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Author Topic: Marantz pmd660 power solutions..  (Read 5750 times)

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Offline phr

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Re: Marantz pmd660 power solutions..
« Reply #15 on: May 16, 2006, 05:29:42 AM »
I thought of that hot swapping trick but am scared of it with NiMH cells, which have high current capacity.  The issue is that fully charged cells are around 1.4 volts and near-discharged ones are maybe 1.1 volts.  So you're putting these two very low impedance sources together at differing voltages, almost like dead-shorting the charged cells.  With alkalines (higher internal resistance) it might not be so bad.

I wonder about getting the whole 5AH worth from that SLA pack.  The problem I'm thinking of isn't the voltage being too high, it's being too low as it discharges.  As I mentioned on the other thread, you may be better off with an external nimh pack.  One idea I've had is to use C or D cells for very high capacity.  Another idea is to use a small pack (AA or AAA cells) to run the deck just for short periods while swapping out the internal cells without stopping recording.  Another idea is have several 4AA external packs, plus have batteries inside the deck.  The hope is that you can swap between external packs while recording, because the internal cells will keep powering the unit.  But I haven't tried any of this yet.

Offline Nick's Picks

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Re: Marantz pmd660 power solutions..
« Reply #16 on: May 16, 2006, 07:17:18 AM »
ok....

to put this thread to rest.

first off, the 660 will record in excess of 7 hours with phantom power and normal meetering lights on.  this is with HQ NiMH cells in there.  I have done this myself w/the Duracells and Powerex 2300-2500mAh on many occasions. 
even if the cells are down a bit, you CAN remove two of them w/o the unit going dark.  and there lies the hot swap availability.

the PR2E will work just fine.  My Marantz had a damaged AC jack that caused the problem I was experienceing.  All better now.

I'm guessing a 4.8v battery sled will also power it up easily, thus making a cheap external sled very easy to whip up.

But honestly, with the runtime from AA batteries, why use anything else?  You could bring 16 batteries to a festival and probably only use 1/2 of them.

Offline phr

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Re: Marantz pmd660 power solutions..
« Reply #17 on: June 06, 2006, 11:01:26 PM »
Nick, my buying criterion has always been 30 hours of battery operation though in fact I haven't used that much yet.  With the PMD660 that would mean about 16 or 20 AA's, which is not that bad.  (4 HQ NIMH inside the unit, 12 spares in a carrying case, and a couple 4-packs of alkalines in reserve).  But I -do- find the 7 hour internal capacity to be a limitation.  The battery gauge is not very accurate so I can never tell when the internal cells are going flat, and it means I have to either hot swap or stop recording at some inconvenient time.  Yes the sessions I record are frequently much longer than 7 hours.  So I do want to put some kind of hot swap solution together.  But it's not terribly urgent, and as mentioned, I feel likely to get an R-09 or some successor to it, so I don't want to put a lot more funds or energy into PMD660 improvements.

Offline Nick's Picks

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Re: Marantz pmd660 power solutions..
« Reply #18 on: June 07, 2006, 07:21:36 AM »
for that kind of run time, i'd just pick up a 7amp 6v SLA and be done w/it.
that will run the 660 overnight, i'm sure.

Offline Unitmonster

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Re: Marantz pmd660 power solutions..
« Reply #19 on: June 07, 2006, 09:21:54 AM »
Thanks for the info guys.  My 660 arrives this week and I'll probably stick with teh AA's. I rarely need more than 4 hours of juice in a night anyway.

AT853rx (c,sc,o)> Fostex FR2-LE (Busman T-Mod)

Offline paullySC

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Re: Marantz pmd660 power solutions..
« Reply #20 on: June 20, 2006, 01:18:59 PM »
ok....

to put this thread to rest.

first off, the 660 will record in excess of 7 hours with phantom power and normal meetering lights on.  this is with HQ NiMH cells in there.  I have done this myself w/the Duracells and Powerex 2300-2500mAh on many occasions. 
even if the cells are down a bit, you CAN remove two of them w/o the unit going dark.  and there lies the hot swap availability.

the PR2E will work just fine.  My Marantz had a damaged AC jack that caused the problem I was experienceing.  All better now.

I'm guessing a 4.8v battery sled will also power it up easily, thus making a cheap external sled very easy to whip up.

But honestly, with the runtime from AA batteries, why use anything else?  You could bring 16 batteries to a festival and probably only use 1/2 of them.

What kind of battery charger are you using for the 2500 mAh duracell? I tried going a 2.5 hour show on one set of batteries and they died after 2 hours. The batteries are only a month old. Maybe I just have a crappy charger I don't know.

paul
"If you were supposed to watch your mouth all the time I doubt your eyes would be above it."

Studio Projects C4 > PMD 660 ACM

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Offline Nick's Picks

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Re: Marantz pmd660 power solutions..
« Reply #21 on: June 20, 2006, 04:30:29 PM »
is your battery compartment all "shimmed" behind the contacts?
if not, then try that and do a test.  I was having that same problem and the shim fixed everything.

Offline paullySC

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Re: Marantz pmd660 power solutions..
« Reply #22 on: June 23, 2006, 01:27:58 PM »
I'll give that a shot. I guess a business card would work? Should I just shim the positive sides? Thanks.

Paul
"If you were supposed to watch your mouth all the time I doubt your eyes would be above it."

Studio Projects C4 > PMD 660 ACM

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Offline Nick's Picks

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Re: Marantz pmd660 power solutions..
« Reply #23 on: June 23, 2006, 02:25:40 PM »
yup, that will work.
do them all, both sides.

 

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