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Gear / Technical Help => Remote Power => Topic started by: powermonkey on November 17, 2009, 01:28:21 PM
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Hi all.
Hope you can help. I've ploughed through the forums for what seems like a year, and I'm entirely confused as to how I'm going to power my new R44. I understand that I can use an external DVD battery, but I'm having trouble finding which battery I need. Bear in mind that I'm in the UK, so I'd guess that buying a battery and charger from the US might not be worth it.
What battery spec do I need to look for, and what sort adaptor would I need for the R44? I don't believe it's possible for me to order from Radio Shack from over here.
This is all most confusing, so thanks for the help!
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To answer questions about externally powering an R-44 much research and correspondence with Edirol technical staff resulted. They eventually sent me an AC adapter and power jack/plug so suitable source of a Hosiden type fitting power plug could be verified.
As a result, my company's standard BD-8 external battery sled is outfitted with a custom molded right-angle power plug exactly fitting the R-44 which then runs for 20-30 hours off the regular eight alkaline D cells placed inside the BD-8 sled.
See this at: http://www.sonicstudios.com/batsys98.htm#bd8 (http://www.sonicstudios.com/batsys98.htm#bd8)
and on chart at: http://www.sonicstudios.com/batsys98.htm#r4pro (http://www.sonicstudios.com/batsys98.htm#r4pro)
Important to adjust the R-44's external battery voltage as advised in the manual pasted below. With using the BD-8, final voltage is the lowest available R-44 voltage adjustment setting.
(http://www.sonicstudios.com/EXT POWER SETTINGS.gif)
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Here's a UK-available universal DVD battery (http://www.amazon.co.uk/EDV002SK-Universal-Portable-External-Battery/dp/B000XQ0OIE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1258537213&sr=1-1), probably of the same manufacture as the options many people are using for the R-44 and other portable devices. I'm certain you can find a better price if you look around.
As I don't have an R-44, I'm unsure of the proper tip connector. But it should be pretty easy to find, once you determine the proper size. Hopefully someone else will chime in on the tip size and polarity.
Worst case, you could always use the wall-wart tip (which I've done in the past, on occasion, if I know I won't need the wall-wart). Easy to hack, using wire nuts (no soldering required), and easy to swap back to the wall-wart if you need it. Not the most elegant solution, but durable, field-serviceable, and simple.
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I use the BatteryGeek Lithium Ion Battery pack BG 10-14-88, they may be selling updated models of this now but the 88 (for 8800 mAh I think) works great. I use a Radio Shack cord with K and M tips (one has to be reversed to give center-negative voltage to the R44). I generally run about three hours with phantom power on tracks 3/4 (1/2 I do digi-in from a V3) and the power test button on the battery never shows down past full.
Jeff