo NiMH batteries work out.

+t's for the help
mkh8040>aerco mp-2>pcmd-50
PFS: AKG 414xls

Record Local

www.borderscrossing.net

Offline Krispy D

  • Trade Count: (1)
  • Needs to get out more...
  • *****
  • Posts: 4878
  • Gender: Male
    • my recordings on LMA
Peluso CEMC6, ck4/ck21
Oktava MC012
Sony ECM260f
AT 811

canare star quads
DIY mil spec silvers

DIY (W-ish) mod UA5>JB3
Oade ACM PMD 660
R4


You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage-earner by pulling down the wage-payer. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.
~Rev. William J. H. Boetcker (not Lincoln)

Offline tfs8271

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Needs to get out more...
  • *****
  • Posts: 2593
  • Gender: Male
  • Hand polished by Chris Lindsey
Re: NiMH Rechareables/PMD660
« Reply #54 on: September 20, 2007, 10:04:38 AM »
tfs,
what sort of runtime can you get on that batterybarn batt?
+t's for the help

Never have done a full test on it. Most I've run is about 5-6 hours at a festival and it still had two lights running. I go to High Sierra and there are plenty of plugs to be found.

I guess I just feel more secure with the battery pack by seeing the lights during run time.
A six pack a day, that's all we ask.

Neumann skm140>ACM Oade PMD660
or Oade Mod R4

Offline NOLAfishwater

  • is not taping much these days
  • Trade Count: (72)
  • Needs to get out more...
  • *****
  • Posts: 6344
  • Gender: Male
  • I LIKE FISHIN
Re: NiMH Rechareables/PMD660
« Reply #55 on: September 20, 2007, 02:31:58 PM »
I do have to agree with Krispy D about an external power source. For the money that you would spend on batteries + La Crosse charger you coud get this:


It is small, 11 Watt hours and is only $49.95
http://www.bixnet.com/misihicabapa.html 

or a step up from that

Here is the next step up: 26 Watt hours and is $69.95 
http://www.bixnet.com/5v7libapa.html

or the 44 Watt Hour model for $99.00 this is the one I bought
http://www.bixnet.com/mumiexbapaki1.html

I chose external batteries b/c of the fact that you don't have to worry about changing them and you can take them to festies and run all day on the one that I bought.
« Last Edit: September 20, 2007, 02:36:30 PM by NOLAfishwater »

Offline Krispy D

  • Trade Count: (1)
  • Needs to get out more...
  • *****
  • Posts: 4878
  • Gender: Male
    • my recordings on LMA
Re: NiMH Rechareables/PMD660
« Reply #56 on: September 20, 2007, 02:39:24 PM »
Yup^^I only run the internals for Stealthyness...
Peluso CEMC6, ck4/ck21
Oktava MC012
Sony ECM260f
AT 811

canare star quads
DIY mil spec silvers

DIY (W-ish) mod UA5>JB3
Oade ACM PMD 660
R4


You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage-earner by pulling down the wage-payer. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.
~Rev. William J. H. Boetcker (not Lincoln)

Offline spcyrfc

  • Trade Count: (8)
  • Taperssection Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 941
  • Gender: Male
  • Live from River City
    • BordersCrossing.net
Re: NiMH Rechareables/PMD660
« Reply #57 on: September 20, 2007, 09:04:26 PM »
my mind gets all bent trying to calculate run times from watt hours?

NOLA have you pushed that batt to its limit?  how many hrs does it yield?

those do look nice, light and plenty stealthy for me cause ill be flying the 460's anyways

also how is the cycle life on these babies? 
mkh8040>aerco mp-2>pcmd-50
PFS: AKG 414xls

Record Local

www.borderscrossing.net

stevetoney

  • Guest
  • Trade Count: (0)
Re: NiMH Rechareables/PMD660
« Reply #58 on: September 22, 2007, 08:25:24 AM »
my mind gets all bent trying to calculate run times from watt hours?

NOLA have you pushed that batt to its limit?  how many hrs does it yield?

those do look nice, light and plenty stealthy for me cause ill be flying the 460's anyways

also how is the cycle life on these babies? 

All day at a festival generally means at least 10 hours for a day.  I think it will last longer though.  I have just bought a used Power Runner for the same purpose.  I don't know anyone that's anal enough that they'd run their recorder all day long just to run the batteries down in order to say...yeah, it last 15 hours vs. 16 hours...and then during a festival actually time it so that you know you're at the 14.5 hour mark and ready to change. 

Rather, what you want to do is have options for hot swapping.  I think the best situation is to have one of these ultra long life batteries AND a nice collection of the cheap energizer 2500 mah rechargeables. 

Yeah, it would be nice to have those Powerex's, but frankly if they're that expensive then there's no doubt in my mind that I'd go with one of these battery packs and just use the shorter life rechargeables as the standard for normal taping.  These give plenty of life for a whole show, or just do what I do and swap a new set of rechargeables at each setbreak and then you never have to worry about running out of juice for a normal night when you're only taping one or two bands over the course of 3 or 4 hours recording time. 

I think I have about 20 niMHs, so it's no big deal to keep a fresh set of batteries in my box.  (Yeah, I know you're supposed to fully drain them every so often for max life...but that's not my goal during a show...i can worry about that at home.)

Finally, I rather like the external power option because I personally find it a pain in the arse taking the back cover off to change batteries all the time.  The downside of the external power supply though is that I've had a situation where it came unplugged during a show, which caused a drop-out of course.  But I've solved that by getting into the habit of positioning my gear inside my bag during the show that that can't happen...I suppose I could also use a small square duct tape applied durng the show if that ever became an issue.

HOpe this helps.
« Last Edit: September 22, 2007, 08:30:28 AM by tonedeaf »

Offline tfs8271

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Needs to get out more...
  • *****
  • Posts: 2593
  • Gender: Male
  • Hand polished by Chris Lindsey
Re: NiMH Rechareables/PMD660
« Reply #59 on: September 22, 2007, 11:16:23 AM »
The downside of the external power supply though is that I've had a situation where it came unplugged during a show, which caused a drop-out of course.  But I've solved that by getting into the habit of positioning my gear inside my bag during the show that that can't happen...I suppose I could also use a small square duct tape applied durng the show if that ever became an issue.

I use a strip of gaff tape across the plug on the box and the battery. Just make sure you don't cover up the serial #....It will come off when you remove the tape. :banging head:
A six pack a day, that's all we ask.

Neumann skm140>ACM Oade PMD660
or Oade Mod R4

 

RSS | Mobile
Page created in 0.157 seconds with 43 queries.
© 2002-2024 Taperssection.com
Powered by SMF