Topic: External Battery for DR-100?

[jnorman34]

hi guys - i just bought a DR-100 for my son to use taping classical and chamber music concerts.  he will add external mics when he is able, and will be renting out a pair of km184s in the imterim.  he will occasionally need to record for 4-6 hours at a time for rehearsals, etc., and rather than have to worry about running an AC power cord, i was wondering if there was a good sled-type battery choice for him to use with the tascam.  what would you recommend to supply a long running time for the DR-100?  (btw, what kind of run time are you getting from the internal batteries on the dr-100?)  thanks.

[jnorman34]

i read in another thread the following:
"I'm sure a Tekkeon would provide plenty of record time if you want to go that route but SLA is the best bang for the buck.  As I said before you can also get a smaller 3.5ah SLA which is about the size of a pack of cigs."

...which probably answers my question, but i dont know what either the tekkeon or SLA are - can someone please point me at some info on those two options, and how you use them with the DR-100?  thanks.

[Jhurlbs81]

Tekkeon is a company that makes popular lithium ion batteries
http://www.tekkeon.com/products-mypowerall.html

SLA=Sealed Led Acid- These batteries are older and much bigger and heavier than the lithium ion batteries popular today.  But you can find used ones for very cheap or free..

I don't have personal experience with that deck, but it looks like it has two battery compartments, a proprietary rechargeable lithium ion battery and it also takes standard AA batteries.  So it comes down to what the 184s draw. You might be fine using the lithium and AA's together.  I'd set up your stuff in the house and do a test to see what you get off the internals before buying the external pack. 

[jnorman34]

jesse - thanks for the info.

[Savage Messiah]

As of now, no one has yet tested the DR-100 going phantom with the 184's.

Please wait until I have done this, but I just purchased and am going to test the following product located at http://opti-online.com/product_info.php?cPath=30&products_id=52 :

Opti-Solar PowerBank440 potential benefits:

-5V 2A 4.4Ah (same volt/amp rating as DR-100 AC adapter)
-Samsung lithium-ion rechargeable battery and interchangeable plug tips
 (one of them should fit DR-100, if not go to The Shack)
-measures only 3.93 x 2.28 x 0.9", which should fit in the case with the DR-100 if you modify the soft case to operate through it when closed!
- has it's own plastic case, charge level LED's, switch
- fraction of cost power-for-dollar when stacked against Tekkeon, Tascam batteries.

If you know the mA current draw of your mics, you should be able to compute a rough estimate of record time (with internal batteries alone) by doing a ratio against the test done in another post with 10mA mics that got ~3 hours on Li-ion and .5 hours with 2xAA Ni-MH 2700mAh.

---------------------------
My test will be: AT831's and I am going to turn phantom on and let record for as long as possible with the following combinations:

- External batt > Tascam Li-ion > Kodak 2xAA Ni-MH 2500mAh
- External batt only
- Tascam Li-ion > Kodak 2xAA Ni-MH 2500mAh

Will post results.
------------------------------

If you go the Tekkeon route looks like the 3450 series might work but you should confirm the proper Amp output at 5V to make sure it doesn't fry your DR-100.