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Gear / Technical Help => Microphones & Setup => Topic started by: runonce on July 06, 2014, 09:04:28 AM
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Is there any reason not to use rechargeable batteries in handheld wireless mics?
We have 2 Shure rigs we use for every show - I hate throwing out half good batteries.
I go 2 shows with the 9V - and change the AAs every show.
The mics end up being on for 3-4 hours per gig.
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Is there any reason not to use rechargeable batteries in handheld wireless mics?
We have 2 Shure rigs we use for every show - I hate throwing out half good batteries.
I go 2 shows with the 9V - and change the AAs every show.
The mics end up being on for 3-4 hours per gig.
If it's a 9V - stay with alkalines.
The old Sennheiser transmitters that took a 9V battery did about 5-hours with an alkaline, but only about one hour with a rechargeable.
So I would say "no".
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"Discharge rate in wireless mics is pretty high, so you won't get the runtime you do with alkalines because of the higher internal resistance of NiMHs."
I always thought that alkalines had higher internal resistance than NiMH, especially at higher discharge rates. Here's a reference: http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/primary_batteries (http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/primary_batteries)
You might want to try a 9V Li-ion rechargeable. I have talked to people that have had good luck with them in wireless mics, but I do not have any experience with them myself.
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We chew through AA batteries like mad with our Shure UHR wireless, but the cost of replacing batteries is nothing compared to the cost of having a corporate client's mic cut out during a presentation.
It's a "Penny wise, pound foolish" decision.
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The problem with rechargeable 9V NiMH batteries is that many are not 9 Volts even when fully charged since they are made up from 1.2 V cells. Alkaline cells are 1.5 V so 6 cells = 9 V. NiMH cells are 1.2 V so 6 * 1.2 = 7.2 V. If you use 8 1.2 V cells you get 9.6 V, but since the cells have a round cross section and you are trying to put them in a rectangular box (the 9 V battery case) there is a lot of wasted space. So "9 V" NiMH batteries don't work so well. With Li-ion 9 V batteries it's a different story. Here is a page on 9 V batteries that explains quite a bit.
http://michaelbluejay.com/batteries/9v.html (http://michaelbluejay.com/batteries/9v.html)
I don't know who the page author "Michael Bluejay" is, but after a quick read of this page I didn't see anything that appeared obviously wrong.