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Gear / Technical Help => Ask The Tapers => Topic started by: jdawg on January 26, 2005, 12:17:57 PM

Title: Do you leave the SVU-1 on all the time?
Post by: jdawg on January 26, 2005, 12:17:57 PM
Wondering if SVU-x users leave the unit on for an entire show? Or maybe you just check the levels once in a while. Not sure how long a 9v lasts so mainly I just leave it on for the first song or two then save the battery and then check it again beginning of the second set. Also, are there some external hacks for powering this unit?

thanks,  john

Title: Re: Do you leave the SVU-1 on all the time?
Post by: bhtoque on January 26, 2005, 12:20:49 PM
I've got it wired to the wallmart 9v that runs my whole rig. The UA-5, SVU-1 and radioshack version of the co2 all run for about 4 hours on the first led of the battery. I can get 3 shows before I get worried enough to recharge.

If you use a regular batt in it, I'd shut it off when not looking.

JAson
Title: Re: Do you leave the SVU-1 on all the time?
Post by: fozzy on January 26, 2005, 12:25:45 PM
Wondering if SVU-x users leave the unit on for an entire show? Or maybe you just check the levels once in a while. Not sure how long a 9v lasts so mainly I just leave it on for the first song or two then save the battery and then check it again beginning of the second set. Also, are there some external hacks for powering this unit?

thanks,  john



I leave my on most of the time, only turn off to go to the bar/bathroom.  a 9v lasts me 30+ shows (if i don't forget to turn it off)

External power would be trivial but it would be cool to hack a voltage booster/regulator into the battery compartment to run off existing batteries if you don't have 9v available.  the 9v wallmart Lion system users would only need to hack a cable in the mix. 

Title: Re: Do you leave the SVU-1 on all the time?
Post by: neumannkid on January 26, 2005, 12:37:15 PM
IS it better to run it out of the UA5? Ive been running it out of the JB3 line out. If you run it out of the JB3 are your draining any of the JB3 battery?
Title: Re: Do you leave the SVU-1 on all the time?
Post by: DCDireWolf on January 26, 2005, 12:43:11 PM
I run my svu-2 out of the UA5, which i have attached to the Walmart special battery.  The 9 volt in the svu-2 has lasted me for multiple shows.  I just keep some extra 9 volts in my gear bag just in case.

What do you have to do to jimmy up the Walmart special to allow it to juice the svu and the ua5 simultaneously?
Title: Re: Do you leave the SVU-1 on all the time?
Post by: fozzy on January 26, 2005, 12:49:46 PM
I run my svu-2 out of the UA5, which i have attached to the Walmart special battery.  The 9 volt in the svu-2 has lasted me for multiple shows.  I just keep some extra 9 volts in my gear bag just in case.

What do you have to do to jimmy up the Walmart special to allow it to juice the svu and the ua5 simultaneously?

is it the 9 or 7.2v variety.

9v would only require splitting the output cable  from the battery and addin another lead w/ a female connector on it.  Open up the svu and add a lead from where the battery socket wires connect to outside the unit w/ a male connector on it.

*connector = any flavor of connector you want, PC type, 4pin, rc type, etc....

7.2v would require a voltage booster inbetween the battery and svu

12v would require a voltage regulator

Title: Re: Do you leave the SVU-1 on all the time?
Post by: jdawg on January 26, 2005, 01:51:04 PM
Thanks for the feedback, now if I just had the right size allen wrench to actually open this up that would be great. Anyone know what size the wrench is? I'd rather not buy an entire set, probably just missing this one from my current set. I Just don't want to strip those.  thx.

Yeah, I run mine out of the ua-5 as well, not the jb3. But I'd love to hook up the r/c 9.6v to it instead of the internal.

Title: Re: Do you leave the SVU-1 on all the time?
Post by: bagtagsell on January 26, 2005, 01:59:12 PM
i drilled a hole in the battery compartment.  Went to radio shack bought a 9v male female wire (the thing that you could hook a batterry up to) and fed it through the hole.  I then took a piece of wood to constantly put pressure on the wire to make contact with the SVU.  Hooked it up to my wallmart battery, and I'm gold
Title: Re: Do you leave the SVU-1 on all the time?
Post by: mmmatt on January 26, 2005, 02:14:00 PM
Ok... I'm going to do a Brian impression here!
All these questions and discussions have already been hashed out in the team svu thread here
http://www.taperssection.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=20129.0


This is how the battery mod works.

Hello!  Wow... I just found this thread!  Ok I've posted the bat config a few different places.  the general idea is to tie into your bat packs in parrellel (pos to pos, and neg to neg) with a 9v connector.  conect the red and black leads oposite (because you will be using the conector as a source, instead of plugging a source into it), and you are golden.  The trick was to drill a very small hole in the side back of the batt tray, and run the leads of the 9v connector out before you wire it up.  Then with a precut block of wood or tightly folded cardboard, wedge the connector up to were the battery contacts would stick out, and presto!
(http://img48.photobucket.com/albums/v148/mmmatt/rig%201/svu_bat_1.jpg)

(http://img48.photobucket.com/albums/v148/mmmatt/rig%201/svu_bat_2.jpg)


Now... as for the whole ua5 patch issue.  The rca outs are conected to the exact same pre as the headphone jack.  If you want to patch someone off a ua5 it is easiest to use the headphone jack with a 1/4"S to 1/8" S adaptor.  Either way, I would think that if you split the signal from that pre, you will throw off the calibration of the svu.  I don't know that for fact, but it seems logical to me.
     As for runing the svu out of the recorder or the ua5... I run from my jb3 for 2 reasons.  #1. I like to run a matrix rig, I sometimes put my mixer between the ua5 and the jb3 because I think the a/d on the jb3 is far better than the pre's on my mixer.  #2.  I don't want to take the chance of bumping the level knob on the ua5... the jb3 isn't adjustable using opti in.  And #3 (yes I know I said 2!)  The meters are a great way to troubleshoot your recorder at a glance.  If the lights ain't blinkin, then you aint recordin!  I hate to admit this has saved me twice now.

If I can help someone more with the battery thing,  just let me know. 
Matt


As for out of the jb3 vs the ua-5.  There are many reasons for you to run out of the jb3... the 2 biggest are the fact that the meters won't be flickering if your jb3 has a problem... if it is on the ua-5 you will get signal to it regardless, and the output of the jb3 can't be adjusted like the output from the ua5, so there is foolproof consistancy.  Read through the team svu thread and you will learn a lot about the svu's.

Matt
Title: Re: Do you leave the SVU-1 on all the time?
Post by: mirth on January 26, 2005, 05:39:37 PM
If you use a rechargable 9v in your SVU-1, I'd recommend recharging every other show to be on the safe side. The Energizer rechargables are roughly 175mAh, which in the SVU-1 translates to about 6 hours of use.
Title: Re: Do you leave the SVU-1 on all the time?
Post by: jdawg on January 26, 2005, 07:38:49 PM
Thanks Matt for the Team SVU link!

Just made the svu-1 battery pack-hack... here are the pics. So now I'll have one rc 9.6v powering the UA-5 and the SVU-1.
Wooohooo!  I'll be running it tonight.





Title: Re: Do you leave the SVU-1 on all the time?
Post by: bhtoque on January 26, 2005, 07:50:36 PM
i drilled a hole in the battery compartment.  Went to radio shack bought a 9v male female wire (the thing that you could hook a batterry up to) and fed it through the hole.  I then took a piece of wood to constantly put pressure on the wire to make contact with the SVU.  Hooked it up to my wallmart battery, and I'm gold

QFT

JAson
Title: Re: Do you leave the SVU-1 on all the time?
Post by: rowjimmytour on January 27, 2005, 05:49:49 PM
+t DCDireWolf and the new set up!!! I remember on 9 -11 you only had the mp3 player.
Peace
Title: Re: Do you leave the SVU-1 on all the time?
Post by: DCDireWolf on January 27, 2005, 08:06:20 PM
Thanks!   The disease spreads pretty easy eh?   ;)

Hope all is well on the left coast.

+t DCDireWolf and the new set up!!! I remember on 9 -11 you only had the mp3 player.
Peace
Title: Re: Do you leave the SVU-1 on all the time?
Post by: mmmatt on January 27, 2005, 08:09:54 PM
Thanks Matt for the Team SVU link!

Just made the svu-1 battery pack-hack... here are the pics. So now I'll have one rc 9.6v powering the UA-5 and the SVU-1.
Wooohooo!  I'll be running it tonight.


Looks great John!  Great job.

Matt
Title: Re: Do you leave the SVU-1 on all the time?
Post by: jdawg on January 30, 2005, 10:59:14 PM
Just doing a follow-up with some time trial info. Did some testing at home today and ran the UA-5 & SVU-1 from one 9.6v R/C battery (see pic above).
UA-5 (phantom on, mics connected, RCA input from radio) and  SVU-1 running the entire time. Was still working after 5 hours. JB3 was somewhere between 1 and 2 bars left. So in this case I think I'll just leave the SVU-1 on the whole time while connected to the jb3.

-john
Title: Re: Do you leave the SVU-1 on all the time?
Post by: mirth on January 31, 2005, 01:07:26 PM
yep. the SVU draws such little power its nutty.