naturerecordists
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: Re: Battery Woes

Subject: Re: Re: Battery Woes
From: Steve Pelikan <>
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2006 14:21:55 -0500
Thanks, Rich. I should have thought to email you directly with my
questions since you've given me help on related (electrical)  maters in
the past.

Your reply and link make me think I can pull this battery deal off...

But here's some more examples of how uninformed I am:

1)  The batteries from EcoCharge are 6V lead-acid. The NiCd that came
with the deck is 7.2V. Should I use 5 or 6 D cells (I'm assuming the
NiMH D's are actually 1.2V as labeled)? Or doesn't it matter that much
as long as the voltage  is in some (unspecified) range?

2) It looks like I can use the battery->deck cord that came with the
ecocharge batteries except that the battery-end of this connector
appears to be a male 4-pin XLR-type connector and I can't tell which
pins connect to the red,black, and white wire in the DA-P1 plug (or
+/-/ground which is what I really need to know). Is this something I
should determine by 1) cutting the cord apart and trying to reassemble
it, 2) looking it up somewhere on the WEB, or by 3) testing which of the
3 deck-end connectors holes are hooked up to which 3 of the 4 pins (if
so, how)?

3) Is there an easy way to determine which of the deck-end connector
holes are supposed to be "+"? I can't see any markings on the plug, the
DA-P1 case, and can't find a diagram with the information in the manual.

3')  Is this (+/-/ground possibly connected wrong) where I can end up
frying the insides of the recorder or is the worst that'll happen that I
need to take the cable apart and reconnect it differently? I once burned
up a capacitor (I think it was, or a diode perhaps?) by putting it into
a circuit backwards and would really hate to do that to the DA-P1 as I
really like it a lot. We go back a long way.

4) I assume I'll  nail several 2 D cell holders to a board, hook the 5
or 6 cells together + of one  to  - of the next and then stuff the two
free wire ends  into the XLR-like connector on the battery->deck cord.
Actually, I'll try to disassemble the top of the EcoCharge battery,
recover the female connector that matches the battery end of the
battery->deck cord, and hook my battery wires to the female connector.
With (-) battery going to both (-) and ground pins on the XLR thingy. Or
would I be better off trying to buy a new female connector (meaning are
they generally reusable?)

5) But really, I'll probably try to skip the board and the nails and
find some kind of fairly rigid container to hold the Dcell holders and
so I can mount the Dcell holders with nuts/bolts or screws and try to
mount the female XLR connector in the side. Does it matter what material
the case is made from (from an electrical point of view)? Is there a
standard name for such boxes that I should use when searching/ inquiring
about them?

There: See how little I know!

Thanks ever so much ---
Steve P




________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the naturerecordists mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU