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[ThomasA(lbenberger)]

Hi all,

a question (mostly) for SLX-D users:

What rechargables are you using and how is the performance?

I use SB903 at an installation (terrific) and Ni-MH for my own portable use. The Ni-MH regularily give me headaches because of how the Shures estimate the remaining run-time. It often happens that after 20 minutes there is only 3 out of 5 bars left, and after 2 hours, the transmitters often switch to the red warning light. This is nothing I can just ignore during an event and it is would also look highly unprofessional to the clients if their handhelds show warning light in mid-show. (... yes, 'ni-mh' is set in the transmitters display menu)

- How is your experience with ni-mh rechargables and slx-d? Is ist just my units, showing such a behaviour?
- What make of rechargables and chargers works for you? I am currently using eneloop pros, ansmann 2850 and EBL as well as panasonic BQ-CC65 chargers.
- the shure double-charger for sb903, the sb203 is too bulky for my mobile rack. how is your experience with the sbc 10-903? (on the double charger i regularly experience bent contacts albeit very careful handling)
- any other solutions for rechargables that I should be looking out for (other technology, different chargers,...?)

Thanks in advance for your sharing your experience and best regards,

Thomas

[Russell Ault]

{...} What rechargables are you using and how is the performance? {...}

It's not SLX-D, but I've been happily using Maha PowerEx Pro (the low-self-discharge rate "precharged" ones) 2600 mAh NiMH AAs with QLX-D for a few years.

The biggest thing to be aware of when using NiMH batteries is that there's no reliable way to instantaneously measure their state-of-charge (regardless of what mode you put your TXs in). This means that "bar" meters for NiMH batteries are, at best, a crude guess (and at worst they're a total fallacy); measuring the passage of time is probably the most reliable way to know when batteries will need changing. Because of that, it's helpful to know what shape your batteries are in (i.e. how much power are they still actually able to hold); using a charger with a coulomb counter to recondition your batteries will give you a good sense of this.

The second-biggest thing to be aware of is that most NiMH batteries have an astonishing self-discharge rate (i.e. they'll go from totally full to half-charged in the span of a week or two), although exceptions do exist (like the ones I mentioned above). Taken together with the first point, this means that you should ideally be charging your show batteries no earlier than the day before use (or even day-of, if possible), and any battery that you haven't personally charged within the last few days should be presumed dead.

-Russ

[Debbie Dunkley]

I have learned to ignore the battery meter on my Sennheiser iem packs. I make sure to put newly charged batteries in each pack EVERY show and I charge them the day before.

[Dan Currie]

Has the correct battery type been chosen in the IR preset menu?

[Weogo Reed]

Hi Thomas,

    Get good batteries and a good charger AND a good tester.

    I use this tester:
 https://www.ztsinc.com/mini9RL.html
Number your batteries.  Charge, test and track them. 
Only use the 100% batteries for shows, or the 80% one for shorter shows.
Ask your battery supplier to replace any batteries that after a month won't hold a full charge.

    NiMH batteries come in:
)  slower discharger and lower capacity
or
)  higher capacity and faster discharge.
For most of my needs, the lower capacity batteries are fine.
Higher capacity batteries can be useful in fast discharge devices like a camera flash.
I've had good service from several brands, and tend to buy the white Eneloops.

    NiMH charger:
The Lacrosse BC-700 is good
Panasonic BQ-CC65
Xtar, several others.
BatteryJunction.com has a good selection.

    For more than a year I've been trying out the Xtar full 1.5V Lithium AAs:
 https://www.xtar.cc/product/XTAR-1.5V-AA-3300mWh-Battery-137.html
I'm using the Xtar BC4 charger.  The VC4 and BC8 chargers can do 1.5V and 1.2V batteries.
So far, I'm happy with them.

    For anybody wondering, yes, you can get true 9V Lithium rechargeable batteries.
Beware of duds  -  send them right back.  Beyond that, they are working well for me.
I'm using the IPowers and their charger. 

Thanks and good health,  Weogo

[Russell Ault]

Has the correct battery type been chosen in the IR preset menu?

As I mentioned in my post (and as Debbie alluded to), it ultimately doesn't really matter. Unless the battery has some kind of integrated state-of-charge tracking system (like most Li-ion packs do), the only way a device can estimate a battery's state-of-charge is by measuring its output voltage under load. This works pretty well for alkaline batteries (which steadily reduce their voltage as they discharge), it almost-kinda unreliably "works" for NiMH batteries (which have an output voltage "plateau" between ~80% and ~30%), and it doesn't work at all for batteries with a lithium chemistry (which will supply full output voltage almost to the point where they start over-discharging).

-Russ

[Andrien (No Last Name)]

http://aacycler.com/

https://lygte-info.dk/info/indexBatteriesAndChargers%20UK.html

This 2 site has pretty good benchmark and information on chargers and ni-mh battery.
I also follow Debbie by always using the fresh charged one everytime. For charger my church use Opus BT-C3100 Charger for refresh and analyze and Rydbatt 16 slot for large quantity charging (the Rybatt one doesn't stop trickle charge tho, so don't leave the battery for too long)

[Steven Cohen]

Hi all,

a question (mostly) for SLX-D users:

What rechargables are you using and how is the performance?

I use SB903 at an installation (terrific) and Ni-MH for my own portable use. The Ni-MH regularily give me headaches because of how the Shures estimate the remaining run-time. It often happens that after 20 minutes there is only 3 out of 5 bars left, and after 2 hours, the transmitters often switch to the red warning light. This is nothing I can just ignore during an event and it is would also look highly unprofessional to the clients if their handhelds show warning light in mid-show. (... yes, 'ni-mh' is set in the transmitters display menu)

- How is your experience with ni-mh rechargables and slx-d? Is ist just my units, showing such a behaviour?
- What make of rechargables and chargers works for you? I am currently using eneloop pros, ansmann 2850 and EBL as well as panasonic BQ-CC65 chargers.
- the shure double-charger for sb903, the sb203 is too bulky for my mobile rack. how is your experience with the sbc 10-903? (on the double charger i regularly experience bent contacts albeit very careful handling)
- any other solutions for rechargables that I should be looking out for (other technology, different chargers,...?)

Thanks in advance for your sharing your experience and best regards,

Thomas

My experience is with ULX-D Li-ion batteries and SBC200 chargers. They have been a game changer for us. No more bent contacts inside of the transmitters, loosening battery covers from constant use, and we get easily a full show and (reasonable) rehearsal/soundcheck out of a single charge.They are also rider friendly and trusted rather than an aftermarket solution. After 5 years or more of using the original batteries for about 70 shows a year, we still get about 10 hours of operation time. By using this setup, it reduces the wear and tear of the mic along with simply turning the transmitters on and not worrying about battery life for the duration for the late afternoon/night. Obviously anything longer than 7 or 8 hours of use would require a recharge but for a typical sound check and show, no need to worry about batteries anymore. No more, "did you turn the transmitters on before a show?" We do have the receivers close to FOH and our CL5s have battery feedback on each ULXD channel but at this point I trust the Shure Li-on solution to perform as expected.

I realize you stated you don't have room in your kit for the chargers but I consider them a mission critical piece of gear.

The only weak link is when non-Pro people insert the transmitter into the charger and mis-align them, this can lead to bent pins inside the charger. Most of the time the charging pins are just stuck and can be release with a small precision screw driver. We have lessened this by placing Brother P-Touch labels above the battery meter display of the transmitters with the mic number such as "Mic 1". This provides a visible reference for Non-Pro people to know which way is the front on the mic. JMHO

[ThomasA(lbenberger)]

My experience is with ULX-D Li-ion batteries and SBC200 chargers. They have been a game changer for us. No more bent contacts inside of the transmitters, loosening battery covers from constant use, and we get easily a full show and (reasonable) rehearsal/soundcheck out of a single charge.They are also rider friendly and trusted rather than an aftermarket solution. After 5 years or more of using the original batteries for about 70 shows a year, we still get about 10 hours of operation time. By using this setup, it reduces the wear and tear of the mic along with simply turning the transmitters on and not worrying about battery life for the duration for the late afternoon/night. Obviously anything longer than 7 or 8 hours of use would require a recharge but for a typical sound check and show, no need to worry about batteries anymore. No more, "did you turn the transmitters on before a show?" We do have the receivers close to FOH and our CL5s have battery feedback on each ULXD channel but at this point I trust the Shure Li-on solution to perform as expected.



I realize you stated you don't have room in your kit for the chargers but I consider them a mission critical piece of gear.

The only weak link is when non-Pro people insert the transmitter into the charger and mis-align them, this can lead to bent pins inside the charger. Most of the time the charging pins are just stuck and can be release with a small precision screw driver. We have lessened this by placing Brother P-Touch labels above the battery meter display of the transmitters with the mic number such as "Mic 1". This provides a visible reference for Non-Pro people to know which way is the front on the mic. JMHO

Hi Steven,

and thanks for sharing your experiences! I'm doing an event right now where ulx-d with the associated 8-bay charger in addition to the duo-docks for charging the transmitters are part of the install. I wish there was a compact 4-way or 8-way charger available for the sb903 that come with slx-d.

I don't worry too much about wear and tear of changing the packs in the transmitters, but thanks for bringing up this potential issue as well!

Best regards,

Thomas

[ProSoundWeb Community]