Best Battery for SD 302

forerunner

forerunner

Member
Sorry for my ignorance.. what is the best battery for Sound Devices 302, is it the Ni-MH or Alkaline? thank you.
 
The 302 manual says it'll accept rechargeable cells but my experience is they're apt to die quickly.

I only use fresh name brand Alkalines and carry a small battery checker in the bag.

Cheers.
 
I consider Eneloops to be at the top of all rechargeables. They work wonders in so many devices for me, and have a long charged shelf life.
 
How much do you want to spend? An NP1 NiMH plus adapter and charger is $300+
A MixPre (with 48V phantom power on) runs about five fours on a pair of AA NiMH rechargeables. NiMH rechargables loose about 1% of their charge per day on the shelf so you have to recharge them before you go out usually. The NiMH (in my experience) last longer than Alkaline in mixers and recorders.

Lithium rechargables (and non rechargeable) are lighter and last longer than NiMH AND don't drain on the shelf significantly. But they can get HOT so make sure that what you put them in says it's OK to do so. On some devices you void the warrantee if you put lithium batteries in them.

The other catch to lithium is that they can catch fire and have travel restrictions on them. You won't probably run into that but if you start carting around a bunch of lithium NP1's you can get stuck trying to fly with them. The up side is a NP! would probably power a mixer for a number of days with out needing charging.
 
The best? Use THESE with a complete BDS system.

It's modular so you can get a great soundbag started and build on it over time... until finally you'll have a soundbag with a single switch to power up everything that stays in the bag. Sound awesome? It is.
 
MattinSTL said:
The best? Use THESE with a complete BDS system.

It's modular so you can get a great soundbag started and build on it over time... until finally you'll have a soundbag with a single switch to power up everything that stays in the bag. Sound awesome? It is.
Click to expand...

hey, chipping in: do you have a link for an NP-1 shoe/holder that's not too expensive?
 
sonidista said:
hey, chipping in: do you have a link for an NP-1 shoe/holder that's not too expensive?
Click to expand...
The thing is those BDS kits are rediculously exspensive. Your best bet is to check with equipment rental houses for a good used system. I was able to find a BDS box and cup for 150. The cables on the other hand had to be purchased new. 35 for 1 cable was not a good price in my opinion.
 
Dose the voltage matter on the AA's for a 302? I bought a few enolops and a few other rechargeable generics that have a high ma but 1.2 volts. I see the Ultimate lithium have 1.5 volts(great batteries but expensive and not rechargeable)
 
loudlael said:
Dose the voltage matter on the AA's for a 302? I bought a few enolops and a few other rechargeable generics that have a high ma but 1.2 volts. I see the Ultimate lithium have 1.5 volts(great batteries but expensive and not rechargeable)
Click to expand...

These kind of things are usually in the spec's of a manual.
This is from the 302 online manual:
"2.4–6 V range internal batteries"
 
I use Switronix NP-L60 Li-Ion (60 Wh, 14.8 volts), and charge it with a Switronix SP-2LJ charger. I power my 302 with a BDSv3 and a Remote Audio NP1 cup. I bought my BD3s used from Pro Sound Services.

I have two of the NP-L60 batteries, but I'm only powering my 302 and my SRa receiver. Just one of NP1's gives me more than enough juice for a full, long ass day. I have yet to deplete a battery in a day. It feels like - with both of them fully charged - I could work for a week away from power.

I may buy another SRa receiver in the future and use it with one of my NP1's and another Remote Audio cup as a camera hop.
 
Sam Mallery said:
It feels like - with both of them fully charged - I could work for a week away from power.
Click to expand...
You probably could!

Sam Mallery said:
I may buy another SRa receiver in the future and use it with one of my NP1's and another Remote Audio cup as a camera hop.
Click to expand...
I remember the good ol' days when cameras had DC outs ;)
You might want to look into the battery sled mount for the SRa before you go with the more bulky solution you mention above if it's to be on camera.
The battery sled takes the typical Sony camcorder batteries that mounts right onto the SRa.
 
Hmm... still confused. I've tried reading about ohms law, been told about it many times. Still confused. If I have 3 1.2 volt AA then I've got 3.6 volts enough to power the 302.
I thought Volts was the rate and mAh was the how much. So if I have a high capacity mAh AA why dose the Volts matter? Do volts and mAh drain at the same rate? i know the ultimate Lithium's read high volts then die all the sudden. Maybe you could use crayons to describe this.
 
I use a NP-1 with mines. Works wonders. If I do use batters I use either Energizer or Duracell nothing else.


Thanks
Nicole
 
Would love to have a NP-1 set up but need to pay off other equipment first.
I ran a recording yesterday powering 2 channels at 48v with three 1.2 2600 mha AA straight for four hours and still had a little juice left (recording my brother and mom playing together. As of now if I have to change batteries 2 or 3 times to save the cash I'm okay using the rechargeable.
 
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