Topic: Neve Portico Field Power

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

Someone asked how I power my Portico in the field so I decided to post this.

1) I bought a plug matching the pin and barrel specs in the portico manual.  Simple two wire connection to a 4pin XLR using the standard wiring for a 12V supply.

I use a couple of battery options:
   a 7Ah 12V powersonic SLA and smart charger
   a batterygeek BG 10-14-88 and the charging source it shipped with

The SLA is wired with a 4pin XLR with embedded resettable fuses.  The BG pack came with a cable that fit the pack on one end and an adapter on the other end.  I hacked the adapter off the cable to add a 4pin XLR.  So everything plays together nicely.

The SLA lasts about 5.5 hours before I get nervous. 
The BG pack lasts about 6.5 hours before it shuts off.

The Li-ion battery weighs nothing so I use it for most shows.  A day long event I'll bring both. 

The portico does not have a battery monitor like the V3 so if you use an SLA be sure you are intimately familiar with the discharge curve of your battery.  The portico power chart shows it as a constant power draw so as input voltage drops, the Portico will draw more current.  The problem I have had is that when the voltage gets low enough, the current draw is sufficient to trip the self-resetting fuse.  As soon as the fuse resets, the current spikes again so you get a recording with a nice sequence of staccato drop outs.

2) I have yet to find a barrel that I feel is secure.  The portico power connector does not lock so a strain relief / cable restraint is essential.  The one shown below came from Neve - call them and they will send you one.  To be extra safe I also put a strip of gaffers tape around the back to keep the connector from moving at all.

3) Both batteries fit nicely below the SD722 in my target rack.  The BG pack is slim enough that three of them stacked up will fit in the space of that SLA.

I'd be interestedd to know if there are any other solutions - especially if anyone has found a better plug or has installed a locking connector.

[BJ]

thanx!  i will be referring to this more this week!

[dactylus]

Did you ask the Neve folks about a "locking" power connector?  It seems that this would have been a "no brainer" for their design engineers...

 


+T for the info

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

I did ask if that was an option.  It isn't. 

I didn't get into the design motivation with the support person but it's clear to me that the Neve is not targeted to the sort of field use that we have in mind.  The case is made of steel and the panel is not offered without rack ears.  It is really designed for mounting in a console where a strain relief is more than sufficient and the cables tucked away.

I have considered drilling a hole in the back panel just above the existing connector and mounting a locking switchcraft connector like the one on the V3.  The new connector could be wired in parallel with the existing connector so that both would be serviceable.  But so far the strain relief seems to be doing it's job.