Batteries

I’m really excited about a job I’ve got coming up, I’m off to France for a week to follow Team Strakka around for the Le Mans 24 hour.  Not only is it going to be taxing on me, especially for the race- but also for powering my kit.  So far I’ve managed to get by on AA batteries (bulk bought duracell procell from ebay or Kingsland waste market in Dalston), but it’s really not going to be practical for a week.

First of all I’ve found a way of getting a bit more from the AA’s- you can buy chargers which will get a few more goes out of alkaline batteries.  I’ve just had a couple of these arrive and they’ve got some of the spent batteries in them at the moment.  Both the mixer and recorder seem to give up when they get down to around 1.3V.  They’ll still be useful for the radio mics and as a backup.

For a while I’ve used a cheapo chinese Li-Ion 12v battery “6800mAh” designed for CCTV (with a polarity reverse cable) which’ll get a couple of hours out of the recorder. I think the 6800mAh quoted might be for something like 5V though (or just lies).  The connector is jut a 2.1mm barrel connector though so I really don’t trust it.

From having a look at what was available my choices were:

7.2V DVcam batteries- small, long lasting (although the equipment may drain more at a lower voltage, depending on the regulator), locking connector. Reasonable price

9V/12V consumer DVD player/CCTV batteries.  Cheap. Non Locking connector

Professional 14.4V NP1/V lock/gold mount etc. Big. Locking connectors.  Expensive

Unfortunately 7.2V wasn’t enough to power my recorder (even though it only gets 6V on AA’s), so that was out.  The consumer stuff would involve risky connectors and look cheap so I’ll see if I can do pro stuff.

I also found a full length NP1 doesn’t fit in my bag (I’ve got a couple of old ones).  The V-lock batteries etc were even more expensive and wider so that may not have been an option either.

Fortunately Hawk-Woods make a ‘Stubby’ NP1 style battery, the NP35 which will fit.  Shopped round a bit and got them for £70 each.  However they’re Li-Ion and my (broken) NP1 charger only recharges Ni-Cd and NIMH.

So, new charger.  They can get really expensive (up to £700…and they just recharge batteries?!?). Got a no-name chinese one off ebay (*hope it works*) for £80 which will recharge 4 batteries after just missing out on a 2nd hand PAG.

Finally to hook it up to my kit.  I’ve just bought a Hawk-woods NP1  shoe (rather than the full regulated distro) and I’m going to sort out a custom cable for it.