Topic: Tip polarity and R4 question

[balou2]

So, I recently switched to a NiMH set up.  When I plug the battery in to the R4, I get no juice, but the battery is full.  I konw that there are polarity "issues" with the R4 cable, but I don't understand what that means.  Can someone guide me in this?

[dnsacks]

polarity means which part of the plug sends the battery's positive "juice" to the r4 and whcih part of the plug sends the battery's negative "juice" to the r4. Generally, the center of the plug carries positive and the outside carries negative.  Perhaps the r4 does this backward.

Best bet is to get a voltmeter from radioshack (they're cheap) and use it to determine how the r4's wall wart plug is wired.  Then, be sure the plug coming out of your battery is wired the same way and you should be all set.

[china_rider]

R-4 tip is negative, ring is positive.  The same connector used for the UA-5 will work.

[balou2]

R-4 tip is negative, ring is positive.  The same connector used for the UA-5 will work.

Yeh...I've seen that. 

a) I don't have a UA-5 connector
b) If I did, I'd need a custom connect on the battery side.  It's a 2-pin, from batteryspace.

If using a "standard" tip, which has a positive tip, and negative ring, would that NOT pass power to the R4? 

[Brian Skalinder]

If using a "standard" tip, which has a positive tip, and negative ring, would that NOT pass power to the R4?

Correct.  And it may fry the R-4.  But then again, it may not - depends on if it has any internal protections against reversed polarity.

The UA5 / R4 connector info:  http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=20671.0

[poorlyconditioned]

R-4 tip is negative, ring is positive.  The same connector used for the UA-5 will work.

So what is the voltage/current draw of the R4?  I'm thinking of getting one of these.

Also, does anyone know if the R04 will continue, or is it replace by the Pro?  I couldn't find any info on the newer unit on the Edirol site either.

Thanks,
  Richard

[dnsacks]

R-4 tip is negative, ring is positive.  The same connector used for the UA-5 will work.

Yeh...I've seen that. 

a) I don't have a UA-5 connector
b) If I did, I'd need a custom connect on the battery side.  It's a 2-pin, from batteryspace.

If using a "standard" tip, which has a positive tip, and negative ring, would that NOT pass power to the R4? 

The problem is that the connector is wired "backward" -- fairly simple to fix by cutting the wires and re-attaching the wires running to the connector in reverse (ie if one wire was red and the other was black, cutting the cord and attaching red to black and black to red).  A friend with basic soldiering skills or a mom & pop  electronics repair shop should be able to take care of this for you in 5 minutes.

[BayTaynt3d]

R-4 tip is negative, ring is positive.  The same connector used for the UA-5 will work.

So what is the voltage/current draw of the R4?  I'm thinking of getting one of these.

Also, does anyone know if the R04 will continue, or is it replace by the Pro?  I couldn't find any info on the newer unit on the Edirol site either.

Thanks,
  Richard

I use the standard DVD battery with much success (7+ hours of 4-channel with phantom). It's 9v I think. And, as far as we know the standard R4 will continue to exist alongside the pro, however I really have no idea. As far as I can tell there is no real benefit to a taper for the pro model (the main point of it is timecode), and there might even be a disadvantage (mic/line switch has to be accessed via menus now instead of hardware switch on outside of unit), but another thread discussed all of that. But if I remember correctly, the pro model does provide 4 analog outs, whereas the standard only does two.

Also, please people, don't just send juice into your expensive gear without being pretty damn certain about what you are doing. Yikes! I wouldn't want you to fry your $1200 piece of gear just to see if it worked.