Topic: Battery help for borrowed Marantaz 661 (for my 9yr. old)

[jadedphan]

Hey now,

So, my 9yr. old wants to make his first foray into taping next weekend at Merriweather Post Pavilion. I just ordered a new 12v lithium ion for my old ad1000, so technically he could run a pair of mk4's > ad1000 > pmd 661 @ 48kHz 20 bit. He really wants to put the caps onto an ortf bar and do the whole deal. It goes smooth in the living room, but I'm leaning towards letting him patch out of my rig spdif the first night, and then if he nails it, seeing if he can patch from a stand mate the next night. Either way, he's fired up and nervous all at the same time. It's kinda sweet, and I'm pumped for him to want to at all.

Anyhow, here's my question:
It looks like I may have access to this deck off and on for awhile, and Tjaden will definitely be able to run the ad1k by next year . After his attempts at Merriweather, I think I might like to use it to get a patch into a large diaphragm something or other that's in the section in NC, and as a btp backup deck in VA.  That being said, I don't want to burn up AA's like mad, but I also don't want to have to purchase a new lithium on battery just for this rig.  When I ran a Sony D8, I either used a SLA 6volt 7.2 Amp/Hour battery (which I think I may still have in a taping bag in the attic) or a battery sled I made with parts from rat shack. The battery sled was great- I could use 4 D cells to power the D8 for at least 3 shows.   Anyhow, the PMD 661 asks for DC 5v 1.4 A. I am not that good with designing/figuring out how it all breaks down component wise, but I follow directions well, and do very competent solder work....if someone knows for sure anther whether I could build a six volt sled that would safely power the 661 for at least a show, i would really appreciate it.  Worst case scenario I will go over to rat shack with the deck in-hand and turn myself over to the "technician/sales person" and hope we don't fry the 661.

I'd prefer not to use the SLA, simply because I am unsure where the charger is off hand, and whther the batteries are even still good. So, if anyone has ANY thoughts on powering a Marantz PMD 661 with a home-made battery sled (again, I am trying to get more efficient battery power for less cost), or if anyone has a recommendation (hell or off to sell me what I need....like I said, I don't want to invest too much, but I do want to save money over AA's....)

As always, thanks in advance, and see ya down the road,
-bry

[JasonSobel]

Bry,

do you have rechargeable AA's handy?  using four interal NiMH AA's, I can get around 4 hours with the PMD-661, and that's with phantom power on (and my beyerdynamic mics are fairly power hungry, more so than Schoeps).  especially if your son is going to run S/PDIF into the deck, rechargeable AA's should power the deck for at least 7-8 hours, maybe more.  Even if you don't have any rechargeable AA batteries ready to go, I think buying a set of 4 rechageable AA's is probably less expensive than any external battery.  and it's certainly the simplest way to go, with no need to worry about an external battery, and extra connection from the battery to the deck, etc..  as it's all self-contained with the PMD-661.

these are the batteries I use:
http://www.amazon.com/IMEDION-2400-self-discharge-batteries-Pack/dp/B003LWMZ5M
hard to go wrong for $12.

this is the charger I have:
http://www.amazon.com/Powerex-MH-C800S-Eight-Smart-Charger/dp/B000LQMKDS/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1307269880&sr=8-16
but there are certainly less expensive chargers available, if you don't want to spend $44 on the charger.

- Jason