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Lectrosonics SM series battery eliminator


snd.waves

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Hi all,

I have two old style batt eliminators for my SM series, and true to my memory they are faulty, intermittent power loss being the problem. I recall that this was an issue for others at the time, but stopped needing them so lost interest in fixing them. 

I really need these now for a job, my question is, can I fix this problem myself? Is it as easy as replacing a washer to make a better connection?? 

New ones are very expensive I noticed, would rather make use of the ones I currently own.

Regards 

Ben

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Hi all,

I have two old style batt eliminators for my SM series, and true to my memory they are faulty, intermittent power loss being the problem. I recall that this was an issue for others at the time, but stopped needing them so lost interest in fixing them. 

I really need these now for a job, my question is, can I fix this problem myself? Is it as easy as replacing a washer to make a better connection?? 

New ones are very expensive I noticed, would rather make use of the ones I currently own.

Regards 

Ben

Hi Ben,

As time wore on, we found a way to improve battery life on the SM series by replacing the door thumbscrew & washer (see post by Larry Fisher in this forum, <http://jwsoundgroup.net/index.php?/topic/24744-improved-sm-single-and-dual-battery-thumbscrew-kit/#comment-291166> -- far more informative than my brief post here).    The same fix would apply to the SM battery eliminators, if a weak connection is the sole issue.  Contact service.repair@lectrosonics.com for an SM2DOORKIT and we will be glad to send you one free of charge.  (The thumbscrew in the SM door kits are pre-dabbed with the silver conductive grease, so we should be able to rule out two potential failure modes by replacing your thumbscrew.)

 

Best,

Wes Herron, Manufacturing

Lectrosonics, Inc

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Thank you for the replies guys!

Yes i felt that it related to what you outline there Wes, and will get in touch regarding the SM2DOORKIT. I set them up and couldn't fault them but then both started dropping out fairly persistently with only a bit of light movement of the bag to trigger it. This was the issue back in the day, so hopefully new door and a bit of silver will have them back doing what they do best.

cheers!!

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I know the new RX units are small in size but gee whiz it was a design oversight to not have the option to run them via NP style battery/mains power or AA battery without modifying the battery compartment. Sometimes with my older lectros i could hard wire the RX on a long cable closer to the action (if needed) powering off the 2x 9v batteries and then within seconds plug it back into my bag no worries.

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For the LR and the SM series transmitters, it wasn't so much of a design oversight but a design choice - in those units, size was the limiting factor.  Adding another connector for power requires board edge room on the circuit board and more circuitry for the voltage regulation.  Trust me, we wrangled on that one for quite some time. 

Gordon

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I had two different SM batt eliminators on my cart, and one worked flawlessly and one was intermittent. The intermittent one would die about once a day, and we never did get to the bottom of the problem. They were being used with SMQV's -- one as a camera hop, and one as a boom op IFB. 

I remembered this issue, Marc, when I started having the same issue running 2 SMQV out of my bag: one would just intermittently shut off.

image.thumb.jpg.25a322511947d17c9ba9a835The split post inside the connector sometimes gets squeezed together. Tim from LSC used the small Lectro screwdriver to gently spread it open and both SMQV have been trouble free for over a year. Worth a try if you're still experiencing that issue.

Best,

Steven

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I know the new RX units are small in size but gee whiz it was a design oversight to not have the option to run them via NP style battery/mains power or AA battery without modifying the battery compartment. Sometimes with my older lectros i could hard wire the RX on a long cable closer to the action (if needed) powering off the 2x 9v batteries and then within seconds plug it back into my bag no worries.

what are you talking about? If you are referring to the SRa/b receivers, these can easily be powered by an NP1, mains, or various other forms of external powering option. Ok, no internal batteries, but that's a size issue.

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