Best 9v for SXM2/L2? (Attn: Schoeps>Lemosax users)

[Nick Graham]

I've done a lot of reading/searching the archives this past weekend, but most of the 9v discussions I came across were either related to SP battery boxes or the Denecke boxes (AD20/PS2), so forgive me if I overlooked anything.

Anyway just curious what run times people have gotten with what batteries in the Sonosax? Are there any rechargeable 9v that aren't worthless? Rick sent me 30 Energizers with the pre, and I'll use those until I run out - but looking for what to buy in the future.

Any help would be great

[Brian Skalinder]

Whatever you do, stay away from NiMH rechargeables - they just don't cut it.

I've not fully tested battery life with any 9v batt, but I've had downright poor experiences with regular old Duracells / Energizers.  I seem to have picked up multiple bad batches that have had little to no capacity left straight out of the box.    FWIW, I've had success with Energizer e2's.  Haven't tried the higher grade Duracells.  And I have no experience with lithiums.  Not a lot of help, I know, but there it is.   

Now you have me motivated - I'm testing the e2's I just got and used for a recent Del McCoury show.  Will report back once I know more.

One thing that freaked me out at first - the Sax manual says:

After 2 to 3 seconds, the "ON" led at the center of the front panel will flash every 3 seconds.

My unit at normal operating voltage seems to flash closer to every 1.5 - 2 seconds, which made me think I'd hit the low batt warning:

The "ON" led will flash every second when the total battery voltage drops to 14 volts.

And IME mine blinks faster than 1/sec when it hits the low batt warning.

[Nick Graham]

One thing that freaked me out at first - the Sax manual says:

After 2 to 3 seconds, the "ON" led at the center of the front panel will flash every 3 seconds.

My unit at normal operating voltage seems to flash closer to every 1.5 - 2 seconds, which made me think I'd hit the low batt warning:

The "ON" led will flash every second when the total battery voltage drops to 14 volts.

And IME mine blinks faster than 1/sec when it hits the low batt warning.

Weird...'cause mine seems to be slower than every 3 seconds...like 3.5 - 4. I was standing at The Tabernacle Saturday night staring at it doing the old "1 Mississippi - 2 Mississippi"...so needless to say not very scientific.

Thanks for the battery advice, I'll grab some E2s tonight. Let me know how the tests go...

[eric.B]

silentMark has been using lithiums in his sonosax for the last year (?) or so with good results...  maybe he will chime in.. 

I do know he just bought some rechargables for it, but I am unsure as to whether they are up and running yet...

[JasonR]

I've always run regular alkaline 9volts and typically get over 8 hours from a pair.  However, I get nervous about running them too long because when mine goes to "fast blink" it usually means I have only about 5-10 minutes of good sounding audio.  It will run longer, but the signal gets distorted and has a lot of static.

I'll have to test mine and see just how long it goes before festival season.

- Jason

[gewwang]

I've always run regular alkaline 9volts and typically get over 8 hours from a pair.

Wow, is that with Schoeps? I've never gotten over 5 1/2 hours with 4022s.

[JasonR]

Yeah (Schoeps MK4 > KC5 > SX-M2/LS) - that's the Sonosax SX-M2/LS, not the regular 48v phantom powered version.

I suspect Schoeps CCM4s and DPA 4022s would have about the same current draw from various preamps, but that's a different question.

- Jason

[leegeddy]

 

best 9v on the planet, imho.

http://www.flashlightsunlimited.com/lithium-9v.htm

as a point of reference, i get about 5hrs. with a set of Duracell 9v with my mv100 (w/ P48).  with the Energizer or the Ultralife, i get 11hrs. easily.

going $ for these is about $4/ea. on Ebay.

marc

[bluegrass_brad]

Duracell ProCell's are also excellant.  I could get two shows out of them with my MV-100.  You can buy them in boxes of 12 at places like Tour Supply.com

[Brian Skalinder]

I'm testing the e2's I just got and used for a recent Del McCoury show. Will report back once I know more.

Just an interim report - on a pair of Energizer e2s, my SX-M2/LS2¹ is running strong (i.e. no low batt indicator) at the original 2 hrs for Del + another 8.5 hrs = 10.5 hrs so far.  I'm running MK4 > KCY > SX-M2/LS2 > JB3 and recording as I go.  I haven't always had the gear in front of me to start a new file promptly, but the JB3 still receives the signal and the meters jump, etc., so I don't think a delay in starting a new file on the JB3 should impact the Sax run-time.  More later...

¹ Note this is the /LS2 model, results may (or may not, I don't know) vary widely for a stock SX-M2.

[monochromic]

i've been running energizer 150mah rechargeables for a while now and have recorded shows of 2 hours in length without any problems, although the low power 'fast blink' comes on pretty much from the time i turn the unit on.

I've always run regular alkaline 9volts and typically get over 8 hours from a pair.  However, I get nervous about running them too long because when mine goes to "fast blink" it usually means I have only about 5-10 minutes of good sounding audio.  It will run longer, but the signal gets distorted and has a lot of static.

so, are you saying that the low power 'fast blink' effects the quality of the audio? these rechargeables will be out the window if that's the case.

[Brian Skalinder]

UPDATE:  low batt indicator came on sometime in the last 30min, so I'm calling it at 10:30p...

02 hrs | Del McCoury show
10 hrs | 12:30p - 10:30p
=================
12 hrs TOTAL before low batt indicator

And a few keywords for future searchers:  run-time, run time, battery, low battery, sonosax, sax, sx-m2, sx-m2/ls2, lemosax

I'm testing the e2's I just got and used for a recent Del McCoury show. Will report back once I know more.

Just an interim report - on a pair of Energizer e2s, my SX-M2/LS2¹ is running strong (i.e. no low batt indicator) at the original 2 hrs for Del + another 8.5 hrs = 10.5 hrs so far. I'm running MK4 > KCY > SX-M2/LS2 > JB3 and recording as I go. I haven't always had the gear in front of me to start a new file promptly, but the JB3 still receives the signal and the meters jump, etc., so I don't think a delay in starting a new file on the JB3 should impact the Sax run-time. More later...

¹ Note this is the /LS2 model, results may (or may not, I don't know) vary widely for a stock SX-M2.

[pfife]

[hijack]

does the lemosax put out the right amount power to run DPA406x's, if you were to have the lemo ones off ebay?

thanks
[/hijack]

[Nick Graham]

UPDATE: low batt indicator came on sometime in the last 30min, so I'm calling it at 10:30p...

02 hrs | Del McCoury show
10 hrs | 12:30p - 10:30p
=================
12 hrs TOTAL before low batt indicator

And a few keywords for future searchers: run-time, run time, battery, low battery, sonosax, sax, sx-m2, sx-m2/ls2, lemosax

Appreciate that! I just ordered 6 e2s...figured with 10 hrs a piece that should get me through a couple dozen shows no problem.

+T

[Rick]

I always changed my batteries out every show... I never trusted those things more then 3.5 hours. The only reason I used the Energizers was that I could buy them at home depot for like a 1.25 each. I was going to get the rechargeables, but after the charger and 4 batteries, it would have cost like $80 at the time. So I just suck to the Energizers until I ran out.