bendybones Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 I would like a remote power switch for my Nomad without paying 200-400 dollars for a Remote Audio BDSv4 or similar. A suggestion from another thread was to build a switch on to my current Hawk Woods NPA-SQN battery cup I would like to have this situated along the cable, not on the cup, as the cup will probably be in the bottom of the bag. I just received my first batch of Sugru so I could probably use that to patch/mount/encase as necessary. I can solder, but i have no idea how the elecronics of this situation should work. Any suggestions on how I should do this? What kind of switch component would I need (how many pins/connections etc)? Would it be better to use a regulated power adapter like this Hawk Woods NPR FR2 ? Is this simply a bad idea? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Toline Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 If the Nomad is connected to a seperate power feed with it's own on/off switch then I would open the case of the HW unit and disconnect the wires (should be 2 of them) and extend them to whatever distance you need to your own single pole/single throw on/off switch. Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason porter Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 Like Eric said. I would drill a small hole in the NP-1 cup (to fit a piece of wire, long enough to suit your needs) disconnect the - lead from the battery to the Hirose (the one that powers the Nomad) solder one lead of the wire (the one you drilled the hole for) to the - battery terminal and the other lead to the Hirose - terminal on the other end of the wire...solder one lead to a small toggle switch and then the other lead to the other terminal of the toggle switch you can now interrupt the - lead from the battery to the Nomad, cutting power. Of course, if you have internal batteries installed in the Nomad...they will kick-in. as far as what switch to use...I can't tell you what the specs are, I just pick one that fits (physically) my needs. AFAIK, they are rated for at least 125VAC, minimum, so you should be ok using it with a 12v system. I hope this helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Wexler Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 Of course, if you have internal batteries installed in the Nomad...they will kick-in. This is, of course, the inherent problem with any of these remote power switch schemes. The power switches on many of the devices we use are not just dumb on-off switches. Many devices have certain active routines that are initiated when the "power" switch is used to turn the machine on or off. On my cart, for example, I have a master switch that will turn off the power from my Cart Power Supply going to all the DC connection points throughout the cart. When shut down this does not insure that everything will actually go off. The Deva, receiving power from the external Cart Power Supply will not go off but rather it will switch to its internal NP-1 battery and continue to run. If I were to walk away from the cart at night, the Deva would continue to run until the NP-1 died. I know the way around this, of course, is to pull the internal battery (this would work for Nomad as well) but there are distinct advantages to having s fully charged internal battery in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Martin Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 Another thing to consider with the Nomad. If you have internal AA's in the unit as a backup/UPS (which I always use, just in case I run down my NP-1 away from home base or in order to hot swap NP-1's while powered up) Using a power switch to switch an external battery will only switch the Nomad to it's internal batteries. So in order to use an external power switch to actually turn on/off the unit, you will need to not use internal batteries. I waited a while to hit "post" and during my laziness Jason and Jeff covered my point quite well. I snooze I lose! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Visser Posted August 17, 2012 Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 I would be nervous about cutting hard power to something like a Nomad, just like I would shut down a computer properly and not just pull the plug... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted August 17, 2012 Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 Yep, Tom took the words out of my mouth. Any device running an operating system -- which includes all non-linear recorders I know of -- will not react well to just yanking the power out without a clean shutdown first. In bag situations, I'll constantly kill the power on the BDS with the remote switch -- which, by the way, works fine with a BDS v3 -- but I leave the recorder on, just on suspicion of not wanting to interrupt the timecode. If you can wire the shutoff to just kill the wireless receivers, monitoring, IFB, and whatever else you're running, that should help extend battery time quite a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundslikejustin Posted August 17, 2012 Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 Yep, Tom took the words out of my mouth. Any device running an operating system -- which includes all non-linear recorders I know of -- will not react well to just yanking the power out without a clean shutdown first. The Nomad power switch IS a hard shutdown. There is no shutdown procedure like there is with a Sound Devices recorder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bendybones Posted August 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 The Nomad power switch IS a hard shutdown. There is no shutdown procedure like there is with a Sound Devices recorder. Interesting. The earlier comments had me convinced this was a bad idea, but if Nomad's switch is a hard shut down anyway... I'll go tug on Zaxcom's coat. Will report back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundslikejustin Posted August 17, 2012 Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 From another thread re: Nomad Power. Should have no effect. I never use the switch - I cycle power via a BDS which is the same as pulling the power. Jack being the jwsound local expert on all things Zaxcom, I'd say you're fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Norflus Posted August 17, 2012 Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 I've been using a BDS with my Nomad since day one. I will kill power from the BDS. I haven't had any issues with it. So you should be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Wexler Posted August 17, 2012 Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 I've been using a BDS with my Nomad since day one. I will kill power from the BDS. I haven't had any issues with it. So you should be fine. That said, whether it is a "hard switch" or not, there is still the issue of the internal battery keeping the Nomad running even when you kill the external power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Norflus Posted August 17, 2012 Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 That said, whether it is a "hard switch" or not, there is still the issue of the internal battery keeping the Nomad running even when you kill the external power. Correct. I personally don't keep internal batteries in my Nomad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason porter Posted August 17, 2012 Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 MARF makes this less of an issue, I suppose. Correct. I personally don't keep internal batteries in my Nomad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Wexler Posted August 17, 2012 Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 MARF makes this less of an issue, I suppose. True. If the recorder quits, nothing is ever lost. I still feel more comfortable with an internal battery fitted (but then I am working with a Deva on the cart, ample and reliable external power always available). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bendybones Posted August 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 Thanks for the responses. I'm fairly happy without internal batteries for the moment, until power consumption becomes an issue. I contacted Zaxcom a few posts back. They will probably confirm that it is fine, but I will post the news. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnpaul215 Posted August 17, 2012 Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 Bendy- what are you trying to accomplish? Is the Nomad's side switch mounted in a bad place for you? To be honest, a remote switch, with no internal batteries, is a little scary to me if it could get bumped. I always have an internal battery in my Nomad and Fusion, and therefore use the switch on the case. At the end of the day I can turn off the wireless and still be mirroring or creating the folder for the next day. Unless I am on a cart, I would fear doing bag work with a battery that can run out and not having that backup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason porter Posted August 17, 2012 Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 The "accidental" switch is a valid issue. My homebrew BDS has a 3 position switch (on-off-on) and I have never been able to bump it off unintentionally (it is in a spot that helps, not out in the open) When I had a "remote" toggle, I mounted it in a XLR boot to protect it...worked perfectly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berniebeaudry Posted August 17, 2012 Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 Bendy- what are you trying to accomplish? Is the Nomad's side switch mounted in a bad place for you? To be honest, a remote switch, with no internal batteries, is a little scary to me if it could get bumped. I always have an internal battery in my Nomad and Fusion, and therefore use the switch on the case. At the end of the day I can turn off the wireless and still be mirroring or creating the folder for the next day. Unless I am on a cart, I would fear doing bag work with a battery that can run out and not having that backup. Unless you're powering your wireless receivers with a separate battery, when your main battery dies everything goes out. So unless you're just using a boom in your mixer you would be out of commission anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Martin Posted August 17, 2012 Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 Unless you're powering your wireless receivers with a separate battery, when your main battery dies everything goes out. So unless you're just using a boom in your mixer you would be out of commission anyway. I keep 9v batteries in the Lectro receivers to serve as a battery backup. So if I lose juice everything continues to function on internals until I can make a swap. So far, I've never actually run out of juice before I could easily switch out. But the peace of mind helps me relax and focus on mixing instead of watching the voltage drop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wyatt Tuzo Posted August 17, 2012 Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 I keep 9v batteries in the Lectro receivers to serve as a battery backup. So if I lose juice everything continues to function on internals until I can make a swap. So far, I've never actually run out of juice before I could easily switch out. But the peace of mind helps me relax and focus on mixing instead of watching the voltage drop. That won't actually save you if the DC plug is still inserted in the rx. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted August 18, 2012 Report Share Posted August 18, 2012 The Nomad power switch IS a hard shutdown. There is no shutdown procedure like there is with a Sound Devices recorder. Wow! <in Johnny Carson's voice> I-did-not-know-that! I assumed it was like the Deva/Fusion and every other similar recorder. If it's robust enough to handle multiple power kills, go for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccsnd Posted August 18, 2012 Report Share Posted August 18, 2012 I turn my nomad on and off from the bds switch as well. I do not keep batteries in there either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bendybones Posted August 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2012 Bendy- what are you trying to accomplish? Is the Nomad's side switch mounted in a bad place for you? The aim is to prevent the power switch from failing again by never touching it ever again. Mine was not one of the batch of bad power switches, it is a much later unit, but the power switch failed during the first few power cycles anyway. It is being replaced at the moment. I have to assume it can/will fail again. Good point about the accidental bumping. If I go for this I will aim for something low-profile. Also the 'on-off-on' switch idea is really good. Yoink! From Zaxcom You should have no issues powering nomad externally and cutting power via a switch. Though if you power it this way and keep internal batteries in your nomad the nomad will remain on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg sextro Posted August 19, 2012 Report Share Posted August 19, 2012 That won't actually save you if the DC plug is still inserted in the rx. Correct. I havent installed 9volts in my Lectro receivers for quite some time. Never did understand why they designed it this way... As mentioned, a small interrupt switch is very easy to make/solder with a simple switch and project box from radio shack (or the like). A slide switch, like the one found on the nomad, will probably be difficult to accidentally bump. I prefer to keep a backup battery in the nomad or fusion, ( yeah the switch placement on both can be difficult sometimes) but if my bag battery kicks out, I will at least have my boom channel, and won't have to worry about resetting anything on either machine, or wonder if the TC jumped or something. In the "heat of the moment" it just makes more sense to have to worry about as little as possible. When my fusion is on the full cart, I'll leave the battery out, as all audio goes thru my mixer, so if my battery backup kicks I won't have any incoming channels regardless! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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