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Offline chuckcage

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Power Planning...
« on: October 21, 2003, 04:29:56 PM »
I'm trying to put together a good single power system for my rig, and I'm having a little trouble getting all the variables under control.

I've got:

NJB3: Needs 12v for auto adapter -- they only stable way of providing external power to this unit from experience + reading.  These things are really nutty about batteries.  No published draw, but it's got a 1600mAh battery which I get 160 minutes from, so guessing around 600-700mA.

AD-20: Takes a single 9v, but the manual (http://www.denecke.com/files/ad20.pdf) indicates that it'll take anything from 6-24 volts via the jack in the battery compartment.  This sounds pretty easy.  50mA draw.

PB224: Takes two 9v, 12v DC input w 2.1 x 5mm jack.  20mA draw.

It seems like with a, say, 800mA draw, A 7Ah battery should give me lots of recording time.  Am I missing anything here?

Next, how to adapt everything...  It looks like everything should run on 12v.  It also seems like the NJB3 (via auto adapter) and AD-20 don't really need voltage regulation as the auto isn't going to provide it, and the AD-20 specs don't seem overly concerned w/voltage.  But what about the PB224?  Will I need some kind of voltage regulator for it?

I read the great post about DIY SLA, and this looks like the way I want to go.  Lamp cord, Neutrik 4-pin XLRs, charger, check.  Since I'd like to run all these off the same battery, I'm thinking I just build a cable with XLR on one end (to battery) and split to everything else from there, no?

A few last questions:

Is there anything ugly I need to know in terms of storing SLAs?  If I mount everything in a case, am I going to have problems turning it sideways to carry it?  I suppose it can't be left in the car on a Texas summer day, yeah?

Finally, I've read here that there are "drawbacks" to using a fuse.  I can see why I *should* use one, but what are the "drawbacks?"

Thanks in advance for any advice you might have to give!

Chuck
---
Currently:
C1000s/MK012 > PB224 > AD-20 > NJB3

Offline dklein

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Re:Power Planning...
« Reply #1 on: October 24, 2003, 12:48:49 AM »
Hey Chuck,

The JB3 is more like 500ma average.  It sits at 260 with occasional peaks to 800 during hard drive writes.  

Not sure exactly what your question is - from the specs you've provided, everything can run off 12v.  It's fair to ask whether you actually want to go SLA and why make it an all in one?  a 7aH SLA is a beast to carry around.  

The two 12v devices are very low draw and the JB3 can be run on 4 Nimh batteries.  The JB3 is your major consumer, it seems wasteful to be running off 12v when you only need 5v.  But if you want to carry the lead, this will all work fine.
KM 184 > V2 > R4
older recording gear: UA-5  / emagic A62 / laptop / JB3 / CSB / AD20 / Sharp MT-90 / Sony MDS-JE510
Playback: Pioneer DV-578 > Lucid DA 9624 >many funny little british boxes > Linn Isobarik PMS

Offline chuckcage

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Re:Power Planning...
« Reply #2 on: October 24, 2003, 10:41:24 AM »
Not sure exactly what your question is - from the specs you've provided, everything can run off 12v.  It's fair to ask whether you actually want to go SLA and why make it an all in one?  a 7aH SLA is a beast to carry around.  

The two 12v devices are very low draw and the JB3 can be run on 4 Nimh batteries.  The JB3 is your major consumer, it seems wasteful to be running off 12v when you only need 5v.  But if you want to carry the lead, this will all work fine.

Well, my main concern is the NJB3.  I've had lots of power issues.  With one battery, I can't quite make a long show.  Clearly the answer is to buy another battery, but I got to thinking that $50 is getting me on the way to a better solution.  

You're right that the PB224 and AD-20 run so long on 9v that I could pretty easily just keep using them that way.  Or, I guess I could pick up some rechargable 9v and go that route.  

The NJB3 still scares me that way, though.  It's so finnicky about power.  For example, one night I needed to record a rehearsal (where there was power right by my bass rig) then record a show later.  I just removed the battery and ran the NJB3 on the adapter for the rehearsal (remember, the NJB3 will *shut off* when the battery reaches full charge if you leave it in).  Then, I planned on putting the battery back in for the show later.

But when I put the battery back in, the NJB3 acted like it was dead.  Nothing would convince it otherwise.  (The battery was freshly charged overnight the same day, and showed full just before I removed it at the rehearsal.)  When I got home after the show (where I had to use my MD), I plugged the NJB3 in with the battery in it, and it appeared to charge for about a minute, then claimed the battery was full.

Not encouraging...

So I ended up thinking about maybe solving the NJB3 runtime problem and losing all the 9v at once.  

My big concern is all the adapting.  Just kinda wanted a reality check from some people who've maybe done this kind of thing before.

How do you power your NJB3?

Chuck
---
Currently:
C1000s/MK012 > PB224 > AD-20 > NJB3

Offline dklein

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Re:Power Planning...
« Reply #3 on: October 24, 2003, 03:51:04 PM »
I usually just run mine on the internal battery (don't really do any festivals).  The odd time I'm doing 2 shows in a night or want to grab the opener as well, I might use some external power.

I have run it on a 9.6v Nimh with a 12v car adapter set to 4.5v.  I use this if I want to run the UA-5 off the same pack (UA-5 gets straight 9.6).  I wired up a little harness that has the 2 separate outputs.

I've also run it on a 4.8v Nimh pack - I just took an extra 9.6v pack, cut it in two and put a JB3 size power plug on the end.

In both external power cases, I've pulled the power out while recording without any adverse effects.  Others have reported problems that I haven't experienced.  I'm on firmware 1.32.02

The 4.8v pack would also be good for recharging the internal between sets if you're not comfortable running on it.
KM 184 > V2 > R4
older recording gear: UA-5  / emagic A62 / laptop / JB3 / CSB / AD20 / Sharp MT-90 / Sony MDS-JE510
Playback: Pioneer DV-578 > Lucid DA 9624 >many funny little british boxes > Linn Isobarik PMS

 

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