tregaurd Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 Hi guys, In your opinion, best batteries to power Line6 XD-V30L's mics and Sennheiser g3 ew 300 IEM system? 8 AA batteries. They need to be in use for 5 hours per day, daily. Ideally just left to charge each night. What are the best high capacity regular batteries we could use? Duracell Pro-Cell is a name I hear a lot, is there better? Also what with rechargable battery technology coming on and being enviromentally friendly, is there any chance we could get away with using some industry grade NIMH or Lithiums that would actually get us through the day and don't have a bad memory effect so they would actually last a lot of charges before they had to be dumped? I came across this- "Ecells". Fuel cells with no memory effect, equivalent of 2500mAh, that can be charged 1000 times. http://www.notabattery.com/index.htm Whats most cost effective? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russ83 Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 Hi Luke, we had a discussion about this a few months ago. There's quite a few suggestion in THIS topic including some negative comments about the Procells. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 I've carried on with procells - just for balance, they've been perfectly fine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tregaurd Posted January 1, 2011 Author Share Posted January 1, 2011 Thanks guys for the useful info. So, general consensus in that thread was Varta Powerone followed by ProCell. I think the 500 is a great deal. For rechargeables, someone in there said they had been using Enelope rechargable batteries,same set for two years, 2 shows a day. They look excellent, though they are just 2000mAh NIMH, and theres other product about with higher capacity. Like http://www.amazon.co.uk/Energizer-Portable...ref=pd_sxp_f_pt which I liked the look of as it has "pods" on a desktop charger which would be handy to put in a pocket. Anyone had any more experience of rechargeables?My main concern if we were to use them each day over and over and then recharge overnight is the memory/capacity drying up on us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shez Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 My main concern if we were to use them each day over and over and then recharge overnight is the memory/capacity drying up on us.Make sure you use a decent charger - one that uses -deltaV sensing to detect when to stop charging. Cheap chargers just work from a timer and will kill the batteries in no time (speaking from experience). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleah Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 Since having a few dud Procell, I've started using Energizer Industrial, which is basically the same as Procell, and available from the same suppliers (usually). Word of warning about rechargables: They are only 1.2v as opposed the 1.5v (or 8.2v not 9v in the case of PP3) so you may suffer reduced running time if the unit detects voltage.A Sennheiser EW100 pack uses 2 x AA so expects 3v, whereas a pair of rechargeables will only give 2.4v Before buying a pile of rechargeables, it would be worth getting a couple and experimenting first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tregaurd Posted January 2, 2011 Author Share Posted January 2, 2011 Since having a few dud Procell, I've started using Energizer Industrial, which is basically the same as Procell, and available from the same suppliers (usually). Word of warning about rechargables: They are only 1.2v as opposed the 1.5v (or 8.2v not 9v in the case of PP3) so you may suffer reduced running time if the unit detects voltage.A Sennheiser EW100 pack uses 2 x AA so expects 3v, whereas a pair of rechargeables will only give 2.4v Before buying a pile of rechargeables, it would be worth getting a couple and experimenting first. Cheers, yeah I will do some tests and look into the energizer too. Hopefully we have the budget for some of the regular alkalines being suggested if we buy in bulk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelgrian Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 Since having a few dud Procell, I've started using Energizer Industrial, which is basically the same as Procell, and available from the same suppliers (usually). Word of warning about rechargables: They are only 1.2v as opposed the 1.5v (or 8.2v not 9v in the case of PP3) so you may suffer reduced running time if the unit detects voltage.A Sennheiser EW100 pack uses 2 x AA so expects 3v, whereas a pair of rechargeables will only give 2.4v Sennheiser G2's and G3's are designed for use with both alkaline cells, which start off at ~1.6 volts then drop steadily to ~1v though out their discharge profile, and NiMH cells which produce ~1.2 volts thought out then suddenly drop off. Sennheiser even sell the BA2015 NiMH rechargeable pack for use with these belt packs and provide charging contacts on bottom of the 300 and 500 series packs. Not sure if anyone has been brave enough to put a custom Lithium Ion or Lithium Polymer cell into a radio mic yet. These type of batteries tend not to be available in standard cell sizes because the risk of someone putting them in a unsuitable charger and causing an explosion is too high. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russ83 Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 ...Sennheiser G2's and G3's are designed for use with both alkaline cells, which start off at ~1.6 volts then drop steadily to ~1v though out their discharge profile, and NiMH cells which produce ~1.2 volts thought out then suddenly drop off. Sennheiser even sell the BA2015 NiMH rechargeable pack for use with these belt packs and provide charging contacts on bottom of the 300 and 500 series packs....The charging contacts are also now fitted to the G3-100 series. From memory the G3-100's contain all the features of the G2-300's, leaving remote config now the only obvious difference between the G3-100 and 300 series. We used to use rechargeable PP3 with the old G1 transmitters without any problems but as the G2s use the cheaper AAs plus the added faff of keeping them batteries charged we just buy the boxes of 500 AAs now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tregaurd Posted January 2, 2011 Author Share Posted January 2, 2011 ...Sennheiser G2's and G3's are designed for use with both alkaline cells, which start off at ~1.6 volts then drop steadily to ~1v though out their discharge profile, and NiMH cells which produce ~1.2 volts thought out then suddenly drop off. Sennheiser even sell the BA2015 NiMH rechargeable pack for use with these belt packs and provide charging contacts on bottom of the 300 and 500 series packs....The charging contacts are also now fitted to the G3-100 series. From memory the G3-100's contain all the features of the G2-300's, leaving remote config now the only obvious difference between the G3-100 and 300 series. We used to use rechargeable PP3 with the old G1 transmitters without any problems but as the G2s use the cheaper AAs plus the added faff of keeping them batteries charged we just buy the boxes of 500 AAs now. Interesting, I will look into the built in recharging/battery packs for the G3. Is their actual own rechargeable pack likely to last a long time though and make it a lot more convienent than going down the normal alkaline route?? I guess maybe its a convienence thing as well that the presenter can just put their pack down direct onto the charging base. Just as an aside, am I being a bit extravagant getting the Sennheiser IEM? It's quite expensive and all its going to be used for is to hear gallery talkback and some occasional music in a studio literally 10 feet away. I have looked around for alternatives though and the new Shure unit is even more expensive, and the only other cheaper option I could see was a LD Systems MEI100 but that doesn't look like it has a strong build quality. These are going to be in use every day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timtheenchanteruk Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 don't know about the G3s, but G2 E300s will run at least 5 hours from a decent pair of NiMh, one/two bar/s left after this time, but do not know how long that would last given the discharge curve of a NiMh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoLiEn Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 I use Uniross 2700 NiMH rechargable batteries, not had a problem with them whatsoever, they will happily do 5 hours of shows before a charge, they take a few charges to get to full capacity but after that they seem to be fine. (tested on Sennheiser ew300 G2 radio mics) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANDYLASER Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Eneloop rechargables are very good. They hold a charge longer (shelf life) than most ohers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelgrian Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Interesting, I will look into the built in recharging/battery packs for the G3. Is their actual own rechargeable pack likely to last a long time though and make it a lot more convienent than going down the normal alkaline route?? I guess maybe its a convienence thing as well that the presenter can just put their pack down direct onto the charging base. I doubt Sennheiser's own pack is going to be any better than using decent quality third party NiMH AA cells and decent quality chargers. However I don't think third party cells will charge in the belt pack as the BA2015 contains a sensor which reports temperature and battery status to the belt pack. Be aware that with the in belt pack charging you also need the Sennheiser charging cradle and power supplies for the same. If you are using the belt packs daily it might work out cheaper to use rechargeables but the payback time over alkaline will be longer than you might think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tregaurd Posted January 3, 2011 Author Share Posted January 3, 2011 Interesting, I will look into the built in recharging/battery packs for the G3. Is their actual own rechargeable pack likely to last a long time though and make it a lot more convienent than going down the normal alkaline route?? I guess maybe its a convienence thing as well that the presenter can just put their pack down direct onto the charging base. I doubt Sennheiser's own pack is going to be any better than using decent quality third party NiMH AA cells and decent quality chargers. However I don't think third party cells will charge in the belt pack as the BA2015 contains a sensor which reports temperature and battery status to the belt pack. Be aware that with the in belt pack charging you also need the Sennheiser charging cradle and power supplies for the same. If you are using the belt packs daily it might work out cheaper to use rechargeables but the payback time over alkaline will be longer than you might think. Cheers for the suggestions, and everyone! I had also heard the Eneloop were good rechargables. I am definitely looking into the BA2015 battery packs and the charger. Looks to come to about £230 for charger and two official packs. I have seen the clone BA2015's on ebay cheaper but I wouldnt touch them. I will do some testing ... there is the convienience of the packs but £230 would also buy a lot of alkaline batteries - over 2000! Has anyone had any experience of battery usage or quality of the other brand IEM's? The shure are too close in price to the Sennys that I wouldnt bother, but the Audio Technica are a few hundred cheaper, and theres even a very cheap Ashton set http://www.dv247.com/microphones/ashton-iem200-wireless-uhf-in-ear-monitoring-system--74280 - at the end of the day though I have to consider these are going to be in daily use, I may need spares or repairs, and battery doors etc are going to be constantly open/closed if we use alkalines so it needs to be quality build. It really does look maybe the Sennheiser are worth the extra. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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