Topic: Shure UHF-r Wireless - Excessive Battery Drain?

[Patrick]

I am working a corporate show right now with 6 channels of shure ur4d wireless kits.  I have used these mics in this particular room hundreds of times, but today my batteries in the mic packs are all being drained at an alarming rate.  We're running Duracell procell batts, just like always. 

I am using the wireless "fins" for antennas, going through an RF amp, distributed to my rack mounted receivers.  I am getting good RF signal, none of the mics are switching between the A and B channels.  Again, this setup has been used countless times but I can't figure out why my batteries are all dropping like flies.

Does anyone have suggestions?  I am perplexed.

[kirk97132]

Drain on wirelss is pretty constant, meaning the same battery life.  We run Shure stuff too where I work and only thing I can think of is batteries were not fresh when you put them in.  Maybe got used batteries in with new?  Or if they are all from the same new box then maybe a bad batch?  I can't think of anything that would cause a drastic change on the battery life.  Even if it was switching shouldn't use any noticeable difference in power.   I'd check voltage on a few others from the box. 

[Patrick]

Turns out my assistant engineer used a different brand of batteries (energizer) than what we normally use (Duracell procell).  I wasn't aware of this until we had a break in the program and i pulled the packs off our presenters. Lesson learned- never going to use energizer batteries in these mics again!

[kirk97132]

We use Energizer Industrial but I can't say that I've run them against the Duracell procell

[Patrick]

These batteries were clearly bought from CVS or equivalent.  Not the industrial ones, which I've used with good results.  Really not sure why there is a difference between regular and "pro" versions of aa batteries, but that is another thread.

Kirk have you used the shure wireless workbench software?  Our units have Ethernet and USB ports on the back, apparently you can do some pretty cool things with the software.  I need to check it out.

[ScoobieKW]

We use Energizer Industrial with our UHF-R mics, and we change batteries every chance we get. Point out to your A2, that good batteries are still cheaper than having a mic fail mid-show.

[kirk97132]

Patrick without actually checking it sounds like your stuff is a step above our stuff.  Ouor is "old fashioned" XLR. 1/4" line out.  We don't have no fancy antennas, but we do use a distro for the antennas.  Hell I was happy when we finally made the step away from VHF years ago.  Talk about a pain in the ass.

As for batteries The heavy duty stuff does make a difference compared to off the shelf brands.  suprisingly I have had some real good experiences with panasonic batteries.

[John Willett]

Are you sure the batteries are genuine?

There are people making fakes and a short life is what I would expect from a fake.

Or they were a bad batch.

[Patrick]

Kirk we have both ulx and UHF shure wireless units.  For the high end shows, we pull out the high end mics... And only those can be networked.  The idea of remotely controlling the power to our transmitters is a very cool idea. 

For this morning's show we procured some Duracell procell batteries and all is well.