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Author Topic: Best Li-Ion or DVD Battery Option for this set-up?I  (Read 3467 times)

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Offline supo

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Best Li-Ion or DVD Battery Option for this set-up?I
« on: November 15, 2013, 03:40:53 PM »
I had a post up that may have been removed? (seeking old Eco-Charge Batteries, dead or alive).   So, I'll post this.  I'm trying to power a Tascam HD-P2 and Apogee Mini-Me using (1) one single power supply (like the dual 12v Eco-Charge did).  What's the best option?  I'd like to get a minimum 6 hours, but would prefer 8 or more.  Thank you for the advice.  I've been reading for about 24 hours straight on this forum and my mind is one big cluttered mess, so I thought I'd post exactly what I need.  IMPORTANT!! I would REALLY like to have a meter that shows when the battery is charged and when it's trickling down.  I don't like not knowing where I'm at on power!!!

stevetoney

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Re: Best Li-Ion or DVD Battery Option for this set-up?I
« Reply #1 on: November 17, 2013, 08:05:52 AM »
I'm not sure I'd recommend a split cable to you.  You should be aware that the mini-me is a reverse polarity device...tip is negative.  I'm not 100% sure about the HD-P2, but other Tascam products I've owned are normal polarity (tip is positive) so I'm gonna say that I'm pretty sure the polarity on the mme is opposite from the P2.  Here's the thing...the mini-me IS NOT reverse polarity protected.  So if you build a Y cable, you'll want to MAKE SURE you never accidentally connect the cable wrong, or you'll fry your mini-me.  Apogee will fix it for you for $179 excluding shipping (can you tell that I have personal experience with thes? :)). 

However, if the connectors for the P2 and mme are different, then the above concern would be a moot point.  If that's the case, then you wouldn't be able to accidentally swap the connectors since the P2 connector wouldn't be able to fit into the MME and vice versa.  What I'd do is WITH POWER DISCONNECTED, see if the wall wart connectors for the MME and P2 can be mistake for each other.  If they can be swapped, NO WAY should you attempt powering both of these from the same battery.  I mean, you could have a Y cable made with one branch reverse polarity and try to make sure the reversed polarity branch of the cable always goes to the MME, but that's an accident waiting to happen right there.

Nevertheless, I'll assume the above isn't an issue and I'll answer your basic question.

What you're asking for is going to require a custom build.  You're gonna need to start out by figuring out what battery you want to buy and work forward from there.

First let's figure out the capacity of battery that you need.  I checked the specs on the HD-P2 and it says it pulls 6W.  The mini-me specs don't say what it pulls, but I owned one and I don't recall it being overly hungry, so let's assume it also pulls 6W.  12W at 12V means you need 1amp or 1000ma for every hour of operation. Therefore, to get 8 hours you'll need a battery that gives you 8000mah at 12V.  Let's give ourselves some headroom here in case my mini-me assumption isn't right and say that you probably need a 9 or 10 amp-hours battery.  Remember, battery specs can be deceiving if you don't understand the specs...they like to quote really high mah ratings, but those are usually at real low voltages, so don't be fooled by ebay ads that say a battery has 20,000mah...that might be 20,000mah at 3.7v which doesn't cut it for your needs.  8000mah at 12V is a fairly large capacity battery. 

The problem here is that there aren't many metered batteries out there with this capacity and they're REALLY expensive...like over $200.  Here's the battery that has become really popular on ts.com.  I own two of them and love them.  So, you could buy two of these which would give you what you need.  Each one of these should give you between 5 hours or so and alot of people own these batteries here on ts.com.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.Xnaztech+pb15000&_nkw=naztech+pb15000&_sacat=0&_from=R40

Since you were asking about an eco-charge, I'll assume you aren't concerned with using lead.  I still like using lead batteries...they're cheap and reliable.  In fact, I have a battery that exactly matches this spec...it's not light but in the grand scheme of things 6 pounds is no big deal.  Here's a link and I can pick these up at my local Batteries Plus store for less than $40.

http://www.batteriesplus.com/product/40570-WKA12--9F2-Werker-12V-9Ah-Battery-with-F2-Terminal/100085-1/102629-SLA-Sealed-Lead-Acid-Batteries/102645-Werker/12V.aspx

If you go this route, you'll of course need to buy a charger for the battery.  Basic SLA chargers are $25 or so.

So, this battery doesn't have a meter, but you really don't need a meter.  All you have to do is hook up all of your stuff to the battery and set it up to say record the TV or a stereo.  Let the battery run down and you'll have a run time estimate of how long the battery will last with the gear you'll be using.

What you need to do then is buy some kind of connector for the battery terminals.  They should have these at Batteries Plus, but you could so what I do.  I go to Radio Shack and buy a Tamiya connector and solder it onto the terminals.  Red wire goes to red terminal (positive terminal) black wire goes to black terminal (negative).  Just remember to flux the wires and terminal before soldering to get a good solder connection.

Here's a link to the connector I use...

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062132

Finally, the reason I said you start with the battery first is because you need to know the specific connector type the battery needs.  Since now you know the connector on the battery, the mini-me, and the HD-P2, contact one of the two cable builders on ts.com (tgakidis or darktrain) and they'll custom build you a 'y' cable with all of the appropriate connectors at each end of the 'y' so you'll be able to hook everything up.

Actually you don't need need to know the connector type of the mini-me or the HD-P2.  Ted Gakidis already has figured out all of the connector types on the major gear that's used on ts.com.  It's shown in a chart here on ts.com somewhere.

I hope this helps.

Offline dlh

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Re: Best Li-Ion or DVD Battery Option for this set-up?I
« Reply #2 on: November 17, 2013, 09:15:42 AM »
I'm not sure I'd recommend a split cable to you.  You should be aware that the mini-me is a reverse polarity device...tip is negative. 

My MiniMe, MiniMP, and MiniDac are all tip +.
I've made all my own power (and hot swap) cables myself. So I'm sure about this.  Maybe another generation of Mini's is tip -.
I'd like to power all stuff from one device too, but I worry about noise/grnd loop etc.
I think I read about problems earlier in a thread.
I've considered going SLA (don't think they have control circuitry).
I'm thinking that one SLA might give me as much "juice" as several dvd batteries.

Dave
« Last Edit: November 17, 2013, 09:25:37 AM by dlh »
480b, 460b, Line Audio CM3, SP LSD2, AT BP4025, SP C4,
MiniMe, MiniMP, AND ANNOUNCING the recent adoption of a Mini-Dac. The little bro's are SO excited  :yahoo:

DR-680, DR-100 MKII, PMD671, fr2LE, MTII

De gustibus non est disputandum.
"It's just this little chromium switch here.  You people are soo superstitious."

stevetoney

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Re: Best Li-Ion or DVD Battery Option for this set-up?I
« Reply #3 on: November 17, 2013, 10:16:11 AM »
I'm not sure I'd recommend a split cable to you.  You should be aware that the mini-me is a reverse polarity device...tip is negative. 

My MiniMe, MiniMP, and MiniDac are all tip +.
I've made all my own power (and hot swap) cables myself. So I'm sure about this.  Maybe another generation of Mini's is tip -.

Interesting.  Bottom line is CHECK.  I owned both MME and MMP and fried them both due to reverse polarity. So as positive as you are that yours aren't, I'm equally positive mine were. 

I'd like to power all stuff from one device too, but I worry about noise/grnd loop etc.
I think I read about problems earlier in a thread.

True about ground loops.

FWIW, I've also read that the more complicated batteries, like Tekkeons, have caused people noise issues as well, so I suppose the bottom line is that YMMV.


I've considered going SLA (don't think they have control circuitry).

Correct. 

I mean, I suppose the more expensive batteries condition the power to make sure there are no power surges, but I'm pretty sure the only 'control circuit' say a tekkeon has is whatever is needed for voltage switching (and this has caused some DR680 owners issues).  AA batteries certainly don't have circuits, so not sure why any other external battery would need to have one.  Anyway, perhaps there is an internal fuse in a Tekkeon as well.

I'm thinking that one SLA might give me as much "juice" as several dvd batteries.

The typical wally worlds were 5400mah @ 7.2V.  At BatteriesPlus you can buy SLA's that are smaller capacity than that all the way up to batteries that are 10x the capacity.  What you'd get is all dependent on what you want to carry with you.  I have a ton of SLAs in the basement that I use on festival weekends.  For 12V, I have five 12V 10000mah SLAs.  They're like six pounds each.  Each one powered my AD2K all day at a festival.  The AD2K is a power hog...something like 12watts.  These SLAs aren't light, but they provide TONS of juice for not much $$ and I never have to worry about running out of power at a festy.
« Last Edit: November 17, 2013, 10:27:01 AM by tonedeaf »

 

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