Martyn Stewart wrote:
> Walt Wrote
>
> <Battery usage is about 3 disks per charge. Unless you spend a lot of
> time in record pause, or have phantom powered mics that draw a lot of
> current. That's what I get, and I'm recording at night, so almost always
>
> running with the illumination light on.>
> Walt, do you use phantom power also mate or a separate power supply for
> the Telinga? I find it hard to get 3 disks from my charge and I use
> "powerex" NiMH rechargeables?
> I must say the rechargeables are longer life than say ordinary Duracell
> batteries! So you get 3x74 mins (3 disks) even using Phantom power and
> burning your LED? Amazing. Maybe I use my pause more than I think I do!
Yes, that's how I go. The telinga I currently have does not use phantom
power, though the new handle will. The MKH all draw their power from the
Portadisc. And the LED is nearly always on. In fact it would be nice to
have a option to disable the auto off.
I'm using GP 2000mah AA's currently. There are some of even higher
capacity now. Next time I buy batteries I'll move to those. Probably at
the beginning of next season, I'm retiring the very last of my Nicads.
I don't use pause for long periods like so many do, it's less necessary
with frogs. If you use pause a lot you won't get near the number of
disks. It's a tradeoff. And the longer each track is, the more length
you will get per charge too.
On the other hand, it's really not a issue for me. It's tough to find
that many disks worth of material in any given evening. Or even most
entire foray trips.
I also don't run right down to no charge normally. I'll usually plug the
portadisc into the power inverter each day when running around scouting.
NIMH batteries don't have to be fully discharged before recharging. I
got the figures for how many disks by bench testing with MKH-20's and
LED on. HHb specs it at 3 hours with their original batteries, and it's
just slightly longer in my testing with that capacity battery. With the
higher charge batteries it's a fair amount longer and did three full
disks with a little to spare. I'd consider 3 disks the best you will
get, with long recording tracks. The more you turn it off and on, the
more pausing the more you will fall off that. And, of course the more
phantom power you draw the less time you will get.
Mostly you just have to get used to what your normal practice does and
plan around that. Each of us will do a little different. It's not a
contest.
For me the two battery caddies have always been enough. In fact I rarely
have to go to the 2nd one, so periodically I exchange the two caddies
just to keep usage even. Even if I get lax about charging I'm ok. And if
I ever got into trouble, I'm carting a sack full of charged extras. For
my headlamps, camera flash, MP2 etc. And I have several high speed
chargers in the Ranger.
Funny how the Portabrace case for the Portadisc has a disk pocket that
holds 6 disks. And the larger pocket holds my spare caddy and my field
cards. I'm currently using HHb 80 minute disks, so it's not quite
balanced, but close enough.
Walt
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