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Re: HHB Portadisc

Subject: Re: HHB Portadisc
From: Jeremy Minns <>
Date: Wed, 03 Sep 2003 18:59:19 -0300
Thanks for the reply, Walter. Quick and detailed as always. My battery life 
is much lower than yours and I must now do some more careful testing to 
find where the problem lies.

>There is a switch inside the Portadisc behind the battery caddy. It says
>"Charge  OFF - ON". Set it to on and you should be able to charge the
>batteries. That switch is in there in case you are using alkalines and
>plug it in, so it won't try and charge alkalines and I know mine was
>shipped with charge off. This info is in the owner's manual.

The switch is on and the Portadisc appears to be charging. When I put the 
apparently charged batteries into the Portadisc it shows a full charge. 
However, this quickly drops. This happens even if I leave it charging all 
night after the green charge light is completely out.

>You should probably verify the condition of your batteries. Maybe try a
>new set. That's way, way too fast a battery usage. At that discharge
>rate the batteries should be very hot to the touch. If they are not,
>they do not have anywhere near 2200mAh in them. It's far more likely
>that you have a problem with the batteries.

I have four new sets of batteries from two different manufacturers and all 
give less than one hour of recording. I do use phantom power from the 
Portadisc, by the way.

Thank you for finding out that I have an HHb distributor right on my 
doorstep but as a result of gruesome past experiences I would be extremely 
loath to entrust my precious recorder to a local repair shop. In Brazil 
they never have the skills nor the spares for specialised work. In the past 
I have twice had to pay to get my cassette recorder back from the repairer 
and then had to send it to the States. A friend of mine sent a microphone 
to Sennheiser's local people last month and they returned it still 
unusable. I'll check out SK Audio Professional Products but with 
considerable scepticism.

I need my recorder for a long trip to Amazonia soon and will see how it 
goes. If the problems continue and are not the fault of the batteries I 
will almost certainly send the Portadisc for repair in the States.

Thanks again for your help.

Jeremy

Jeremy


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