Topic: Marantz PMD-671 in the field part 4...

[gmm6797]

Please think about Mother Earth!

Meaning?

So, buying a $100 battery is better for mother earth than a $10 one?

[sam]

Please think about Mother Earth!

Meaning?

So, buying a $100 battery is better for mother earth than a $10 one?

The suggestion was made to go all external batteries (rechargeable) rather than going with the internal from Marantz. I currently use an external and want to extend the range of the internals. If the expensive marantz will give me another 4.5 hours. I Should be good for 9-10 hours without a break. I have ordered one, and will run some tests and get back with the results.

[gmm6797]

Please think about Mother Earth!

Meaning?

So, buying a $100 battery is better for mother earth than a $10 one?

The suggestion was made to go all external batteries (rechargeable) rather than going with the internal from Marantz. I currently use an external and want to extend the range of the internals. If the expensive marantz will give me another 4.5 hours. I Should be good for 9-10 hours without a break. I have ordered one, and will run some tests and get back with the results.

Sorry, I was more asking about the "earth" comment... I understand where you are coming from with the batteries both internal and external

[sam]

Well, I received the Marantz 1651 battery I ran some test with it and the ACM 671.

The first test I twice ran it with the light constantly on, connected to my MBH0603A/200 mics with a pair of 20’ cables at 24/48, With the phantom power on and got total run times of: 
3:16:45 sec and 3:17:44

The next test was to run with the light on for only 20 minutes this extended the battery to:
3:39:44

I ran it without any light and only got:
3:40:39
I was surprised at this.

The final test I used as a reference. I put in 8 AA energizer 2500 battery freshly conditioned and Charged and got 2:55 with no light on.

I formatted the card after each test in my computer and used the same card a 4gb SanDisk.

My conclusion is the battery is convienet  alteranative to recharable AA’s since the charger is the AC adapter, but probably not worth the money for most people. I will still use an external battery for most shows except the occasional hour or less show.

[gmm6797]

+T for the info and time spent and money dispersed

[gmm6797]

anyone know the setting to keep he WAV files at 2gb or less?  Wanting to make the auto-split more OS friendly and FLAC friendly

[leehookem]

on the 671, you split by time, not gigs.  at 24/48 that is roughly 2 hours.  I always split at 1 hour.

[gmm6797]

i need to go back into the menus, any suggestions for 24/98 spltting?  idealy to keep files less than 2gb

[leehookem]

1 hour for 24/96

[gmm6797]

thanks +T

[greppson]

So... I'm not sure if you all remember this or not, but I was having some powering issues with my 671 last summer.

First off, I bought a new internal sled for it and that seemed to solve the problem I was having. For some reason, I think some of the internals were losing their "ground" and were thus discharging in an awkward way which caused the recording to have noise likes buzz an clipping inserted. The new sled definitely solved the problem.

The problem I then ran into was that the box kept telling me about 20-30 minutes into a show that the batteries were almost out and then it would shut off. This happened once back in October and then most recently about 2 weeks ago. I've come to the conclusion that it is NOT the batteries, but again an issue with the sled. I believe it is how the sled "sits" in the battery tray in relation to the orientation of the box. I use a Nova 5 bag and have the box sit vertical with the screen on top in the bag. When I do that, I have trouble with the box saying that the batteries are almost out of juice or just simply turning off before I notice the battery icon. I am 100% it is not the batts because when I do notice and fix it (open the batt tray, take out the sled, check the to make sure all the batts are in the same way and snuggly in the sled and then put it back in the tray and close it up and turn the box on), the batts continue to work fine. My guess is that the 671 actually needs to sit FLAT and horizontal rather than vertical. I think something about sitting vertical causes the sled to not be in the right place for all the batteries to be used rather than only 2-4 of them being used, thus causing the shutdown and low batt blinking icon on the display.

Has anyone else had this problem or noticed it? Is there some sort of "wedge" I need to create/use if the internals and the box vertically in my bag?

I am most likely going to switch to some 9v 6000 mAh or 5400 mAh external DVD batts anyways, but I did want to figure this out and put it out there to see if anyone else has had the same problem.

[datbrad]

I have had the same issue this summer with my PMD670, twice. The battery went from full to empty in about 10 min just over an hour into the set. I considered that their may have been a single rechargable AA that was bad, or not charged correctly, something like that. My deck sits at 45 degrees, not flat, and not standing on it's end as you are doing. I replaced the 2500 Energizers with 2650 Duracells, and ran for Jason Isbell last week, 2 hours straight through, and the battery indicated a full charge and the end!

I don't know what to think, but I don't like dealing with the risks of being suprised by a bad cell, so I am leaning towards a DVD external. One more time with battery issues, and the AAs are outa here.

[greppson]

I've had it happen two times. That's two times too many. I don't expect this stuff to happen with expensive equipment. Really, I shouldn't have to "wedge" in something to fix it either. Ugh.

I'm already trying to watch for some external batts on ebay. I'm just trying to get at least 2 and if I find any extras I will gladly sell them to you all at whatever price I paid + shipping to you.

let me know if you all find any either.

[sygdwm]

i have had mixed results with rechargeable AA's. so much that i went with external dvd batts. however, i got shoddy results with running phantom on an external dvd batt. once they start to lose their charge the voltage drops so fast the 671 dies prematurely.

also, i was running a ua5 with both my 671's and accidentally switched the power cables. the ua5 and the 671 use the same tips. however, the polarity is switched on the ua5. so, needless to say i sent the wrong polarity to my 671's (twice- ). when you do this a fuse pops and you can no longer run off external power (including AC).

so, moral of the story, be careful running off externals. fwiw, i have gone back to my dat days and run disposable AA's with far better(consistent) results.

[shackaholic]

just buy the batterygeeks 10.14.88 and call it a day.

pricey, but so worth it! i've recorded up to 7.5 hours on it and it didn't even phase it! that was with the display light on too. maybe i'll test it soon to see just how long the battery can power it.