Mike Kujbida Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 This is a fairly new Tascam (purchased within the past year). I was on a shoot recently and every set of freshly charged batteries (Imedion Powerex 2400 ma) I put into it were supposedly low. I tested them in another DR-70D I had and they were fine. I went through the manual but it wasn't much help. I've been in contact with my dealer (Tyler Wade from Trew Audio Toronto) and tried his suggestions (clean the contacts and update the firmware) and still no success. Before I send it back for repair, has anyone had this problem and what was the solution? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olle Sjostrom Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 Sorry if this answer is stating some very obvious things.. No harm intended Some devices have a setting for the type of battery you're using. Have you checked to see that it's expecting NiMH? If yes; all the NiMHs I use reads as though they've been a little used from the get go. I have a set of g2s and I've never had a full battery symbol more than half an hour on them using powerex 2700 mah. This said, the g2s still lasts for hours and hours (thirteen probably) Skickat från min E5823 via Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Gilbert Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 Olle, that's because NiMh peak at 1.2V and hold more or less that voltage till they drop suddenly, unlike alkaline which start at 1.5Vish and drop steadily from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Kujbida Posted November 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 Olle, sorry for neglecting to mention it but that was the one of the first things I checked and it was set to NiMH. The battery indicator on the defective unit is barely off the bottom while the same set of batteries in the good unit is at the top of the scale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olle Sjostrom Posted November 4, 2015 Report Share Posted November 4, 2015 Olle, that's because NiMh peak at 1.2V and hold more or less that voltage till they drop suddenly, unlike alkaline which start at 1.5Vish and drop steadily from there. Yes, I know this, I just couldn't put it into words. Or the right words, the technical terms and stuff. You know.. English not being my mother language I sometimes just forget but I couldn't not say it. Fellow sound technician in need urge too strong to resist. Thanks for correcting Skickat från min E5823 via Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Kujbida Posted November 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2015 My second unit acted up on a shoot yesterday (exact same symptoms even though it worked fine on a shoot earlier the same day) so back to the factory they both go. Tyler from Trew Toronto has been very supportive throughout this ordeal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bash Posted November 4, 2015 Report Share Posted November 4, 2015 what does the meter read if you put new Duracells or similar in them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Duffy Posted November 5, 2015 Report Share Posted November 5, 2015 Are the Powerex batteries over-sized AA's (tight in the compartment)? We had trouble with large cap batteries not contacting properly in the DR-60D, but that was fixed in the mkII and in the 70D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Kujbida Posted November 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 Bash, all I have are rechargeables and if I put in a just charged set into the defective units, the meter is at the bottom of the scale. Tom, the batteries slide in and out very easily so that's not an issue with me. The units have been sent back to Trew and I'm hoping that they'll tell me what the cure was when they figure it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Spaeth Posted November 6, 2015 Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 Hi Mike, my suggestion is you buy a halfway decent USB battery pack (as in smartphone charger), connect it to the DR70d and never worry about batteries again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Kujbida Posted November 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 Christian, thanks for the idea. I'll definitely look into this as the Tascam eats batteries like crazy. I get a bit over 2 hrs. record time with one COS-11D plugged into it I have the AC adapter but it is a bit clumsy being tied to a long cable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Kujbida Posted December 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2015 Time to put this thread to rest. Thanks to the good folks at Trew Audio Toronto, I finally got my faulty recorders back - kinda When they called Tascam and described the problem to them, they were told to destroy the units and that new ones would be shipped to replace them. No explanation given so I can only assume that there was a manufacturing defect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Duffy Posted December 8, 2015 Report Share Posted December 8, 2015 Clarification: That's a single unit defect, we don't have any batches of faulty units. It's certainly not normal to have units destroyed, but in this case I think the shipping + customs taxes on getting the broken units back from Canada to the US outweighs any benefit we could get from repairing and refurbishing them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Kujbida Posted December 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 Tom, thanks for the clarification. I was surprised when they told me what they had to do and your explanation makes sense. I remain a happy DR-70D owner and have told others about how good it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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