HHB Portadat powering

Jim Rillie <jrillie.DeleteThis@ns.sympatico.ca> wrote in message news:<41Y8c.44886$re.2466661@news20.bellglobal.com>...
> I have been powering my Portadat from a gel cells which generally read
> 13.76 volts with a full charge no load, and nicad NP1's which read about
> the same no load.
> I recently got a couple of IDX NiMh NP1 type batteries which read about
> 15.4 volts no load. I just thought I would ask if anybody has used these
> batteries with the PDR1000TC, IS the voltage not too high, or does it
> matter?
>
> Regards,
>
> Jim Rillie

Hi Jim
Ihave been using the new Lithium NP1's which when fresh of the charger
are 16.4.v and have been using them with the portadat- it doesn't have
any adverse effect on the Dat other than till it gets to about 15v the
headphone circuit gets noisy and you can hear motor noise in the
background..i have spoken to HHB and tho the spec is 15v max you can
go a bit higher .
Regard
Richard Paterson
 >> Stay informed about: HHB Portadat powering 

Hi Jim,
Jeff is right it is an internal component. Service and parts can be a very
slow process. Speaking from experience the HHB never wants to see 24V.
Peter
 >> Stay informed about: HHB Portadat powering 

Sorry Jeff, there are two surface mount fuses inside on the power supply
board, one fuse is a spare. Easy to spot, about 1/4 inch 3/8 wide
colored white, look like a very small power resistor. The fuses are no
big deal to swap in or out. The circuit diagram indicates only 12
volts, usually on our gear it will indicate 10 to say 17 volts, the HHB
doesn't.

Just in case anybody else is facing HHB problems I emailed Jim, off
n.g., the following.


From the destruction on the power board on a used HHB I bought I would
say that voltage is very important. Better safe than sorry. You could
put a simple voltage regulator in the line just to be sure.

When the HHB power boards blow it makes a hell of a mess. It sometimes
isn't a simple fix, on mine somebody had tried replacing the voltage
regulators but even the foil traces around the regulators had burned
off. It appeared to me that other very tiny components also were taken
out when the unit was fried. This type of technology is basically a
board replacement job if anything goes wrong. The boards for them are
not going to get any cheaper, mine cost $750.00 CDN for power board
replacement.

I changed the brakes, and resoldered all the ribbon connectors myself.
The brakes were goo and flexing the ribbon connectors showed intermittents.

If you want it to last another few years, be very gentle and baby it. As
soon as commercials flop over to HD recorders there will be lots of
spare parts available, but trust me this format will need a headstone.;-)

Ray

>>Jim Rillie
>>
>
> I have IDX Lithium (NP-1 style) batteries which have at times shown very
> close to a 16 vdc reading, no load. I have been reluctant to use these with
> my HHB because the stated spec for the HHB, I believe, is a maximum of 16
> volts dc. I also want to be very sure to not exceed this, something which I
> did do in the past, because when that limit is exceeded there is an internal
> circuit in the power supply that blows and the machine needs to be sent in.
> There is not a FUSE to replace or a breaker to reset, even internally, it
> actually blows a component in the power supply.
>
> I would be cautious in this area as experimentation could lead to you having
> to send the machine away.
>
> Regards, Jeff Wexler
>
 >> Stay informed about: HHB Portadat powering 

On 3/26/04 4:18 PM, in article 4064c80f_1.RemoveThis@dowco.com, "Ray Collins"
<rcol.RemoveThis@intergate.bc.ca*remove> wrote:

> Sorry Jeff, there are two surface mount fuses inside on the power supply
> board, one fuse is a spare.

I guess I'm a little confused when I said it is not a simple fuse. When my
HHB was powered up with something in excess of 16 vdc, something blew in
the unit that was NOT easily repairable (at least this is what I was told by
the service tech at HHB). So, I just assumed that it wasn't a simple fuse,
internal or externally available, and the machine required a little bit more
of a service.
>
>
> From the destruction on the power board on a used HHB I bought I would
> say that voltage is very important.

Now, what you say here makes me wonder even more what actually happened
inside my HHB. This seems major.

> If you want it to last another few years, be very gentle and baby it. As
> soon as commercials flop over to HD recorders there will be lots of
> spare parts available, but trust me this format will need a headstone.;-)

It will be a very short mourning period for me... Although I have been
using DAT probably longer than anyone, it is not a format that I ever really
trusted.

Regards, Jeff Wexler
 >> Stay informed about: HHB Portadat powering 

Double checked what I said; from the schematic the fuse is past the DC
converter,(takes 12 volts and makes 7 is my best guess) IC 320, a diode,
Q327, and three other diodes, hang on the 4 pin XLR and are unprotected
as Jeff stated. So sorry Jeff.(again) ;-)

The fuse is a 2A 125V surface mount it feeds another DC DC converter
that supplies, phantom 48 , +10, -10, +5 and -5 for all the other circuits.

More reason to make damned sure you don't over voltage these things,
from what I remember the HHB's unprotected (unfused) circuit drops the
12 volts down to what the battery supplies. Possibly that's why the
DA-P1's stayed in the 7 volt range, both battery and DC external powering.

A hassle for us but probably a more reliable power supply.

Ray
 >> Stay informed about: HHB Portadat powering 

Ray Collins wrote:
> Double checked what I said; from the schematic the fuse is past the DC
> converter,(takes 12 volts and makes 7 is my best guess) IC 320, a diode,
> Q327, and three other diodes, hang on the 4 pin XLR and are unprotected

What about proactively replacing these with a modern part having a higher supply tolerance? TI has numerous converters with 9-28V or even 9-38V supply ratings at <$20 cost...
 >> Stay informed about: HHB Portadat powering 

"Jim Rillie" <jrillie DeleteThis @ns.sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:41Y8c.44886$re.2466661@news20.bellglobal.com...
> I have been powering my Portadat from a gel cells which generally read
> 13.76 volts with a full charge no load, and nicad NP1's which read about
> the same no load.
> I recently got a couple of IDX NiMh NP1 type batteries which read about
> 15.4 volts no load. I just thought I would ask if anybody has used these
> batteries with the PDR1000TC, IS the voltage not too high, or does it
> matter?
>
> Regards,
>
> Jim Rillie


Jim, I've been using IDX NiMH NP1 batteries to power my portadat for years
so it can and does work. The only reason I use them instead of the lithium
NP1's is the high voltage issue. It's true the NiMH read pretty hot off of
the charger, but the few times I've done tests indicated that they quickly
drop below 14.5 - 14 volts during actual use to power the recorder. I try to
baby all of my equipment and I've never considered use of the NiMH NP1's in
the portadat as an excessive risk.

nick
 >> Stay informed about: HHB Portadat powering 

Peter Clements wrote:

>Hi Jim,
>Jeff is right it is an internal component. Service and parts can be a very
>slow process. Speaking from experience the HHB never wants to see 24V.
>Peter
>
>
Hi Peter,

It sounds like there is a story there!

regards,

jim
 >> Stay informed about: HHB Portadat powering 

I had thought about this as well, as long as you could get 6 volts in it
should work fine. You could use a dead battery, strip it out and connect
into the HHB through the existing battery connections using the dead
batteries connections. 12 volt through a converter to get 6 volt. Just
have to drill a hole through the battery cover on the deck.

However, my guess, is the converters are eating power so possibly a
straight 6 volt DC supply might be more efficient, hooked in though the
battery. Maybe two six volts in series on the cart for a 12 volt supply
for the radios and mixer and tap on one battery to feed the HHB? So my
guess is there are at least two options. I think less is always more
not having the converter is probably the better way to go.

Ray

Kurt Albershardt wrote:
> Ray Collins wrote:
>
>> Double checked what I said; from the schematic the fuse is past the DC
>> converter,(takes 12 volts and makes 7 is my best guess) IC 320, a
>> diode, Q327, and three other diodes, hang on the 4 pin XLR and are
>> unprotected
>
>
> What about proactively replacing these with a modern part having a
> higher supply tolerance? TI has numerous converters with 9-28V or even
> 9-38V supply ratings at <$20 cost...
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: HHB Portadat powering 

Jim Rillie wrote:

> <snip> IS the voltage not too high, or does it matter?
>
>

Thanks everyone for the interestingly diverse responses.

jim
 >> Stay informed about: HHB Portadat powering