Topic: Roland R-88 external battery

[beatkilla]

I just picked one of these up and does anyone here have advice from using one.

External power is from 9-16 volts.

All i have for a battery cable currently is 4 pin xlr to 12volt talentcell.

I suppose if i get a 9 volt cable made the run times will be a bit longer.

Anyone have run times or advice on this R-88?

Theres also a menu setting for  external battery final power  ....?

You can choose 9  volt   12 volt etc.

Not sure how this setting works either?

[Gutbucket]

I ran one briefly, borrowed from another taper to it out, but didn't end up buying it.  As I recall I ran it off an external battery that was lent along with the recorder, which was not a Talentcell, but was something similar.  If I had kept it my expectation would have been to run it off a Talentcell. 

The menu setting for external battery voltage likely just calibrates the battery state-of-charge meter on the R88, but consult the manual to confirm.

[beatkilla]

The R-88 set for External Battery on the Unit and final voltage in the menu set for 12 volts,with the 12volt Talentcell the unit turns off after a few seconds with no mics attached.Thats no good at all.

If i change the menu voltage in the roland to 9 volts and turn the external battery switch to AC it didnt turn right off but i had enough testing for now.

Any insight is welcome because the same Talentcell will run my Mini Me and AD2K on same battery for 4 hours.

[Gutbucket]

I think that when you set an external battery voltage in the R-88 menu the recorder will shut down (or switch to internal batteries if present) once external power drops below that threshold to protect the battery.  Talentcell output voltage from its 12VDC port is not regulated and will drop below 12V as charge drops during use.  So if the R-88 battery menu is set to 12V, I'm not surprised that the R-88 shuts down rather quickly.

I believe you need to either set the R88 to a lower external battery cutoff threshold voltage or set it to AC power.  As I recall I set the one I was using set to AC power which bypasses all external battery management by the R88 itself.  That's not a problem since you can simply use the meter on the battery itself to monitor it's state of charge, rather than relying on the battery meter on the R-88 (and the associated but unwanted auto-shutoff)

[beatkilla]

Thanks for the response.

So i am dong a new test with the internal voltage setting to 9 volts.

With a fully charged Talentcell the Roalnd R-88 battery indicator on the menu screen starts off right away at 2 out of 3 bars battery status.

External battery switch engaged.

2 x mk4 channels 1,2 phantom ON.

It states in the menu if using an external battery you MUST set the switch to external.

However if you do that the AA batteries will not be used.

So against there recommendation i may set switch to AC outlet when using talentcell and internal batteries.

Will see how this test goes with just 2 mics and phantom.......8 with phantom doesn't seem promising unless there is some bigger battery i don't know about.

[Gutbucket]

I think I ran six channels of phantom powered mics into R88 when I was testing it out, and it ran fine on the external battery that was supplied with it over the course of the 2 or 3 concert events I recorded with it.  I don't recall being concerned about the battery lasting long enough. 

I think you'll just need to run it a few times with the mics you want to use into it to get a good idea of how much time you are able to get off the external battery.  If necessary you could run two external batteries in parallel, or swap between the two, either of which can double the run time.  You'll just need a 'Y' cable or adapter to do that.

[Ozpeter]

Way back there were discussions here about R88 battery powering and that might be searchable.  I have a very distant memory that I connected external power with reversed polarity and did enough damage to put it into repairs for a month... so be careful!  I think there is not much protection on the device for that.

[Gutbucket]

Yeah! I can't recall from my time with R88, but R44 is reverse-polarity coax power input (sleeve +, pin -), so not surprised if R88 is too.  Be careful to double check.

[spyder9]

The R-88 is not reverse-polarity.  That's the R-44.  The R-88 is polarity.  Ted G. has it listed as such in his custom power cable thread. 

[spyder9]

When I had the R-88, I ran it with a Naztech PB15000.  I think I used the 16V setting on both the battery and inside the R-88. 

https://www.newegg.com/black-naztech-11909-15000-mah-power-bank/p/N82E16875876027?srsltid=AfmBOoog3EFk2BXyOymry4Ue_nWeYFFzIH-ArBXzWup8orc-vL0f4sca

[Gutbucket]

Spyder knows!  That was the one I borrowed.  Thanks man.

[beatkilla]

I think I got this square away.


  New question:

Can I synch to of these together with the bnc?

How do I this exactly?

[Gutbucket]

I assume so as it has wordclock. And because it is the more professional big brother of the R44 which can do that.  Time to pull up the manual.

[beatkilla]

Manual doesn’t touch on this.


Also can I synch the clock to the Ad2k rig I’m running to a pmd 661 so I’d have 10 tracks in synch?

Ad2k has bnc in and loop

Not sure how to use that feature

[Gutbucket]

Oh, just checked the manual, the BNC connectors on the R88 are for Timecode.  To do what you want you would instead use the AES/EBU Digital Out or Digital In XLR connections.

From the manual:  "DIGITAL IN jack XLR type (AES/EBU, conforms to IEC 60958-4) * When using Digital Input, IN 1–2 jacks are inactive."

You should be able to use the R88 either as the master clock source (send clock to the other devices via the R88's Digital Out), or use another source as master clock (send clock into the R88 via its Digital In).  Thinking of it in R44 terms, the AES/EBU XLRs on the R88 serve essentially the same role as the SPDIF RCA connectors on the R44.

Not sure what converting from XLR to BNC or vice-versa requires, but that's what you should look into.