Topic: v3 power question

[Panthro10]

So I just got a v3 today for a great price, but the seller did not have much information for me. I got just the box, no cables or battery or anything and I am wondering what my options are for powering it. The box for 6v is marked on the sticker on the back.

[guysonic]

While your device is 'set' for 6 volt operation with notifying sticker, I think this is just an internal jumper setting choice for indicating/operating with 6 or 12 volt external battery. 

Look into the owners manual and the additional internal jumper support literature for changing operating battery volts if necessary on the Grace site.

[Brian Skalinder]

Guysonic is correct -- there's an internal jumper for selecting 6v or 12v operation.  Internally, there's also a way to adjust the low-battery indicator and auto-shutoff threshold.  At 6v, low-battery indicator is set for 5.75v and auto-shutoff for 5.0v;  For 12v operation, low-battery indicator is set for 11.5v and auto-shutoff for 10.0v.  Odds are if your box is marked 6v, it's calibrated for 6v, and you don't need to re-calibrate.  If not, and you want to calibrate for 6v, there are directions for how to do so on the Grace website.

You may wish to identify whether your V3 falls into the range of units that has its digital output polarity swapped.  This issue affects units with serial #s V3001-V3496.  If your unit's affected and you want to get it fixed, I believe Grace will do it under warranty.  Again, there's more info on the website.

As for power options, I used to use - and I believe plenty of TSers continue to use - rechargeable li-ion batteries marketed for DVD players.  Just need to hack a V3 power connector onto the battery's cable.  These batteries are 9v, but will work fine with your V3 if it's calibrated for 6v operation.  (They will not work if your V3 is calibrated for 12v.)  The V3's low-battery indicator and auto-shutoff features won't work because they're still calibrated for 6v operation, but these batteries have their own low-battery indicator lights, so it's not a big deal.  Some TSers have referred to these li-ion batteries as "Wallmart" or "Wally World" batteries because at one point they were available inexpensively at Wallmart.  Last I had one, quite some time ago, they were branded under several names:  Initial RB-270, Lenmar DVD-U9, and Memorex something-or-other.

[stevetoney]

Drew:

Those 'Wally World' DVD batteries are a good way to go.  They power the V3 for a good 6 hours per charge.  These can be fairly expensive, say if you get the Lenmar batteries from B&H ($40 each or so), but there has been a guy selling a similar model (same mah and voltage) on ebay for an average of about $10 each.  Look in the ebay forum and you'll find some links and maybe that will give you a clue for what to look for on ebay.  I know that I scored a 3 pack from ebay 3 or 4 months ago for I think something like $23, excluding shipping which was another $10.  The batteries work great!  Hard to beat that deal!

Good luck and congratulations on getting the V3!

Steve

EDIT TO ADD:  You might also want to look into buying a V3 power connector from Kindcables ($25 I think).  The connector for the V3 is a locking connector that's really nice.  It locks onto the power connector at the back of the V3 so that the connector can't pull loose.  I'm pretty sure that the one that Ed sells (kindcables) has the right connector on the other end that fits into the Wally World batteries that I mention above.

[NOLAfishwater]

all great replies above

check this thread out:

http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,97621.0.html

[Panthro10]

Thanks for all the help. That is exactly the info I was looking for. I have found some dvd batteries for 12.99 plus $4 shipping on ebay (9v, 5400mAh).

 My v3 does fall in the serial number range with the polarity issue. I have no idea whether it's been in already or not, but I wanted to try to run it this weekend. I was gonna rig up a cable to run it from a 7.2v RC battery cause I have an extra for my fr2le. But now I'm concerned about the polarity issue. I am gonna send it in, but if I wanted to try to run it before it goes in, do I risk frying it or something if I have the polarity reversed?

Can i tell by inspection if the box has already been fixed?

EDIT: I looked at their website and see that it's the digital outputs (as you also stated above) that have the polarity reversed, not the power.. so I shouldn't have an issue. I will be running analog out as well since the fr2le does not have digi in.

[stevetoney]

Thanks for all the help. That is exactly the info I was looking for. I have found some dvd batteries for 12.99 plus $4 shipping on ebay (9v, 5400mAh).

 My v3 does fall in the serial number range with the polarity issue. I have no idea whether it's been in already or not, but I wanted to try to run it this weekend. I was gonna rig up a cable to run it from a 7.2v RC battery cause I have an extra for my fr2le. But now I'm concerned about the polarity issue. I am gonna send it in, but if I wanted to try to run it before it goes in, do I risk frying it or something if I have the polarity reversed?

Can i tell by inspection if the box has already been fixed?

No you can't hurt anything by running the V3 with the polarity issue.  To be clear, this isn't polarity for power supply.  It's plus vs minus on the right and left channels. 

You can check your V3 to tell if your polarity has been corrected.  Just record a soundbite  through the V3 onto your FR2LE.  Download it into your software and then use the software to check if your polarity is aligned properly.  You might need to check the FAQs to tell you how to do that.  If you use Audition, PM me and I'll let you know how to do it.  (FWIW, I just learned myself less than a month ago how to do it with Audition, after using Audition for the last ten years or so.)

[JasonSobel]

You can check your V3 to tell if your polarity has been corrected.  Just record a soundbite  through the V3 onto your FR2LE.  Download it into your software and then use the software to check if your polarity is aligned properly.  You might need to check the FAQs to tell you how to do that.  If you use Audition, PM me and I'll let you know how to do it.  (FWIW, I just learned myself less than a month ago how to do it with Audition, after using Audition for the last ten years or so.)

this isn't entirely true, and it's not something that you can check on your own by running into your FR2LE (because the FR2LE doesn't have a digital input).
The thing with absolute polarity is, unless the two channels are 180 degrees out of phase with each other, then you can't really tell.  And because it's just about impossible to hear, that's why it slipped past Grace Design and they let it out of the factory with the issue.

What the problem actually is is that both channels on the digital outputs had been reverse polarity relative to both channels on the analog outputs (but on both the analog and digital outputs, the two channels were in phase with each other).  So if you're only using the analog outputs, you have no problem.  If you're only using the digital outputs (and the polarity issue hasn't been fixed), then you might want to invert both channels on your computer after the recording is made. (I say might, because you won't really be able to tell the difference and it might not be worth your time.  seriously, probably thousands of V3 recordings were made from the digital outputs before anyone noticed that the polarity was flipped relative to the analog outs).

all that said, just send a quick email to Grace Design with your serial number, and I'm sure that they'll be able to tell you whether or not the polarity on the digital outs has been fixed relative to the analog outs.

[Panthro10]

the v3 has power..

got a power plug and tamiya connector and soldered em on a wire, plugged it in to the v3 and the rc battery and lights came on. Then as I handled the unit, the power kept cutting off.. put in the little piece of rubber band in the male end on the v3 and now it seems to be getting steady power and not cutting off...

[NOLAfishwater]

the v3 has power..

got a power plug and tamiya connector and soldered em on a wire, plugged it in to the v3 and the rc battery and lights came on. Then as I handled the unit, the power kept cutting off.. put in the little piece of rubber band in the male end on the v3 and now it seems to be getting steady power and not cutting off...

you should look into getting a locking power connector for the V3 side of the power cable.

[dactylus]

the v3 has power..

got a power plug and tamiya connector and soldered em on a wire, plugged it in to the v3 and the rc battery and lights came on. Then as I handled the unit, the power kept cutting off.. put in the little piece of rubber band in the male end on the v3 and now it seems to be getting steady power and not cutting off...

you should look into getting a locking power connector for the V3 side of the power cable.

Yes, the locking connector on the V3 side gives you some peace of mind...

Ed at KindKables.com can provide this locking cable for you.

http://kindkables.com/

[jerryfreak]

also worth mentioning is the v3 has the slight issue of the pins inside the power jack get bent in toward each other and lose contact with the plug. take a jeweler's screwdriver and separate these slightly and you'll be money.

the locking plug is a common switchcraft part #, tho i cant remember which (755? 775? something like that)

[rigpimp]

Switchcraft S760K