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Re: ME66/K6 battery level indication

Subject: Re: ME66/K6 battery level indication
From: "Gianni Pavan" gptrekking
Date: Mon Aug 22, 2011 1:50 am ((PDT))
... i forgot i published graphs on
http://www.unipv.it/cibra/res_techtest_uk.html

... See toward the end...
Gianni


Il giorno domenica 21 agosto 2011, Mitch Hill <> ha
scritto:
>
>
> On 8/21/2011 10:23 AM, Peter Shute wrote:
>> It flashes once when I turn it on, and I'm guessing this is to indicate
that the battery is ok. Is this correct?
>>
>> If that's correct, how do I know how much life is left?
>>
>> And if the light doesn't flash, does that necessarily mean the microphon=
e
is now dead? Or can it still function for a while longer once the battery
level is low enough that it doesn't flash?
>>
>
> Hi Peter,
> If there is one flaw with the ME/K6 series microphones, it is the lack
> of technical/operating information from Sennheiser.
>
> Yes, the LED only flashes when you turn the battery switch on and the
> intensity of this LED flash is supposedly an indication of the battery
> level, not a very accurate indicator I suspect, however the good news
> is the AA battery lasts so long with the K6 module, trying to interpret
> the LED indicator is really not an issue as typically I find battery
> life is months, not hours or days. Unfortunately, there is no good way
> to tell how much battery life remains accurately using the LED, It is
> basically a go/no go indicator...
>
> What I do is remove the K6 battery after several months of use and check
> it with a digital multimeter and as long as it is above 1 volt DC, the
> LED still flashes, I put the battery back and keep using it. So far I've
> not had one go dead in the field. I suspect Sennheiser's battery life
> estimation of 150 hours is very conservative, I often run my ME66/K6 for
> several days at a time with no indication of degraded battery condition.
>
> Another factor that can work in your favor extending the K6 internal
> battery life, if you have a recorder or a preamp that supplies Phantom
> power and you are operating from an unlimited DC supply of some sort
> such as a car battery (I often use a deep cycle marine battery with a
> SOLAR charger) , simply do not turn the K6 battery switch on, the switch
> only controls the battery, the microphone is always active and will use
> phantom power when it is available. I often use a SD "302"mix/pre
> powered by a large external battery pack for power, and I set the SD
> 302 Phantom power at the 12VDC level option rather than 48 VDC level and
> the ME66/K6 microphones work well at this setting regardless of where
> the K6 switch is set. This is a great setup as it avoids draining the
> AA batteries in the mics, recorder, and preamps for lengthy extended
> sessions.
>
> -- --
> Mitch Hill
>
> (Sent from HP DV6T)
>
>

--
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