Wireless mic battery life?

[Rob Harlan]

Currently I am buying a new 9v battery (the 'square' type) for the wireless lav mic transmitter box for each new wedding - better to be safe than sorry, and risk a pre-used battery expiring mid-vows etc.

But does anyone know the approximate life to expect from such a battery used soley for powering this kind of mic?

I buy decent Duracell batteries at around £4 each - how many hours of power would be expected for wireless mic transmitter use?

[Don Bloom]

my old transmitters would get about 6 to 7 hours of run time from 9v batteries which is no different than the AAs I use now. Of course if you're outside and it's really cold or really hot the time might vary but I always used to figure 6 hours time. YMMV depending on the draw of your transmitters.

I used to give them to my grandkids for their toys and now give them lots and lots of AAs so I don't feel so bad about only using themfor an hour or so.

[Paul R Johnson]

I agree with the lifespan, but not with how much you are buying duracells for.

Duracell's pro-cell (which is just a non-consumer wrapped version) can be got for much less than that.

I get mine from CPC.

DURACELL|15070557|BATTERY, PROCELL PP3 9V PK10 | CPC

box of 10 for around £10+VAT

[Chris Talawe]

FYI: I used a Sennheiser G2 100 wireless mic system and I had it turned on for at least 6.5 hours. The batteries used where procell duracell AA. We still had plenty of juicy from them as well. I'm pretty impress on how long these things last.

[Tom Dickerson]

Just to be safe, I always drop new batteries in my devices before a wedding shoot. My 9volt and AAA batteries generally last the pre, wedding, and reception. Sometimes I will use them later on non-critical or personal stuff then I dispose of them.

[Chris Harding]

My Azdens say that the battery life is 6 - 8 hours!! However, you are never going to get another chance to redo the vows are you???
I think it's a tiny price to pay for peace of mind.

Yeah, I probably toss out heaps of batteries with plenty left in them!! I do have two Rode VideoMics on the cameras so I do keep a few batteries spare that have been in the Azdens for just a short ceremony and use them elsewhere where I can. It must be noted that I carry a digital voltmeter with me so I do have the ability to test batteries before "assuming" they are still OK! Any that are under 8.7 volts are tossed out!!

I have actually left an Azden set on between the ceremony and speeches end (around 7 hours) and the transmitter LED turned from green to red during the last speech (luckily the audio was still OK)

Chris

[Jim Snow]

I agree Chris. It's not a good idea to get cavalier about battery life. If you do, it's just a matter of time until it bites you. It also helps one's peace of mind to start an event with fresh batteries.

[Ryan ONeil]

any body have a sennheiser g3? Just got one. What's the battery life like on those?

[Don Bloom]

I know folks with Sennys, Lectros and I've had Azdens and Audio Technic and the transmitter battery life is all about the same, 6 to 8 hours. Receivers actually about the same depending on the exact setup. IE, I run an AT dual channel receiver. If I'm running both sides of the receiver I'll get about 6 hours, 1 side only about 8 maybe 9. If I up the power of the transmitter it will run closer to 6 than 7 but on low power which I've found is generally more than enough, it's closer to 8 than 7.
HTHs

[Philip Howells]

In our Audio RMS2000 we use GP rechargeables, fresh for the start, changed after the ceremony. Never been let down. Have also used Lithium Polymer - they're very expensive but last longer though not long enough..

And forget all the nonsense about rechargeables having lower voltage - most of the non-rechargeables drop to the same voltage very soon after an initial period. GP has chapter and verse if you need the details. We use their Recyckos for everything else - terrific batteries.

We used to be doubters too - for a long time we put fresh Duracells in every time, as the Op wrote "just to be sure".

[Paul R Johnson]

The G3s with 2 X AAs seem to be almost identical in lifespan to the 9V older G1s.

Rechargeable cells are pretty good now - but for me, I won't use them because there is a human element.

I used last year, between November and February 2,200 AAs. This works out pretty expensive - yet my experiment with rechargeables failed badly - nothing to do with the batteries themselves. One day, the cleaner had unplugged the charger to make the cleaner work because the usually empty socket next door had something in. One of the crew noticed the plug was out about half an hour before battery up time, stuck it back in - but forgot to tell the sound op what she'd done - the result being a flat set was put in, and one by one, they started to fizz and pop. A set of real ones during the break sorted it, and with a bit of the inquisition, I found out what had happened. Other mistakes we made were that the sound op asked his assistant to stick the batteries in the charger, but seeing her in the bar, assumed she hadn't, and took out the set in the charger (which he assumed had been in since the afternoon show) when she had indeed changed them, and they were the flat ones, been on charge for just a few minutes.

I couldn't take the chance on this happening again - so we went back to disposables - however, all the people with a source of half-empty AAs were very happy.

If you can sort out the charging, they're worth it - I just couldn't.

Oh yes - last thing. rechargeables discharge sitting on the shelf. So just because you charged them, put them in the charged box, doesn't mean they actually still have a full charge.

Sennheisers have a charger option, but I don't see many people using them that way?

[Philip Howells]

Paul, you should check out Recyckos - they have a fantastic shelf life - something like 90% after 12 months. And the cleaner only has about an hour to pull the plug out!.

PS I don't work for them!