TASCAM DR-680 portable 8-track #4

[hi and lo]

adn as for the battery issue Tascam's (service dept?) did tell someone that a 9 volt DVD battery does fall in the specified range.  Then there is the fact that the HD-P2 will accept a range of input voltages so we know it's possible to make the deck reliable with external batteries.

Let's talk about this for a minute because  Tascam does not list any specifications for external powering. In fact, if you look at their website and review the manual, the only specification they list is that it should be powered by 8 x AA batteries or the supplied AC adapater. Any external voltage or amperage ratings are entirely omitted from all product documentation I have reviewed. The unit itself says 12v, but nothing in the documentation.

Now, of the many portable audio devices you own, how many of them completely fail to state this specification? I'm sure there are few, but I can't think of any that I personally own or have used. My PSP-2 is 5-9v, my AD2k+ is 11-18v (I think... would need to double check). These are obviously meant to be portable devices, so why would they entirely omit what is a pretty standard specification for field audio recorders?

I would love to know the exact specification. If it's 12v only, fine by me, but I think we have enough anecdotal evidence to suggest that 9v works pretty well. The jury is still out w/r/t if 9v powering might cause earlier than expected component failure, but I think the question should be posed to Tascam and the specifications confirmed. When I asked the teac factory service mgr, he wasn't really willing to make this confirmation, either way. He pretty much said "use the supplied ac adapter," but not in so many words.

[kirk97132]

Taken from DR-680 Battery Options thread in Remote power section. Link to Post:
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=135317.msg1773913#msg1773913

Outside Diameter : 5.5mm   
Inside Diameter : 2.1mm
Length: 9.5mm,
Inside pole is positive (+),
Input Voltage : +8V - +13V   
Supply current : more than 600mA

This item is not available as a separate part.

Thank you for your interest in TASCAM products.

I finally heard back from Tascam Customer Service and they provided me with the following specs for the DR-680 DC power jack:

Outside Diameter : 5.5mm   
Inside Diameter : 2.1mm 
Length: 9.5mm,
Inside pole is positive (+),
Input Voltage : +8V - +13V   
Supply current : more than 600mA

This item is not available as a separate part.

Thank you for your interest in TASCAM products.

[hi and lo]

Interesting... I, obviously, missed that post. So 9v dvd batteries should be just fine.

[H₂O]

as long as the voltage does not drop below 8V

[bdasilva]

 I  use a DVD Battery (9v) and I have run  this till the display switches from "ac" to the battery symbol... (and the backlight goes out....)  I ALWAYS keep AAs in the unit. I pull gold with this unit... Feel the love....

[kirk97132]

as long as the voltage does not drop below 8V

great point.  Does anyone know how battery voltage relates to the display lights on the DVD batteries

[H₂O]

You will need to test the voltage under load as it will probably be higher when not connected

[SmokinJoe]

as long as the voltage does not drop below 8V

great point.  Does anyone know how battery voltage relates to the display lights on the DVD batteries

I took apart a DVD battery to see what is inside. There are 6 x 18650 batteries, 3 in parallel x 2 in series. This means the batteries put out 7.2'ish volts, which makes sense because the first ones were 7.2v. then they use a pumper circuit I guess to get it up to 9v. I'm not knowledgeble enough to trace the pumper circuit, but I can count to 6 and use a meter. 

Anyway, I don't think you will get a decay curve like you expect from an SLA. I think it will try like hell to maintain 9V until it dies suddenly. Those lights probably refer to the input voltage, not output voltage. Will there be dips and ripple in there? I wouldn't be surprised.  When you flip on phantom power there is a sudden need for more power, voltage dips, recovers, and perhaps overcompensates.

This is all speculation of course, I don't think anyone has studied it.

[Gutbucket]

Finally got around to using the V3 with the DR-680 to record a full 8 channels last night.  A number of times previously I'd linked the R-44 to the DR-680 digital input as a way to sync clocks, but either didn't record the digital input pair from the R-44, or did so simply as a redundant/throwaway dub of that digital input pair just to be safe.

No problems, worked great!  V3 fit perfectly under the DR-680 in the bag. Considered even running both off one DVD battery, but why push things?

All gear went in/out in one load. Complete setup in 10min / breakdown in 5. Pretty cool. 

[F.O.Bean]

Awesome

[kirk97132]

Finally got around to using the V3 with the DR-680 to record a full 8 channels last night.  A number of times previously I'd linked the R-44 to the DR-680 digital input as a way to sync clocks, but either didn't record the digital input pair from the R-44, or did so simply as a redundant/throwaway dub of that digital input pair just to be safe.

No problems, worked great!  V3 fit perfectly under the DR-680 in the bag. Considered even running both off one DVD battery, but why push things?

All gear went in/out in one load. Complete setup in 10min / breakdown in 5. Pretty cool. 

I found the 6volt Lunatec V3 and the 680 to be a fairly big drain on the DVD battery.  I wouldn't trust it to run fours hours.  I use the four hour time frame for a two set show.  I think it would do it but be at the edge of draining the 5400mAh DVD battery...IIRC.  I don't know how it would work out if you were running the 12V Lunatec with 12 volt batteries. 

[Gutbucket]

Good to know, thanks Kirk.

[hardrain62]

Just got my DR-680 in the mail. I'm very excited but also a little uneasy about all of the external battery concerns. I really hope that this won't be a regrettable purchase. Luckily the first place I'll be trying this out at has reliable AC power available in the taping sweet spot, so I'll just use that, but I'm not gonna lie, I'm going to be really uneasy the first time I roll while powered by an external battery. I use a Battery Geeks battery for my DR-100 which has been nothing but fantastic, so I'm hoping for the same with this unit! Fingers crossed.

Browsing the unit now, I really like the look, feel, and features of it. Adjusting the input levels on-screen is kind of odd, but I think I could get used to it. Functionality is similar to the DR-100, so I'm already a bit used to the menu and interface. Very nice.

[intsound]

Greeting to you all I'm new here.

I'm testing my Tascam DR-680 with a set of 8xAA VARTA (ready 2 use) rechargeable 2300mAh batteries. So far so very-good
I started at 15.00 o'clock. Battery level did go very fast to only one square and added the second square after about one hour    (I did stop recording once for a second after half an hour and then continue the recording) 
My used mic. : ch1+ch2=(DPA 4071) ch3=(Earthworks TC30K) ch4=(Beyer Dynamic M58) ch5+ch6=(Neumann KM83) ch7+ch8=Digital in.44.1kHz/16bit. 
I stopped the recorder at 18.00 o'clock! (still some batt. power left) 


 

[sdog]

One more experience:

My DR680 is quite funky right now.

Never used anything except 12V to power it (in fact made a point to doublecheck the allowed input voltage specs with Tascam before purchasing an external battery).

Don't know if my problems are new or if they've always been there because I have used the unit only very sporadically until several months ago. In November and December I used it heavily for some multi-track film work.

1. Channel 2 line level is passing no signal. Mic level seems to be O.K. Other channels pass line level signals just fine.

2. No BWF metadata is being stamped into the files. I can't remember how much was supposed to go in there, but I thought that at least the origination date and time were supposed to be included.

3. All file sequence numbers just keep growing higher. Maybe they always did this or maybe they are supposed to do this, but I'd swear that when I first got the DR680, the sequence would reset to 000 on a new day or when you deleted all the files in a project directory.

I've already tried re-flashing the firmware (v1.20) and re-formatting the SD card. No luck.

I've got the question about what's supposed to be stamped into the BWF in to Tascam, but it's been a week and I haven't heard a word back.

Because this is a Busman modded unit, I have a question in to Chris about warranty repair for the "Channel 2" problem, but I just sent that question a few hours ago and don't expect an answer back right away.

My instinct is that there is something flaky/unstable about the DR680 design and I'm not sure it has anything to do with the power supply.

If anyone with a well-working DR680 and a copy of Wave Agent or BWF MetaEdit could let me know which BWF metadata elements are actually written on your files, I'd sure appreciate it. Also do your sequence numbers reset to 000 when you start a new day or when you delete all the files in the project directory?

It may be that these two behaviors are "by design" and just seem flaky to me because I'm expecting something different.

Thanks