Need Edirol R-44 External Battery

[Alex DeJesus]

What is the latest on these battery packs? Hopefully there is one that doesn't require me to build a cable for.

[Steve House]

The latest on WHICH battery packs? You can power it with any source of 9 to 16 volts DC with a cable wired with a standard coaxial plug with centre pin negative. Lots of options. A vendor like Trew, Coffey, or B&H probably has the cable for an NP-1 battery to the recorder in stock

[Chad Johnson]

Amazon.com: Lenmar DVDU923 Universal Li-Ion Battery for Select Portable DVD Players: Electronics

 

Amazon.com: Lenmar DVDU923 Universal Li-Ion Battery for Select Portable DVD Players: Electronics

Enercell 6" Female-to-Female Adaptaplug Socket Cable : Socket Cables | RadioShack.com

[Alex DeJesus]

Thanks Chad

[Steve Oakley]

I had a pak made by the local batteries plus with 2500MA cells, 14.4 V. I charge it on my PAG charger which will work with just about anything you plug into it.

[Dean Sensui]

Very VERY important:

Center pin NEGATIVE.

If you feed it reverse polarity, it could be a mistake that will cost you a few hundred bucks. I found that out the hard way when trying to power two different devices off the same battery. One of the loose plugs touched the R44 and instantly fried the external power circuit.

That said, I made custom battery packs using nano-phosphate batteries from A123 Systems. A single pack will power the R44 for about 10 hours.

And, yes, I made a cable that's specifically for the R44 and is clearly labeled.

[Chad Johnson]

Dean, do you think that cable I linked above will be OK for the R-44? If there is something I can buy without having to work on or change, I would appreciate it.

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Chad Johnson

Dean, do you think that cable I linked above will be OK for the R-44? If there is something I can buy without having to work on or change, I would appreciate it.

Not even close AFAIK. That cable appears to be a gender changer for a Radio Shack 'wall-wart' power supply. You'll need a male connector to plug into the recorder, not a female. I'm going to bet that the cables that come with the battery you linked to all have a positive centre terminal ai you'll need to wire up a polarity reverser.

That battery is rated at 9.2 volt, 2600mAh. The recorder external DC requirement is 9-16 volt @ 1.2A (1200mA). That means your battery could be expected to last about 2 hours or less in service on the recorder before its voltage drops below the acceptable level. Is it worth it? Doesn't seem like it buys you anything over using rechargeable AA internals, in fact it seems you get less - Edirol claims a 4 hour recording life for freshly charged internal AA's. Suggest you look into something like this ... http://www.idxtek.com/sites/default/...npl7s_spec.pdf

[Chad Johnson]

People are getting 10 hours or so on that battery over on Taperssection.com... DVD batteries are the new hip solution for the R-44 if all you want to do is power the R-44. I'm just not clear on this cable thing. I'll go over there for 1st hand experience rather than theory.

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Chad Johnson

People are getting 10 hours or so on that battery over on Taperssection.com... DVD batteries are the new hip solution for the R-44 if all you want to do is power the R-44. I'm just not clear on this cable thing. I'll go over there for 1st hand experience rather than theory.

What's unclear on the cable? The external power connector on the back of the Edirol clearly is marked as centre pin negative. The battery connector is documented to be centre pin positve. (See http://www.lenmar.com/Uploads/File/Manuals/DVDU923.pdf, the top of the connector cross-reference chart on that page.) Male coaxial connectors plug into each one. You need a male-to-male, polarity reversing cable where the centre conductor on either end is connector to the sleeve on the other end. The cable you linked to doesn't do that on its own - it's a female-to-female socket cable - but you might be able to combine it with the appropriate end connectors and assemble one that does - I think it's intended to accept one of those various adapter plugs into the socket at each end. But you'll need to be very careful to make sure you can set it all up so you get the polarity right.

10 hours on that specifc brand and model battery?

From IDX 's documentation on estimating battery life ... "Determining Run-Time - Please follow the following calculation:
Take the total wattage of the batteries being used and divide by the total power consumption. Ie: (2) E-10
in PowerLink™ is 186W. Camera, light and wireless receiver have a total power consumption of 72W.
Therefore, 186 divided by 72 = approximately 2.58 hours of run-time (variable by operational use)."

Battery from published specs in your link: 9.2V * 2600mAH = 23.92 watt-hours energy available
Edirol R-44 from owners manual: 9V * 1.2A external current draw = 9.72 watts consumption
23.92/9.72 = 2.4 hours expected run time in continuous duty cycle, recording presumably with phantom power to the mics. An intermittent duty cycle where you are switching between record and standby modes, using self-powered mics, etc would give longer battery life, of course

Let us know what you actually get. (Published specs aren't theory)

[Dean Sensui]

Originally Posted by Chad Johnson

People are getting 10 hours or so on that battery over on Taperssection.com... DVD batteries are the new hip solution for the R-44 if all you want to do is power the R-44. I'm just not clear on this cable thing. I'll go over there for 1st hand experience rather than theory.

Chad... The information that you're being given is definitely not "theory". This is all based on basic electronics math as well as real-world experience.

Just to emphasize: If you feed reverse polarity into the R44 you will blow or fry something.

Roland is different from the rest of the industry and long ago made the center pin of its external power supplies negative instead of positive.

Do NOT attempt to run multiple devices from a single battery pack if those devices do not share the same connector polarity. Accidental contact of a stray connector to the outer chassis of a different device will result in a serious short circuit. Even the accidental contact of one device to another could result in a serious short circuit if both devices share the same power source.

You will have to make a cable that has the plug set up with the outer conductor positive and the center conductor negative, and run the R44 with a battery that is dedicated to run only the R44.

Regarding run times and batteries: Cutoff for the R44 is about 9 volts, depending on how you set up your cutoff point in the user menu. You need to feed your R44 9 to 16 volts. When the voltage drops below your assigned cutoff point, the R44 shuts down.

An A123 battery pack (13 V, 2.3 AH) will run the R44 for about 10 hours with the cutoff set at 9 volts.

[Chad Johnson]

I haven't looked at the thread for a week or so, but they are getting 10 hrs off of DVD player batteries. WHat I'm looking for is a cable that will work from one of these batteries to the R-44 without having to solder it or do anything fancy. When I get my R-44 I'll research it harder. If I can get 10 hrs for 50.00 or so I'll be happy.

[Dean Sensui]

Chad... I built my packs for about $40 or so. I also use these packs to power my on-camera light wireless receivers and occasionally a CoolLights 600 for short interviews.

Not hard to make. But you have to like soldering. :-)

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Dean Sensui

Chad... The information that you're being given is definitely not "theory". This is all based on basic electronics math as well as real-world experience.

...
Regarding run times and batteries: Cutoff for the R44 is about 9 volts, depending on how you set up your cutoff point in the user menu. You need to feed your R44 9 to 16 volts. When the voltage drops below your assigned cutoff point, the R44 shuts down.

An A123 battery pack (13 V, 2.3 AH) will run the R44 for about 10 hours with the cutoff set at 9 volts.

And note ... the specific Lenmark battery that was linked to only provides 9.2 volts at fuill charge. Some DVD player external batteries may well prodivde extended run times but I doubt THAT one will.

[Alex DeJesus]

Originally Posted by Steve House

What's unclear on the cable? The external power connector on the back of the Edirol clearly is marked as centre pin negative. The battery connector is documented to be centre pin positve. (See http://www.lenmar.com/Uploads/File/Manuals/DVDU923.pdf, the top of the connector cross-reference chart on that page.) Male coaxial connectors plug into each one. You need a male-to-male, polarity reversing cable where the centre conductor on either end is connector to the sleeve on the other end. The cable you linked to doesn't do that on its own - it's a female-to-female socket cable - but you might be able to combine it with the appropriate end connectors and assemble one that does - I think it's intended to accept one of those various adapter plugs into the socket at each end. But you'll need to be very careful to make sure you can set it all up so you get the polarity right.

10 hours on that specifc brand and model battery?

From IDX 's documentation on estimating battery life ... "Determining Run-Time - Please follow the following calculation:
Take the total wattage of the batteries being used and divide by the total power consumption. Ie: (2) E-10
in PowerLink™ is 186W. Camera, light and wireless receiver have a total power consumption of 72W.
Therefore, 186 divided by 72 = approximately 2.58 hours of run-time (variable by operational use)."

Battery from published specs in your link: 9.2V * 2600mAH = 23.92 watt-hours energy available
Edirol R-44 from owners manual: 9V * 1.2A external current draw = 9.72 watts consumption
23.92/9.72 = 2.4 hours expected run time in continuous duty cycle, recording presumably with phantom power to the mics. An intermittent duty cycle where you are switching between record and standby modes, using self-powered mics, etc would give longer battery life, of course

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http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=133186.0

This guy has various cables available. One is pictured with the R-44. It's a Y-cable so I guess you can swap out external batteries. I can't tell what the tip looks like on the 'battery' end.

If the R-44's minimum power intake is 9v, why would you want a 9v battery? I, too, have seen that DVD battery in various threads. Seems to me you would want something closer to the upper 16v source, which will give you more operating time. If the battery's starting voltage is 9v, then the R-44 would kick off the 'battery low' warning while fully charged, wouldn't it?

Man, I need to brush up on my electroincs formulas.