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Gear / Technical Help => Remote Power => Topic started by: Brian Skalinder on April 18, 2007, 11:48:48 AM

Title: Tascam HD-P2 power - 9v li-ion?
Post by: Brian Skalinder on April 18, 2007, 11:48:48 AM
Edit to add:  similar post/thread here, with some info direct from Tascam:  http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,78841.msg1057313.html#msg1057313

Found very little info on people's HD-P2 power experiences in the Remote Power forum.  I tried wading through, and searching, the Team Forum, but there's so much other schlock in those threads it's very difficult to pinpoint specific information.  So...I'm posting here in the hopes of gathering people's experiences powering the HD-P2.  Since I'd rather not have to buy new batteries when I have a stable of 9v li-on batts already, my focus is primarily to identify whether it's possible to run the P2 on 9v li-ion universal DVD (aka "Walmart") batteries.

Anyone successfully running the P2 on 9v li-ion batteries via any of the methods I note below?  Anyone tried and failed?



FWIW, here's an email I fired off to Tascam regarding the possibility of powering via 9v li-on (and 9.6v NiMH, added for kicks):

(I've not received a response, but will post one if/when Teac/Tascam responds.)

Quote
A few questions about powering the HD-P2...

I would like to power my HD-P2 in the field using an external battery - not AAs, not the AC/DC wallwart, not attached to a computer.

Since the manual states the HD-P2 may derive power from 8 x AA rechargable batteries (9.6v) or FireWire connection (wide range of voltages supplied by various PCs/laptops/Macs, some as low as 9v), I'm wondering how much flexibility exists in HD-P2s power voltage.  Assuming the battery can provide enough total current (amps) / power (watts), is it possible to run the HD-P2 on 9v or 9.6v external power - specifically, the following scenarios:

9v li-ion battery through the...

<a>  DC-input connector
<b>  FireWire port (no computer attached)
<c>  a dummy cell (or group of dummy cells) inserted into the AA battery bay

9.6v NiMH battery through the...

<d>  DC-input connector
<e>  FireWire port (no computer attached)
<f>  a dummy cell (or group of dummy cells) inserted into the AA battery bay

Regarding <a/c>:  I ask about this option because it's the easist solution to wire up with my existing batteries.

Regarding <b/e>:  If the HD-P2 doesn't have restrictions on the computers with which it's compatible for power - and since voltages provided by computers vary widely, from 9v through 24v+ - then it seems <b/e> should work, too.  But I don't know if the HD-P2 will function in normal record-mode powered through FireWire, or whether it automatically goes into a computer transfer state (or some such) when connected to FireWire.  I suspect not, as there would be no host to which the HD-P2 could connect since its receiving only power over the 6-pin connector and no data/communications.

Regarding <c/f>:  I've read the manual, and it seems that this option should work - after all, the HD-P2 has no way of knowing the 9.6v it receives through the internal battery bay is derived from AA cells or dummy cells connected to an external 9.6v (or hopefully 9v) battery pack.

Thanks in advance for the help...
Title: Re: Tascam HD-P2 power - 9v li-ion?
Post by: Brian Skalinder on April 18, 2007, 12:08:06 PM
Wading through the Team Tascam HD-P2 threads revealed the following two people successfully using 9v batteries to power the P2.  Alex, Terry - can you chime in and confirm you're powering your P2s successfully with 9v and that you're using the stock DC power input?

Thanks for the info, now how's about the best place to get an external battery situation going.
I like the idea of running an external & having the 8 AA's as backup.
My 9v DVD battery from radio shack works great too and even the cable and adapters it came with worked with it out of the box.

But so far I've been using the 9v WalMart battery...
Title: Re: Tascam HD-P2 power - 9v li-ion?
Post by: twatts (pants are so over-rated...) on April 18, 2007, 12:10:42 PM
I hacked a 4pin XLR into my DC input cable and made a 4pinXLR adapter cable for my WalMart 9v battery.  Works great.

Terry

Title: Re: Tascam HD-P2 power - 9v li-ion?
Post by: Brian Skalinder on April 18, 2007, 12:23:01 PM
I hacked a 4pin XLR into my DC input cable and made a 4pinXLR adapter cable for my WalMart 9v battery.  Works great.

Great news, Terry - glad I can reuse my existing stable of 9v li-ion batts.  Woohoo!  Thanks for chiming in.

I suspect I won't hear any official word from the Teac/Tascam folks.  For liability reasons, they probably don't want to say it's okay to use anything other than the stock wallwart or power source with the same specs.
Title: Re: Tascam HD-P2 power - 9v li-ion?
Post by: thegreatgumbino on April 19, 2007, 10:55:53 AM
What is everyone running for 9v lion's lately?  I need to pickup a couple to power the V3 & HD-P2.  Didn't know if there were any new finds in the last year or two.
Title: Re: Tascam HD-P2 power - 9v li-ion?
Post by: dennisrtyler on April 19, 2007, 11:00:35 AM
What is everyone running for 9v lion's lately?  I need to pickup a couple to power the V3 & HD-P2.  Didn't know if there were any new finds in the last year or two.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1361504&CatId=2589 (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1361504&CatId=2589)

this is what i went with Matt. Tekkeon support quoted me a 5.17 hour runtime for the P2.
Title: Re: Tascam HD-P2 power - 9v li-ion?
Post by: Brian Skalinder on April 19, 2007, 11:30:33 AM
What is everyone running for 9v lion's lately?

AFAICT, most people are using the same manufactured unit simply branded differently.  A few of the more common brands I've seen, in addition to the "Walmart" ones:

Three specific brands / models of which I'm aware:  Lenmar DVD-U9, Initial RB-270, Memorex  (sorry, forget the model #)

Keywords to use for finding them on eBay or Froogle or some such:  universal, DVD, lithium

Shouldn't have to pay more than $40-$60 for one of these, and odds are reasonably good you can do better than that.  There might be some new options on the market of which I'm not aware, I haven't looked around for batts in a while.
Title: Re: Tascam HD-P2 power - 9v li-ion?
Post by: kirk97132 on April 20, 2007, 11:06:34 PM
What is everyone running for 9v lion's lately?

AFAICT, most people are using the same manufactured unit simply branded differently.  A few of the more common brands I've seen, in addition to the "Walmart" ones:

Three specific brands / models of which I'm aware:  Lenmar DVD-U9, Initial RB-270, Memorex  (sorry, forget the model #)

Keywords to use for finding them on eBay or Froogle or some such:  universal, DVD, lithium

Shouldn't have to pay more than $40-$60 for one of these, and odds are reasonably good you can do better than that.  There might be some new options on the market of which I'm not aware, I haven't looked around for batts in a while.

Here's what I found out from Tascam's techies:
http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,78841.0.html
Hope that helps ya out.  Scroll down to see what Tascam had to say.  I can't wait to set up the lion, Kirk
Title: Re: Tascam HD-P2 power - 9v li-ion?
Post by: Brian Skalinder on April 21, 2007, 03:02:56 AM
Here's what I found out from Tascam's techies:
http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,78841.0.html
Hope that helps ya out.  Scroll down to see what Tascam had to say.  I can't wait to set up the lion, Kirk

Whoops.  Found and read the thread earlier and everything, but somehow missed your post.  :-[  Thanks for the info!
Title: Re: Tascam HD-P2 power - 9v li-ion?
Post by: Brian Skalinder on May 03, 2007, 08:28:50 PM
Even though people are running 9v external power just fine, thought some might want to see the official word back from Tascam:  basically, "try it and see".

Quote
After looking into this issue and sending out a couple of E-Mails to
engineering; and getting the standard safe answers back, (i.e. "It
looks like it should", "I don't Know", "try it and see"), I think that the
answer is probably yes to all your questions. As near as I can see it,
the circuit schematics all appear to support your conclusions in this
matter. I can't see any reason why your particular senarios would not
work just fine. The only question that arises in my mind is whether or
not the 9volts from the li-ion battery will last long enough before it
falls below the operational threshold. I'm afraid you will have to take
my colleague's advice and try it and see.

Thanks for your interest in Tascam.
Title: Re: Tascam HD-P2 power - 9v li-ion?
Post by: JackoRoses on May 03, 2007, 08:56:23 PM
Even though people are running 9v external power just fine, thought some might want to see the official word back from Tascam:  basically, "try it and see".

Quote
After looking into this issue and sending out a couple of E-Mails to
engineering; and getting the standard safe answers back, (i.e. "It
looks like it should", "I don't Know", "try it and see"), I think that the
answer is probably yes to all your questions. As near as I can see it,
the circuit schematics all appear to support your conclusions in this
matter. I can't see any reason why your particular senarios would not
work just fine. The only question that arises in my mind is whether or
not the 9volts from the li-ion battery will last long enough before it
falls below the operational threshold. I'm afraid you will have to take
my colleague's advice and try it and see.

Thanks for your interest in Tascam.
I've ran mine at least 4 hrs as a 24 bit bucket on a li on.
Ran it probably 3-4 hrs as an all in one
Both times I had at least 2 dots left.
and just left it sitting idle for over 12 hours on a 9v li on and it still was showing a good charge but I can't recall how many dots were lit..
I think somewhere in the tascam threads I have read similar results.
I am very pleased with being able to continue using my liths. :)
Title: Re: Tascam HD-P2 power - 9v li-ion?
Post by: joekar on May 03, 2007, 09:00:27 PM
When I had mine I used a Power Runner......With the P2 suppling phantom to my LSD2 it ran for around 6 hours with no internal batteries..

Hope this helps..

Peace,
jk
Title: Re: Tascam HD-P2 power - 9v li-ion?
Post by: deadheaded on May 04, 2007, 12:34:09 AM
i got 11 hours 27 minutes recording 24/48 spdif w/light on with 1 9 volt walmart type battery
i got 8 hours 30 mniutes recording 24/48 analog in phantom on and light on.
Title: Re: Tascam HD-P2 power - 9v li-ion?
Post by: OOK on May 04, 2007, 12:41:49 AM
i got 11 hours 27 minutes recording 24/48 spdif w/light on with 1 9 volt walmart type battery
i got 8 hours 30 mniutes recording 24/48 analog in phantom on and light on.

Hey ed do you make a cable for this purpose, if so how much.
Title: Re: Tascam HD-P2 power - 9v li-ion?
Post by: deadheaded on May 04, 2007, 11:16:57 AM
i got 11 hours 27 minutes recording 24/48 spdif w/light on with 1 9 volt walmart type battery
i got 8 hours 30 mniutes recording 24/48 analog in phantom on and light on.

Hey ed do you make a cable for this purpose, if so how much.


yes i make the perfect cable for this situation.
$25 shipped.
thanks
ed
Title: Re: Tascam HD-P2 power - 9v li-ion?
Post by: AlexG on May 04, 2007, 12:33:33 PM
Wading through the Team Tascam HD-P2 threads revealed the following two people successfully using 9v batteries to power the P2.  Alex, Terry - can you chime in and confirm you're powering your P2s successfully with 9v and that you're using the stock DC power input?

Thanks for the info, now how's about the best place to get an external battery situation going.
I like the idea of running an external & having the 8 AA's as backup.
My 9v DVD battery from radio shack works great too and even the cable and adapters it came with worked with it out of the box.

But so far I've been using the 9v WalMart battery...
Yep it works great.  It's nice to have the same battery for both my UA-5 and HD-P2 def makes things easy.  I was even at Rat Shack today getting new adaptaplug stuff for my HD-P2.  The cable included with the battery works but it's a tad loose.  If you plan on making you own rs adaptaplug for it here are the rs part numbers

F to F Adaptaplug Cable #273-1740
Adaptaplug M #273-1716
Adaptaplug B #273-1705
Title: Re: Tascam HD-P2 power - 9v li-ion?
Post by: kirk97132 on May 18, 2007, 01:49:03 AM
+T Alex for the part numbers, nice!
Title: Re: Tascam HD-P2 power - 9v li-ion?
Post by: todd e on July 10, 2007, 11:28:00 PM
just got a 12v and 13.2 (switchable) bike battery which is a lithium-ion.  i have wired the end to an XLR connection and then to a 'y' XLR splitter, to power the hd-p2 and the mini-me.  we've even got another splitter to run into the m248, but rarely need it that badly. 

anyways, it is a small 5.2maH lithium ion.  bright blue light, waterproof housing, and a nice locking cable to splice to.
from batteryspace.com, good deal.

it ran my rig at RE:Generation for 6hrs, on one charge. i ran it on 13.2v mistakenly so i think i drained the power quicker than normal.  i'm gonna try 12v for 7hrs this weekend.
Title: Re: Tascam HD-P2 power - 9v li-ion?
Post by: todd e on July 11, 2007, 02:21:57 PM
Even though people are running 9v external power just fine, thought some might want to see the official word back from Tascam:  basically, "try it and see".

Quote
After looking into this issue and sending out a couple of E-Mails to
engineering; and getting the standard safe answers back, (i.e. "It
looks like it should", "I don't Know", "try it and see"), I think that the
answer is probably yes to all your questions. As near as I can see it,
the circuit schematics all appear to support your conclusions in this
matter. I can't see any reason why your particular senarios would not
work just fine. The only question that arises in my mind is whether or
not the 9volts from the li-ion battery will last long enough before it
falls below the operational threshold. I'm afraid you will have to take
my colleague's advice and try it and see.

Thanks for your interest in Tascam.

i dont think a 9V is a good idea, and those that do - one question.  why push the limits of what you can power, it seems like under-powering the unit regularly would lead to more electric breakdown.  any thoughts on this?
Title: Re: Tascam HD-P2 power - 9v li-ion?
Post by: Dutchman1101 on August 25, 2007, 07:25:58 PM
Even though people are running 9v external power just fine, thought some might want to see the official word back from Tascam:  basically, "try it and see".

Quote
After looking into this issue and sending out a couple of E-Mails to
engineering; and getting the standard safe answers back, (i.e. "It
looks like it should", "I don't Know", "try it and see"), I think that the
answer is probably yes to all your questions. As near as I can see it,
the circuit schematics all appear to support your conclusions in this
matter. I can't see any reason why your particular senarios would not
work just fine. The only question that arises in my mind is whether or
not the 9volts from the li-ion battery will last long enough before it
falls below the operational threshold. I'm afraid you will have to take
my colleague's advice and try it and see.

Thanks for your interest in Tascam.

i dont think a 9V is a good idea, and those that do - one question.  why push the limits of what you can power, it seems like under-powering the unit regularly would lead to more electric breakdown.  any thoughts on this?

Bump
Title: Re: Tascam HD-P2 power - 9v li-ion?
Post by: JackoRoses on August 25, 2007, 08:18:11 PM
Ive heard of issues when you overpower something but very little on underpowering causing issues down the road.
I don't know much about EE and stuff I'm a hack to say the least. Yet in my experience it's either going to power and do everything it is suppose to do or it's not going to power up.
a 9v li-on is pretty much the same as running 6AA's internally from the math I have seen. Or am I wrong on that? A 9v li-on as it discharges I don't think goes any lower than 8.6? or something like that iirc
Wouldn't that be in line with normal AA alkalines? I do think it is more tolerant of voltages than the JB3 was.
I have left my P2 running for at least 12 hours on a lion just sitting there powered up; as well as using the 9v's the entire life of owning the P2. So I guess I'll find the answer out down the road one way or another.

Good question still.
Title: Re: Tascam HD-P2 power - 9v li-ion?
Post by: panther65 on October 13, 2007, 05:43:21 PM
I've tried the Toyo SLA with my P2 which just crapped out on me yesterday. Bummer. I really didn't like it because I couldn't tell how much life was left in it. There were no led's. Of these two, which would you suggest I go with?
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1361504&body=MAIN
http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=919
Or is there another that I'm missing. I'm not all that handy, so a battery that I have to solder parts on is not one for me.
Title: Re: Tascam HD-P2 power - 9v li-ion?
Post by: panther65 on October 13, 2007, 05:53:03 PM
Or this one seems like it would give you ~12hours and ~20 hours for the 130wh unit. Anyone using either one of these with their P2's?

http://www.batterygeek.net/BG_9_12_130_Portable_DVD_Player_Battery_p/9-12-130_batterygeek.htm
Title: Re: Tascam HD-P2 power - 9v li-ion?
Post by: twatts (pants are so over-rated...) on October 14, 2007, 02:16:22 AM
Or this one seems like it would give you ~12hours and ~20 hours for the 130wh unit. Anyone using either one of these with their P2's?

http://www.batterygeek.net/BG_9_12_130_Portable_DVD_Player_Battery_p/9-12-130_batterygeek.htm

Want one really bad, but can't justify $200 on a battery...  The 12v SLA solution works for me and is a lot cheaper...

T

Title: Re: Tascam HD-P2 power - 9v li-ion?
Post by: kirk97132 on October 14, 2007, 09:54:41 AM
Or this one seems like it would give you ~12hours and ~20 hours for the 130wh unit. Anyone using either one of these with their P2's?

http://www.batterygeek.net/BG_9_12_130_Portable_DVD_Player_Battery_p/9-12-130_batterygeek.htm

Want one really bad, but can't justify $200 on a battery...  The 12v SLA solution works for me and is a lot cheaper...

T



http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1642