Radio Mic Batteries

[timtheenchanteruk]

How old are the batteries? I have a couple of EW300s, and get 6Hrs at least from NiMH (batt meter is still showing 2/4 at this point, but as has already been said, the batt meter is not a good indicator on rechargables). what type of charger is it? alot of PP3 chargers are constant charge, so will easily overcharge and kill the battery.

Other chargers may have a timer on them, but are still good battery killers as if the batt is not fully discharged, it will over charge it.

The best type are smart chargers that will give a bulk charge till the battery is full, then a maintenance charge every so often to keep it full.

My charger is a 10 way unit From CPC, im sure 2 way units are avaliable.

[Shez]

I hope 200mAh is a typo otherwise that's your problem right there! Edit: Aha - we're talking PP3s - ignore that - I was thinking of AAs.

 

Failing that, if the charger is a cheap (unintelligent) one then yes, leaving the batteries in all week will rapidly kill them. I have a stack of useless batteries next to me right now that suffered that fate. A better charger (that uses -dv to monitor the charging) should be better for them.

[Yorkie]

The chargers are these very bad boys: http://www.maplin.co.uk/pp3-battery-charger-35210 (there are actually four batteries and two chargers)

[Shez]

Anything that only uses a timer is bad news - it was that type that killed off a lot of my batteries. I now use a rather tasty Ansmann charger that does the job properly.

[timtheenchanteruk]

those things are timer chargers, so not good for your batteries

 

I use one of these in the 10 bank version, has even reclaimed some going duff batteries (now used in the kids toys!!)

 

They also wont charge a 200mAh battery fully, they only operate for 8hrs, and will do a 170 batt in this time, but not a 200.

[Yorkie]

They also wont charge a 200mAh battery fully, they only operate for 8hrs, and will do a 170 batt in this time, but not a 200.

 

That's what I thought having looked at Maplins' web spec but the manual does include 200mAh and the free battery included is 200mAh. I am entirely convinced they need a better charger though

[timtheenchanteruk]

how old is the battery? I managed to kill mine in a short time using those chargers, new batts and charger might be in order.

 

I use GP NIMh, decent price, and so far reliable.

[Yorkie]

The whole setup's about two months old.

 

Another issue became apparent today. They have an EW300 G2 handheld, and it won't power up with 2000mAh NiMH AA's (fine with procells). Is it another substandard charger (think it may be older) or do these mics demand the full 1.5V from each AA?

[timtheenchanteruk]

some rechargable cells are ever so slightly larger than standard cells, it may be that its not quite contacting (I have some akgs that do this with some rechargables.

the G2s work on AA rechargables just fine, the circutry draws the same power, regardless of the voltage (within reason) to keep performance constant.

[chelgrian]

The whole setup's about two months old.

 

Another issue became apparent today. They have an EW300 G2 handheld, and it won't power up with 2000mAh NiMH AA's (fine with procells). Is it another substandard charger (think it may be older) or do these mics demand the full 1.5V from each AA?

 

Procells are more like 1.6V when new and degrade with discharge. Certainly on batteries I take out when G3s indicate 'low battery' they measure around 1v so the transmitters seem to work on quite a wide voltage range.

[Bazz339]

How do people dispose of all these used batteries now?

 

How many batteries will the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic games require? Could be 1000s for each event plus rehearsals.

 

The event and entertainment industry has to take into account the waste it creates.

[cedd]

The question of disposal is one I've just started to think about. In the old days I used to just distribute batteries around the cast. I don't use rechargeables. Half the clocks in the town seem to have my old mic batteries in them. I've changed my regime slightly now though, and whilst I'm using less batteries due to much more efficient transmitters (Trantec S5.3 - 2 shows on 1 AA) it does mean they're little use at the end. I tend to leave the transmitters on after the second performance to completely flatten. Just means if I miss a battery during the swap, it's very obvious pretty quickly on the battery displays (The S5.3's seem to shut down before the battery is completely gone, so they'll start up again when you switch them off and back on - but the level's instantly much lower than a full one). It's a nice safety net to ensure you can't start a show on a dead cell.

 

Ashamed to admit, but these dead ones used to find their way into the ordinary bin. Now schools have got wise to disposal and tend to have a battery bin somewhere, so if I'm working in a school I tend to just fill their battery bin up. We've also got a disposal skip at work, as does the local tip, so I tend to take them there now.

[Jon Wiles]

Hi Cedd

If you take ALL the batteries out before you replace with new, you will never miss one.

And I agree about the S5 only using 1 x AA for 10 hours, We have 16 x 5.5 ch 38. We used to have Shure ULX and they take 1 x 9v. The book says for 8 hours, but you wouldn't want to leave it more than 5, so 2 shows were out of the question then.

 

Jon

[Yorkie]

Battery recycling shouldn't be a problem; every shop that sells more than one pack of batteries per day has to take batteries for recycling. Whilst that doesn't necessarily mean that your co-op will take 120 procells off your hands, I don't think your local tip will have an issue (especially if their performance is based on the weight of products recycled!). Just don't do what one guy not far from here did - used batteries in a bag in his understairs cupboard next to the gas meter. Button cell shorted out a part-used PP3 and one of my friends did the rewire once the fire brigade had finished (allegedly).

 

Anybody used one of these? I'm aware that it's been said that eBay is not always the answer, though given that the obvious choice of Uniross don't seem to offer anything and the Fischer/Ansmann ones are several times the price it may be worth a shot

[cedd]

I guess for some people removing all the batteries first will work, but it really does add a lot of time to your battery change. My mics live in a show hanger designed for wardrobes, so lots of plastic pockets with a mic in each. Space at front of house is limited, so there's nowhere to lay them all out. Means that really the only way to proceed is to take one mic out at once, service it (quick eyeball, change battery, pfl, coil mic cable, put away) and then move on to the next. Removing all the batteries first means it doubles the length of time this takes.

 

I prefer to count out how many new batteries I need, then place one in the groove on the desk for the relevant channel fader. That way as you work through, the last fader without a battery sat above it should be the one you need to pfl to test the mic you've just changed the battery in. If not, then you've screwed up somewhere! Seems to work for me. For that extra degree of confidence you can always count the dead batteries as well, but the discharging trick means I can be reasonably confident with a quick glance at the monitoring software, that I've changed them all.

 

A lot of my routine also depends on the theatre I'm in. One of the large recieving houses locally is normally very keen to get the house locked and shut as soon as possible. This means battery change tends to happen before the next performance - meaning you've really got to do the discharge trick anyway. With some of the more leisurely houses, there's time to do a full battery change after the show without any hassle. If I know my time pre show is going to be pretty intense (getting there from work, or just dealing with problems) I'll do the change the night before to free up some time.

 

Edit to add

In the early days of a local music festival, they did a battery exchange (sponsored by duracell). They got wise to it later on and limited the number of batteries you could swap, but to start with they'd swap any flat battery for a new one absolutely free, with no limits. It was designed for torches and lanterns. You should have seen their face when I turned up with a show's worth of batteries!