Nomad internal batteries

[Philip Perkins]

Anyone roll with the Nomad on the internal AAs (like w/ Lithium or rechargos)? Work ok or not worht the trouble? I understand the recorder has a battery sled--is it possible to have extra sleds that are preloaded? This is for a rig that doesn't use external battery/BDS stuff.

thanks

philp

[dominiquegreffard]

From what i understand the internal nomad battery was mostly designed to run as a backup power allowing hot battery swaps. I would nt only run on it since the maximum running hour is fairly low.

[Max Hirtenstein]

I've got 6 Eneloop 1900 mAH in mine as a backup. I only get a couple hours before the voltage falls down to around 5V. How would you swap sleds? Gonna have to turn it off anyway.

[greg sextro]

I would chime in that swapping sleds all the time would be a pain in the ass.

[Wandering Ear]

They are the same sleds that Denecke slates use, which are easy to come by. As others have mentioned, it's changing them that's a pain, and having to do so every 2-3 hours would be terrible on a busy shoot day. I've only tried NiMH batts.

Dumping the BDS is fine, but I doubt you'll be happy trying to use this rig on internals. Reminds me of when I had to run my Fostex FR2 on internals. 8 AA last about 2 hours. No fun.

[ccsnd]

the answer is - you can, but it's probably not logical

If you are only going to be using it here and there (on and off operation) and don't mind changing the batteries frequently, there is no reason you couldn't run on just the internals.

Just remember never to use alkaline batteries

[johnpaul215]

I keep Powerex batteries in mine. If you only need an hour of run time, it would be fine. The specs only say 1-3 hours.

I use it to stay up when changing external battery, or set up the Nomad for the next day while the batteries are on the charger. I probably only recharge my batteries every week or two because I don't rely on them for much.

[Christian Spaeth]

Early on it was announced that there woul be an option to automatically charge the internal batteries when external power is present. Will that ever happen or was it an empty promise?

[efksound]

Early on it was announced that there woul be an option to automatically charge the internal batteries when external power is present. Will that ever happen or was it an empty promise?

The feature is also described on page 19 of the Nomad manual

[Mark Orusa]

Right here:

http://www.zaxcom.com
Phone: 973-835-5000
Contact page: http://zaxcom.net/company/contact/
Technical question page: http://www.zaxcom.co...hnical-question

[howy]

The charger will be coming, but I am finishing up USB and MP3 support at the moment.

-howy

[Max Hirtenstein]

so that's why my internals aren't recharging!

[bassmagnetic]

I didn't realise this either, guess its worth putting something like Eneloop's in there to guard against discharge then....

[studiomprd]

" Right here: "

aka <cap>

Thanks, Mark.

[cinetj]

Hi,

I'm on a really really tight spot here trying to figure out a solution. I have a bad contact on nomad's external batery connecto. First i thought it was the np1 adaptor but i tried 3 different adaptors and i'sure it's the nomad input connector. I have tp work with the internals. It'll be at least 2 weeks on the road until i can think being on a place wihere i can get second recorder. What would be the best internals? Whst can i get with sony white batteries, probably the best thing i could find in here?

[Mark Orusa]

You should check the solder side of the Hirose connector to make sure there are no loose or shorted wires. There are only two. It's uncommon for a Hirose connector to fail, at least, I've never had one fail.

 

If you want to run Nomad from the internal AA batteries you need to find the highest capacity ones you can. The highest I know of are the Energizer lithium metal AA batteries: http://amzn.com/B0000DC4EL

 

Also, see

 

Mark O.

[jason porter]

I would try really hard to get that fixed before going to internal batteries. It should be an easy fix, assuming it is just an intermittent connection in the chassis mounted Hirose.

2 weeks of changing AA's every 2 hours is gonna drive you nuts.

Hi,

I'm on a really really tight spot here trying to figure out a solution. I have a bad contact on nomad's external batery connecto. First i thought it was the np1 adaptor but i tried 3 different adaptors and i'sure it's the nomad input connector. I have tp work with the internals. It'll be at least 2 weeks on the road until i can think being on a place wihere i can get second recorder. What would be the best internals? Whst can i get with sony white batteries, probably the best thing i could find in here?

[Ze Frias]

Hi,

I'm on a really really tight spot here trying to figure out a solution. I have a bad contact on nomad's external batery connecto. First i thought it was the np1 adaptor but i tried 3 different adaptors and i'sure it's the nomad input connector. I have tp work with the internals. It'll be at least 2 weeks on the road until i can think being on a place wihere i can get second recorder. What would be the best internals? Whst can i get with sony white batteries, probably the best thing i could find in here?

 

I agree with the two statements above, try to get the Hirose jack fixed. If you do end up going for internal batteries, no matter what you do, DO NOT use Alkaline, use Lithium or NiMH for best results. 

[sonyslave]

Well, you could mod the sled into a battery eliminator, feed a 9V source to the sled by drilling a hole through the battery door for a power cable to pass through.

 

However, not sure if it is safe to add resistance on one of your BDS leads to drop it to 9V if the BDS is uses Li-ion batts.  May upset the cells and cause a shut down or worse, fire.

[Toy Robot]

Reviving this thread to post a limited real-world test. I posted in another thread regarding Sanyo Eneloops, and thought this information would be better suited here. The Sanyo-curious folks should be able to find it with a proper search (I hope).

 

I did a run-flat test of heavily used Sanyo Eneloops as internal batteries on the Nomad. Please note that this is NOT a test to see how Nomad's interal batteries can last with new batteries and it is NOT intended for folks to think I am trying to power off of internal batteries as primary. This was a curiosity test to see how my heavily used Sanyo Eneloops would fare after 4 years of use with heavy power draw in a mission critical device (just long enough for me to finish a short roll and power down).

 

Test was as follows: Batteries used - Sanyo Eneloop 1st and 2nd generation white 1,900mAh rechargeable Ni-MH batteries. These batteries are now 4 years old and are heavily used in everything from Denecke slates to SMQVs to ERX2TCDs and more. I have used them and abused them and was curious as to how they would fare here.

 

Nomad was powered only through internal batteries (startup also powered off of internals, not a hot-swap) and phantom power on Channel 6 was left ON (one channel). I did not put Nomad into 'record' mode or have it mirroring frankly because I don't plan on keeping a long roll going if Nomad switches to internals (which won't happen anyway as far as I'm concerned since I use battery warning indicators on Nomad for EXT power). I will do another with mirroring on and in record mode another day, and I am well aware that this is a biased test of a non-recording machine, but for now it is what I have to offer.

 

This is an extremely unlikely scenario for me to ever be running on internal battery power, but I do keep internal backups in the Nomad for that 'just in case' scenario. I powered Nomad up and let it sit on my desk in front of me until it died.

 

Here are the findings.

 

Start Time: 4:44 PM - internal voltage reads 7.5V immediately after startup (this is from six (6) 1.2V rechargeable AA's).

 

A while later: 5:35 PM - voltage of internals has now settled close to 6.7V 

 

6:10 PM - internal voltage is now 6.3V. Note the voltage stability of 35 minutes passing and a voltage drop of only .4V. 

 

And just before the Nomad shut down from loss of internal power. 6:21 PM @ 4.2V. Note the extremely rapid drop in voltage within an 11 minute period. From 6:10PM @ 6.4V to 6:21 PM boderline shutdown.

 

All in all I'm fairly impressed with the old Eneloop's ability to keep this machine alive for what I am sure would be enough time to shut down and swap NPs. I'll also note that my Nomad's screen brightness is set at it's highest level, and so are the LEDs on the front panel, however I doubt that affects power draw too much. 

 

Enjoy.

[stacysound]

Great idea Alex.

[Toy Robot]

Thanks!

[Toy Robot]

As a follow up to the test I did a few days ago, I repeated the test with the same batteries after a full recharge, but this time with multiple tracks being recorded simultaneously, phantom power being used to power an actual mic and mirroring turned on during REC.

 

Test Concept: Run-flat test of internal batteries on Nomad similar to previous test. Curiosity test of old Sanyo Eneloops, as well as informational test for Internal Battery Warning voltage threshold for Nomad 10. Tested heavily used 4 year old Sanyo Eneloop Ni-MH rechargeable AA batteries (1,900mAh min. - Gen 1 and 2).

 

Nomad was powered up using NP battery and set to record one (1) Mono Mix track plus six (6) ISOs per the screenshots. CH-6 was left with phantom power ON, with an MKH-60 attached and a speaker playing music just to show levels on screen. Other channels just set to record and left alone. Mirroring on Nomad was ON and set to 'Continuous'.

 

Findings:

 

Just prior to the pull of External Power

 

External power warning as battery is pulled - Nomad already in REC 

 

Shortly after battery pull. Internal voltage reads 6.7V

 

Internal voltage again stabilized at 6.6V for quite a while. Still mirroring and recording all tracks and internal voltage at 6.6V after approximately 30 minutes of REC

 

After over an hour and 3 separate recording segments the voltage starts to drop fast. Now at Internal 6.1V

 

In ~4 minutes after that photo the voltage drops to 5.7V. It's danger zone now and surely about to shut off. Which it did before I could take the next photo. 

 

What I learned:

1. I'll now be setting my Nomad's internal battery warning voltage alert level to 6.5V. I will do this because I know that Nomad will stabilize at around 6.6V+ for almost one full hour of run time with these batteries, and because I know that after these particular internals fall below 6.5V they will begin to de-stabilize and drop voltage fast after that point. In other words, I can keep rolling if necessary until I hear the warning, then I have to force a cut or hot swap NPs.
2. I like Sanyo Eneloops and they are doing very well IMO after years of heavy use.

Again, power management is part of our job so I don't plan on getting into a hot situation by running out of external power, but in the off chance it happens I'll much better be able to confidently judge the appropriate course of action based on the situation.

 

Hope you enjoyed.

[Matt Martin]

Thanks for the detailed test! I never felt comfortable with where my internal battery warning was set. I have a much better idea now.

[Ze Frias]

Thanks for the great tests Alex.