Author Topic: Marantz pmd660 power solutions.. (Read 5818 times)

Nick's Picks · « **on:** March 13, 2006, 03:54:43 PM »

Ok...i've had some revelations.

for one thing, and this has been observed allready by some people.
the 660 only runs on 2 batteries...thus it is taking a 3v feed (.08amp current) on the inside battery compartment. this means that you can hot swap cells while the deck is running.

pretty cool

even cooler though, it will run, er..better said, it seems to run... w/a 6v DC feed externaly. Marantz does not recomend, advise or endorse it, but a tech told me that it "should work".
I just took a chance and hooked up a 6v 5amp SLA to mine and it powered right up. Now i'm going to hook up my hungry LSD2 mic and power it up and see that everything is fine and running for a long time.

spyder9 · « **Reply #1 on:** March 13, 2006, 04:31:05 PM »

Quote from: Nick's Picks on March 13, 2006, 03:54:43 PM

Ok...i've had some revelations.

for one thing, and this has been observed allready by some people.
the 660 only runs on 2 batteries...thus it is taking a 3v feed (.08amp current) on the inside battery compartment. this means that you can hot swap cells while the deck is running.

pretty cool

even cooler though, it will run, er..better said, it seems to run... w/a 6v DC feed externaly. Marantz does not recomend, advise or endorse it, but a tech told me that it "should work".
I just took a chance and hooked up a 6v 5amp SLA to mine and it powered right up. Now i'm going to hook up my hungry LSD2 mic and power it up and see that everything is fine and running for a long time.

What about a Walmart 9V > Todd R Juicebox > 6V? Lighter alternative? No?

Nick's Picks · « **Reply #2 on:** March 13, 2006, 04:49:18 PM »

beats me.
it needs to have a 2amp current or it wont turn on. i'm not familiar w/the juicebox , so I can't comment.
and remember.... i'm just passing on what i'm trying. fry your deck at your own risk!

there is a fuse in there, so worst case is you fry that.

spyder9 · « **Reply #3 on:** March 13, 2006, 07:03:10 PM »

Thanks. I'll check with Todd and report back.

Todd R · « **Reply #4 on:** March 14, 2006, 11:11:32 AM »

Sorry, the Juice Box was designed specifically to provide 5v for the Microtrack and the Nomad JB3. Though I might be able to make a special Juice Box to provide 6v, I can't easily adapt it to provide a 2A current output. Bottom line, a Juice Box is not an option for this application. $:-\$

Nick's Picks · « **Reply #5 on:** March 21, 2006, 07:36:25 AM »

fwiw...
doug did some testing, and reported back that he feels safe powering the 660 w/a fully charged 6v SLA, but would not recomend using any more voltage than 7v.

spyder9 · « **Reply #6 on:** March 21, 2006, 10:09:20 AM »

Nick,

Check out the Power Runner PR2E. Selectable voltage. A friend used it at Snoe.down during his maiden voyage w/ the 660. Said it worked flawlessly for the all day festival. He had it set at 6V. It beats lugging around lead.

http://www.laptopsforless.com/portable-dvd-battery/pr2e.htm

Nick's Picks · « **Reply #7 on:** March 22, 2006, 07:15:42 AM »

I've got one. That very model and purchased from the same spot... and it does not power up my 660. is your friends an ACM ?
interesting.

spyder9 · « **Reply #8 on:** March 22, 2006, 11:07:03 AM »

Yes. He just got it last week. Said the battery worked like a charm. ACM does something to the powering? I didn't read anything about that.

Nick's Picks · « **Reply #9 on:** March 22, 2006, 11:52:49 AM »

no, that that I'm aware of. I just was curious if there were any other differences in our units as his seems to work w/that battery and mine wont even turn on.
yes, I have the tip polarity correct.

spyder9 · « **Reply #10 on:** March 22, 2006, 01:50:26 PM »

Correction on the voltage. He set it at 5V. He said it ran forever. I'm double checking on his mod. I'm almost positive he said ACM. He likes having the best. Don't we all.

EDIT: confirmed ACM mod

Nick's Picks · « **Reply #11 on:** March 22, 2006, 04:09:42 PM »

huh.
i've tried mine at every voltage under 12, and it just will not turn on w/that battery.
fires right up fine on a pair of AAs or w/a 6v SLA. but that PR2E just doesn't do it

spyder9 · « **Reply #12 on:** March 22, 2006, 04:13:14 PM »

Quote from: Nick's Picks on March 22, 2006, 04:09:42 PM

huh.
i've tried mine at every voltage under 12, and it just will not turn on w/that battery.
fires right up fine on a pair of AAs or w/a 6v SLA. but that PR2E just doesn't do it

I'd send it back into Doug and have him check it. Might be a Marantz manufacturing issue you have.

Or it could be the battery. Take your pick.

Nick's Picks · « **Reply #13 on:** March 22, 2006, 04:22:20 PM »

my deck was Dougs personal deck. who knows what he did in there.

spyder9 · « **Reply #14 on:** March 22, 2006, 04:29:13 PM »

Quote from: Nick's Picks on March 22, 2006, 04:22:20 PM

my deck was Dougs personal deck. who knows what he did in there.

phr · « **Reply #15 on:** May 16, 2006, 05:29:42 AM »

I thought of that hot swapping trick but am scared of it with NiMH cells, which have high current capacity. The issue is that fully charged cells are around 1.4 volts and near-discharged ones are maybe 1.1 volts. So you're putting these two very low impedance sources together at differing voltages, almost like dead-shorting the charged cells. With alkalines (higher internal resistance) it might not be so bad.

I wonder about getting the whole 5AH worth from that SLA pack. The problem I'm thinking of isn't the voltage being too high, it's being too low as it discharges. As I mentioned on the other thread, you may be better off with an external nimh pack. One idea I've had is to use C or D cells for very high capacity. Another idea is to use a small pack (AA or AAA cells) to run the deck just for short periods while swapping out the internal cells without stopping recording. Another idea is have several 4AA external packs, plus have batteries inside the deck. The hope is that you can swap between external packs while recording, because the internal cells will keep powering the unit. But I haven't tried any of this yet.

Nick's Picks · « **Reply #16 on:** May 16, 2006, 07:17:18 AM »

ok....

to put this thread to rest.

first off, the 660 will record in excess of 7 hours with phantom power and normal meetering lights on. this is with HQ NiMH cells in there. I have done this myself w/the Duracells and Powerex 2300-2500mAh on many occasions.
even if the cells are down a bit, you CAN remove two of them w/o the unit going dark. and there lies the hot swap availability.

the PR2E will work just fine. My Marantz had a damaged AC jack that caused the problem I was experienceing. All better now.

I'm guessing a 4.8v battery sled will also power it up easily, thus making a cheap external sled very easy to whip up.

But honestly, with the runtime from AA batteries, why use anything else? You could bring 16 batteries to a festival and probably only use 1/2 of them.

phr · « **Reply #17 on:** June 06, 2006, 11:01:26 PM »

Nick, my buying criterion has always been 30 hours of battery operation though in fact I haven't used that much yet. With the PMD660 that would mean about 16 or 20 AA's, which is not that bad. (4 HQ NIMH inside the unit, 12 spares in a carrying case, and a couple 4-packs of alkalines in reserve). But I -do- find the 7 hour internal capacity to be a limitation. The battery gauge is not very accurate so I can never tell when the internal cells are going flat, and it means I have to either hot swap or stop recording at some inconvenient time. Yes the sessions I record are frequently much longer than 7 hours. So I do want to put some kind of hot swap solution together. But it's not terribly urgent, and as mentioned, I feel likely to get an R-09 or some successor to it, so I don't want to put a lot more funds or energy into PMD660 improvements.

Nick's Picks · « **Reply #18 on:** June 07, 2006, 07:21:36 AM »

for that kind of run time, i'd just pick up a 7amp 6v SLA and be done w/it.
that will run the 660 overnight, i'm sure.

Unitmonster · « **Reply #19 on:** June 07, 2006, 09:21:54 AM »

Thanks for the info guys. My 660 arrives this week and I'll probably stick with teh AA's. I rarely need more than 4 hours of juice in a night anyway.

paullySC · « **Reply #20 on:** June 20, 2006, 01:18:59 PM »

Quote from: Nick's Picks on May 16, 2006, 07:17:18 AM

ok....

to put this thread to rest.

first off, the 660 will record in excess of 7 hours with phantom power and normal meetering lights on. this is with HQ NiMH cells in there. I have done this myself w/the Duracells and Powerex 2300-2500mAh on many occasions.
even if the cells are down a bit, you CAN remove two of them w/o the unit going dark. and there lies the hot swap availability.

the PR2E will work just fine. My Marantz had a damaged AC jack that caused the problem I was experienceing. All better now.

I'm guessing a 4.8v battery sled will also power it up easily, thus making a cheap external sled very easy to whip up.

But honestly, with the runtime from AA batteries, why use anything else? You could bring 16 batteries to a festival and probably only use 1/2 of them.

What kind of battery charger are you using for the 2500 mAh duracell? I tried going a 2.5 hour show on one set of batteries and they died after 2 hours. The batteries are only a month old. Maybe I just have a crappy charger I don't know.

paul

Nick's Picks · « **Reply #21 on:** June 20, 2006, 04:30:29 PM »

is your battery compartment all "shimmed" behind the contacts?
if not, then try that and do a test. I was having that same problem and the shim fixed everything.

paullySC · « **Reply #22 on:** June 23, 2006, 01:27:58 PM »

I'll give that a shot. I guess a business card would work? Should I just shim the positive sides? Thanks.

Paul

Nick's Picks · « **Reply #23 on:** June 23, 2006, 02:25:40 PM »

yup, that will work.
do them all, both sides.