How Long Will Is The H4ns Battery Life While Using 48v Phantom Power?

R

Robertofish

Active member
In an upcoming film I will be using a rode ntg 3 (outside) and an audio technica at4053b (inside) wired via xlr into the h4n and using its built in phantom power, how long will this give me because for this film we are planning to shoot up to 6 hours in a day, and what batteries should I use, it is important that I use the h4n for this, also does recording in 24 bit make any difference to battery life in the h4n.
Thanks in Advance
 
probably around 2-4 hours with the cheaper AA batteries. but if you go with the lithium AA's you can probably do a good 4-6.
 
I run 48v shotgun and lav mics from the H4n and you are lucky to get an hour safely from regular AA or Eneloop rechargeables. Don't expect any other battery to miraculously give several hours. If you need long battery life, then get a large external rechargeable cell or plug into AC.
 
Well I am only running one mic at a time so that does help. Does recording in 24 bit change anything, I will be converting to 16 bit aiffs in post but want to get the best quality possible. I have not heard of the rechargeable cell where would I get one of those, and how long will that give me for battery life because I will not be able to plug it into ac in most situations.
Thanks
 
The audio tech industry uses the external battery packs. Just search out specific options. Go to Trew Audio and find out the industry standards then see price wise what works.

B&H sells the Tekkeon batteries which can power multi voltage devices. I have no experience with that product but see others use it.

Trust me, 60-90 mins is about all your will get on AA's with phantom. All you have to do is set up the Zoom, a mic, phantom on, sit it on your desk while you do other work and let it record and see how long it will go. That's how I found out the limits.

There is a 9v battery powered XLR box by PSC to be the phantom power between the mic and recorder. That may give you 8-10 hours but then you have the cost of 9v batteries regularly. B&H carries it, just search.
 
i'm very surprised at the terrible battery life out of the h4n. i used one a few times hooked up to a mixer(h4n's phantom off) and had pretty good record times. but phantom seems to drain that thing like crazy i guess. i was going off of white papers from the zoom site i found a while back to get 2-4 hours. but seriously, 90 minutes is terrible! if i put 4 AA's in my 552 and run phantom out of one channel its like 4+ hours easily!(left my np1's at home on accident on a shoot one time...). another reason that you get what you pay for i guess....
 
The real danger is if the batteries die on the Zoom the current audio file is gone. Zoom only has 2 AA batteries so you can't expect miracles.

I don't use the zoom much anymore, just stays in my kit as a backup. I use an Edirol R-44 and get several hours with phantom on it which is fine.

The zoom gets great battery life with phantom off, 5 hours and 10 or more in stamina. Phantom power kills it.
 
I used a PZM requiring phantom power at a wedding once during the Ketubah signing and my brand new batteries were almost dead in 20 minutes. Test, test and retest! If the mic has a battery option use it! Like it has been said previously you will lose the last audio file if the Zoom dies in the middle of recording. When I got home from the wedding I tested with rechargeable and Alkaline batteries. With my PZM the Alkalines lasted 27 minutes. The fresh rechargeable NiMH 2600mA last 19 minutes.
 
For $10 it seems like you could get a better answer if you just buy them and test for yourself. I tested mine by recording the Zoom display with my HVX. That way I did not have to watch it the entire time.
 
I had one hell of a time with the H4n not too long ago. Left my batteries in my trunk overnight and it was freakin' cold. Phantom power was zapping the batteries so fast that it was comical. Had to swap 'em between every take.
 
for indoor shots without too much movements, use a 5V adapter. saved me at least 20 AA's, + freedom from of all worries.
 
Batteries don't like cold. It wasn't so much the H4n but the fact that the batteries were at a fraction of the power they would normally be at.
djbobbyrhodes said:
I had one hell of a time with the H4n not too long ago. Left my batteries in my trunk overnight and it was freakin' cold. Phantom power was zapping the batteries so fast that it was comical. Had to swap 'em between every take.
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Noiz2 said:
Batteries don't like cold. It wasn't so much the H4n but the fact that the batteries were at a fraction of the power they would normally be at.
Click to expand...

I was originally going to suggest utility sound's underarms as a solution but then thought that when anyone (myself included) uses an H4n, the chance of having a utility sound person that's not me, is miniscule.

On the original topic: I've never used the 48V phantom capabilities of my H4n, keeping it solely as a back-up recorder or a recorder I could put in harm's way. Today I thought that I should know what kind of runtime to expect in the case of emergencies.

Using 2 AA 2400mAh Imedion NiMH Cells (Low Self Discharge type), the H4n has been recording the 416's output (at a gain setting of 55) in "Stereo" mode on XLR input 1 for over 4 hours.

I'm a little surprised.

The cells were charged about two days ago.

Sennheiser lists the current consumption of the 416 at 2mA (same for MKH60)
Rode lists the current consumption of the NTG3 at minimum 5mA
Sanken lists the CS3e at 2.5mA
The CMC6 comes in at about 4mA according to Schoeps.

I didn't check any more.
 
Petros Kolyvas said:
I was originally going to suggest utility sound's underarms as a solution but then thought that when anyone (myself included) uses an H4n, the chance of having a utility sound person that's not me, is miniscule.

On the original topic: I've never used the 48V phantom capabilities of my H4n, keeping it solely as a back-up recorder or a recorder I could put in harm's way. Today I thought that I should know what kind of runtime to expect in the case of emergencies.

Using 2 AA 2400mAh Imedion NiMH Cells (Low Self Discharge type), the H4n has been recording the 416's output (at a gain setting of 55) in "Stereo" mode on XLR input 1 for over 4 hours.

I'm a little surprised.

The cells were charged about two days ago.

Sennheiser lists the current consumption of the 416 at 2mA (same for MKH60)
Rode lists the current consumption of the NTG3 at minimum 5mA
Sanken lists the CS3e at 2.5mA
The CMC6 comes in at about 4mA according to Schoeps.

I didn't check any more.
Click to expand...
Very interesting. I have heard reports of very short battery life with Phantom but I don't own one so? But four hours is really good. But at something under two hours for the NTG3, not so great.

I suspect that alkaline batteries don't work as well. I get more "life" out of NiMh than I do with alkaline batteries in the PMD 671. I think it probably has to do with the power curve, NiMh stay at a higher voltage longer and then suddenly drop and alkalines fade in a more linear way.

I had never looked but had assumed that current draw would be generally about the same for similar mics. So I'm surprised at the jump from the Sennheiser to the Rode.
 
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I finally stopped the 416-H4n-P48 "test" after 5 hours of running.

I decided to also try a stereo pair of Shure KSM 141s. While not anything one would use typically for location sound, the advertised 4.5mA consumption meant I would be using somewhere around 4x 416s worth of power provided the power supply's efficiency is linear which it probably is not - though that's a whole other can of worms and most likely a difference that would be negligible under these horribly inaccurate and poorly executed "test conditions."

With that disclaimer in mind, the same type of recently charged 2400mAh Imedions cells, with the two Shures, lasted under an hour.
 
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update?

update?

I ran across this thread when trying to determine how long batteries would last in my newly acquired H4n.
I tested with 2 AKG C1000S (using phantom power on both) and put in a couple of cheap (Pearstone) rechargeables that had been sitting on the shelf for a while.
I recorded for over 1 hr 40 min and it still showed one bar on the icon (according to the manual it only has 3 bars and then none and then an X when it's about to stop.
Were you guys using version 1.72 released in Jan '11?
 
in my experience the zoom loses the first two bars quickly but keeps the third for a disproportionately long time. if at all possible, run it till the lights blink, you'll save some batteries.
 
Another thing that can kill batteries, especially in a device with global Phantom Power switching. For instance, if there's a Phantom powered mic on one channel and a (unbalanced) G3 on the other, will drain the batteries very rapidly.
 
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