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Gear / Technical Help => Remote Power => Topic started by: jb63 on August 01, 2014, 04:41:17 PM
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Well, we're back to the world of stupid questions.
Because I love stupid questions.
My favorite recorder design, bar none, of this decade was the MR1. I'm still looking for a good solution for pocketing it with its dual balanced 1/8" plugs, because finding a stable plug that will be small enough to let you slip it in and out of your pocket isn't easy, but I will sort that out next!
Right now I've always just kept an MR1 plugged in at home 24/7 in the studio, when I'm not out, its plugged in.
When its time for the gig, unplug, assume its fully charged and run it while plugged into the external 4x AA box Korg provides. I use rechargeables with that instead of the recommended alkaline, and that means the voltage isn't exact enough as the batteries discharge (5V, 2A output) to keep the unit using the external source and it goes back and forth between the battery icon and the charging icon. It still works fine for 3 hours and i usually bring a 2nd battery pack in case the show runs long. Time and technology (and tedyun's suggestions) have led me to believe that I could maybe now find a decent pocket-sized battery pack to provide me with a night's worth of charge.
Here is what I'm looking at and I'm wondering if anyone has any advice for or against any of these.
Any input is good input. I'll probably try the cheapest, smallest one and buy it someplace I can return it if I don't like it.
I'd probably also want to have a nice cable made to fit instead of one of the supplied ones, so I get to factor that cost in, too....
http://www.amazon.com/External-Battery-Pack-Limefuel-L130X/dp/B00BZD6QCW/ref=pd_sim_sbs_e_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=1S0P4C6BNAM19AV8K9NZ
http://www.amazon.com/Tera-Grand-7800mAh-Digital-Display/dp/B00F02UKYE/ref=sr_1_8?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1400700628&sr=1-8&keywords=lithium+5v+2+a+output
http://www.amazon.com/MACALLY-External-Battery-all-iPods/dp/B000CGG8LW/ref=pd_sim_e_4
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009V5X1CE/sr=1-3/qid=1400700628/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1400700628&sr=1-3
http://www.amazon.com/Upgrade-Portable-External-Technology-Smartphones/dp/B00DMWV3EU/ref=cm_rdp_product
http://www.amazon.com/Reliable-lithium-reliability-Equipped-versatility/dp/B00FVS9VU6/ref=sr_1_43?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1400705428&sr=1-43&keywords=lithium+5v+2+a+output
http://us.cygnett.com/ChargeUp-Sport-Powerbank-4400mAh-1-Amp-Black-with-Grey-Trim
(here's the review that led me to the last one)
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/reviews/entry/cygnett-chargeup-pro-powerbank/
Sorry for all the links, I hope I didn't make too much work out of anything. Apparently that's what I do. (remember when you could ENJOY the gig you were taping?)
;-)
Lastly, I used the first Korg MR1 I had TO DEATH. Recorded every night for almost a year. 2008, I think? At first I didn't bother with any kind of external battery, and in about 3 months the regular overnight charge was down from 2.5 hours to 2 hours. Eventually 1.5 hours and then Korg released its battery pack. At first I would just plug it in when the internal levels got low, but quickly learned to just keep it always plugged in and to check it frequently, replacing the batteries in the pack every 3 hours or so.
So when people started shedding their MR1's, I bought 2 more that still had 2.5 hour battery lives and I've used those a lot, constantly plugged in to the battery packs (they always alternate between showing battery or charge. You have to unplug it and plug it back in to get the charging icon). My question about the internal lithium batteries is this:
Do i WANT to discharge them completely at some point, or do I want to just always tell the unit that it's plugged in?
Whew!
Here are some pictures illustration the difficulty of making this a pocket recorder!
You'll notice that my favorite solution has just 2 cables that can be coiled together leading to your battery and preamp.
Ugly as these are, it makes me love this thing.
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OK!
I am nearing the end of all my research and development to keep Korg's almost 10-year-old product in business.
I've decided to start with this battery:
http://www.amazon.com/Tera-Grand-7800mAh-Digital-Display/dp/B00F02UKYE/ref=sr_1_8?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1400700628&sr=1-8&keywords=lithium+5v+2+a+output
it will set me back $31 and I can return it if it doesn't work out. there were smaller choices, but this one close in size to the MR1, so...
what I'm hoping is that ted can made me good cable to use with it, but I'm still a little while away from that.
what I'm hoping someone can answer before i pull the trigger on this, is can anyone give me a reason NOT to feed the MR1 from the 5V 2.4A usb port.
Thanks again!
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I don't think there is anything wrong with feeding it 2a but you only need .5a to run the mr1 so why not use the 1a from there go
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Lithium batteries don't like to be discharged fully, though the Korg may prevent that from happening...in other words your Korg probably shuts off at a voltage that's still OK for battery life. There's no memory effect on lithium batteries, so there's no issue with allowing lithium batteries to discharge a little and recharge fully.
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The mr-1 will pull more than 0.5a as it is continuously trying to top off the internal battery
I have one and know this to be true as I tried many dc-DC converter designs with it (it is happy with around 1.5a)
The average current pull is around 0.5a but not peak and if it can't sense it can charge it's internal battery it switches over to the internal battery and ignores the external power source
I ended buying one of the battery geek geekpod
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I got one of these last year. It definitely fits in your pocket. Should power your Korg