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NP-1's - Cost Effective "Generics"


TomBoisseau

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Thanks for all the suggestions and advise. I actually have had good performance with some older generic NP-1's, however the safety issue that Mike brings up is a real concern. While Im not completely convinced that even a "name brand" will be immune to such problems, hopefully they we at least be less likely to present such a danger. I'm going to bit the bullet and order 4 of the IDX.

Thanks again,

Tim

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Hi David Yes, I know everyone loves premium name brands. The last five NP1s I have bought are Globalmediapro batteries; the last two ones are 75ahr at around $120 (out of New Zealand) . These are genuinely good batteries and will charge in an IDX charger. Previously I was using Swits and found the Globalmediapros to be better, and cost less. If money was no object then I would probably swap my whole system to something else, IDX I'm not sure, probably a V-lock system. As things stand I prefer to spend the savings either on gear I can charge extra for, or on my mortgage.

A recent SD 664 post says the Global Media Pros can't handle the 664 inrush at turn-on. Hawk Woods potentially have the same problem. My Varizooms have had no problem with the 664, two Lectro SRs and a D4T in my bag.

I haven't had a problem with my 664/2 SR/D4T bag combo with GlobalMediaPro DCU95's.

R

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>Many years ago I was renting a camera that came with some non-ABauer bricks - made in Jacksonville I think<

Don't be bashing Jacksonville, Mike,

I was told those batteries were manufactured in lower Slobbovia.

Ouch - I would NEVER bash Jacksonville - wayyy too much babe-age down there, for starters.

And that occasional paper mill smell on I-10 - hey that's the smell of MONEY !! :)) :))

I do believe there was a Lower Slobbovia stamp ("LS") on the offending batteries... but memory dost fade.....

Paul Buff is quite a character

the battery I think Chase referred to

http://www.paulcbuff.com/vmb88a.php

Now THIS is awesomely awesome....

I took a look at it, and despite my initial entry into this thread, I have to say that I am quite impressed .. capacity is double the normal IDX Lithium NP-1 that I've been working with -

I've been looking for something "fatter", powerwise, for my Nomad rig.

Certainly priced very very well, too --- so now the question:

How many amongst us vouch for this battery and charger brand? Any problems at all ?

What about pulling DC off of the pins?

I'm now very interested..... But it will need some modification, as I'm not running Alien Bees (yet!)

MF

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I have IDX NPL7S batteries, but for the last 9 months or so I have been using battery4broadcast 6Ah v-mounts to power my Nomad+wireless. No issues so far. I wire my Nomad to the unswitched port so I can power it up while leaving all the wireless off if I want to just name the day's folder etc well before the subjects land. 

 

Is the surge issue with the battery or the battery distribution? Some of the older (light blue) BDS units didn't like it when I booted up my Fusion and half a dozen wireless at the same time... well, I *think* it was the BDS that wasn't happy. There was a thread about that a while ago. 

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I have been using batteries from Paul C buff for over a year now and I couldn't be happier. I can run my nomad 12, 2 QRX100s while charging my cell phone all day and not have to change the battery.

-Chase

 

Chase - how are you hooking this battery up to your rig ? 

Did you adapt it to 4p XLR ?

Given your mention of charging your phone, I'm assuming you are using the entire "230v" enclosure with the USB opportunity... 

 

MF

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Hey Everybody!

Zack here from IDX. Great discussions going on here. I wanted to chime in and provide everyone with valuable information regarding off-brand generic batteries. There is a good reason why off-brands are cheap; it is because off-brand manufactures will cut corners in their manufacturing process to reduce costs. When corners are cut during the manufacturing process, the quality, and safety features of the final product are compromised. 

Some manufactures will use inferior cells (sometimes used) that are not fully balanced. The use of unbalanced cells results in poor long-term performance. IDX carefully segregates the best Sanyo/Panasonic cells that are produced within the same lot. This results in high-quality and long lasting battery packs.

Here is a link that goes further into the quality of off-brand/generic batteries: http://www.idxtek.com/sites/default/files/pdf/ProdGuides/ProdGuid%20BattManuf.pdf

IDX has been producing high quality NP batteries for over 20 years and is ISO 14001 certified. We will continue to produce the best batteries in the business to address the power demands of audio and camera gear.

 

If anyone has questions or needs additional support, you can contact us at:

US: service.usa@idx.tv

+1-310-328-2850

 

EU:  idx.europe@idx.tv

+44-1753-547692

 

Asia: idx.japan@idx.tv

+81-44-850-8801

 

Thanks!

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Hi Zack,

Question about discharging- is it recommended to fully discharge the batteries before recharging or is that not necessary?

Hi Jack,

Certain chemistries require a full discharge before charging (NiCd and NiMH). This is due to the “memory effect”, which causes these types of batteries to hold less of a charge. Li-ion batteries do not have a memory effect and are not required to fully discharge before charging. You can top off a Li-ion battery at any charge level without compromising the battery’s ability to hold a full charge.

I hope this helps. Let us know if you have any questions.

Thanks! 

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You'll get a kick out of this, Paul. I am probably the only production sound mixer brilliant/foolish enough to have used both a Kepex and Gain Brain on my sound cart in the 1970's. I purchased the two directly from Allison Research (though I think they were actually installed in some studio in Nashville before they were sent to me). I had a custom box built where they sat side by side (on their sides) on top of my Sela Mixer, then the Nagra sat on top of the box. Ivan Kruglak did the wiring for me, figuring out how to get the output of the Sela through the box and into the Nagra Tuchel connection, and of course a method of powering the units. Since they were designed to go into large scale consoles or sit in a rack of outboard processors, it was quite a fat to get them to run on a battery. Ivan put together a NiCad battery pack (ion the box) and some sort of power supply that gave the Kepex and Gain Brain the odd DC power it needed (something like bi-polar 14 vdc or some such odd requirement). 

 

Once I started working on more professional movies where there was a real post production team with way more talent and experience than I had, I abandoned the use of these devices in production. The Kepex and Gain Brain were really never intended to be used on the production sound recording for movies --- this is not the place to be doing that sort of brute force processing, trying to get the settings correct, take after take (or printing the rehearsal where nothing really sounded right).

 

(sorry, I realize this was a little bit of a hijack --- but hey, it's my site!)

I had an early pair of Valley People "Dynamites" (the "over and under" version in the silly tan plastic box) on my cart for years and years, usually between the output of my AD145 Pico and the input of the Nagra (IV-SL).  They were so great, a little expansion to calm camera noise down in interviews etc, some compression for the unpredictable audio of the kids TV series I used to work on, and so on.  I wasn't hip enough to figure out how to DC power the Dynamites, but we did have an early true-sine invertor that we'd hook up to a 2nd battery just for the Dynamites when we were otherwise on all-battery power.  Most of the stuff I was working on was kind of low-end with no audio post, so it worked out well (usually).

 

philp

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  • 2 months later...

A recent SD 664 post says the Global Media Pros can't handle the 664 inrush at turn-on.  Hawk Woods potentially have the same problem.  My Varizooms have had no problem with the 664, two Lectro SRs and a D4T in my bag.

I've run GlobalMedia Pros on my 664, occasionally switching to internal power and back, since I've had the mixer - and I've had no issues whatseoever. I also have them on my 552, with the same results.

I have no doubt that IDX have better quality control and, if I could afford it, I would certainly make the choice of buying them instead. But, at least in my experience, there are no downsides to the GlobalMedia Pro batteries and their charger.

 

My two cents,

BK

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I bought three 5100mAh Swit batteries (the bright orange ones) back in August. One stopped working about a month ago but I'm pretty sure it got shorted in my bag. Fortunately ProAV replaced it for me, and I've never had an issue with any of them aside from this. I did get an old flight case and cut up some foam so now they have their own case to keep them safe from knocks and things that could short them. 

 

I was thinking about this the other day; is there any product that you can clip to an NP-1 to prevent shortage if they're stored in one big bag? Like a cheap plastic NP-1 shoe without the contacts? I'm sure you could maufacture something like this for about 20p and sell them for about £2, or package them with NP-1s.

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I bought three 5100mAh Swit batteries (the bright orange ones) back in August. One stopped working about a month ago but I'm pretty sure it got shorted in my bag. Fortunately ProAV replaced it for me, and I've never had an issue with any of them aside from this. I did get an old flight case and cut up some foam so now they have their own case to keep them safe from knocks and things that could short them.

I was thinking about this the other day; is there any product that you can clip to an NP-1 to prevent shortage if they're stored in one big bag? Like a cheap plastic NP-1 shoe without the contacts? I'm sure you could maufacture something like this for about 20p and sell them for about £2, or package them with NP-1s.

Take a look at http://www.shapeways.com/ and see how relatively cheap small 3d print-projects sell. Could be an idea.
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