Wireless Mic Batteries

carsonld

Active Member
I am trying to purchase some rechargeable 9V for our Shure ULX wireless mics.

I am looking at getting 2 Powerex MH-C1090F Pro 10-Bank Rapid 9V NiMH Battery Charger and the Powerex 9V Precharged Rechargeable NiMH Battery (9.6V, 230mAh).

I dont know too much about mics- but I was told this was a good charger and battery to get for this mic. What concerns me is the mics take a 9v battery but the batter is a 9.6. Is this okay? Or do I need to go to the 8.4v?
 
The consideration is the physical fit of the battery inside the transmitter. I presume you're ordering these from a place with a return policy....

Also, my experience has been that you do NOT want to use the rapid-charge unless you enjoy shortened battery life. Sure it works, but it's detrimental. Use standard or slow charging.

The slightly higher voltage should not present a problem but if you're really concerned I suggest you contact Shure's engineering support group.
 
I have been using The iPower brand of 9v all this season, I am getting 8-9 hrs of use out of them, I am using ulx's, one trick is to turn the mic on with a new akaline(sp?) to reset the battery to full bars than install the recharge, as the older electronics dont know how to judge battery level, last year I paid around $13 each, now I have seen that they are up to $19. They say you should get 300 cycles each. Unfortunately I lagged on how to keep track of how many charges, but I do now by date charged.
I have 12 9v's and finally received my 16 AA's(after a 2 month wait)...


Sean...
 
As long as it fits, it will work fine. Be aware that the battery has a different slope on discharge so you will have to relearn how to judge the battery meter. One trick on NiMH is that if you do not discharge it below 20% and do not charge it above 80%, you will get thousands of cycles from it. (All the damage inside the battery occurs below 20 and above 80) That's how a Prius gets 20,000 cycles / 10 years out of it's NiMH.
 
As long as it fits, it will work fine. Be aware that the battery has a different slope on discharge so you will have to relearn how to judge the battery meter. One trick on NiMH is that if you do not discharge it below 20% and do not charge it above 80%, you will get thousands of cycles from it. (All the damage inside the battery occurs below 20 and above 80) That's how a Prius gets 20,000 cycles / 10 years out of it's NiMH.

So if I throw it on the charger before it gets to 20% and take it off after 80% I should be good?

Y’all keep saying the size, are all 9v the same size? From my experience they are. But im fairly young!
 
So if I throw it on the charger before it gets to 20% and take it off after 80% I should be good?

Y’all keep saying the size, are all 9v the same size? From my experience they are. But im fairly young!

Or, just buy a smart charger and don't worry about it. Batteries are not expensive enough, and life is too short to monitor their charging that much.
 
So if I throw it on the charger before it gets to 20% and take it off after 80% I should be good?

Y’all keep saying the size, are all 9v the same size? From my experience they are. But im fairly young!
Actually, they are not. There are two size standards, but for the most part, you are only going to find the one in the US. The one we think of is the PP3, but even those vary a little bit, the Energizer is about 1/16 inch taller than the duracell.
https://www.medicbatteries.com/Dura...tery-9-volt-batteries-9v-battery-9v-batteries
 
Actually, they are not. There are two size standards, but for the most part, you are only going to find the one in the US. The one we think of is the PP3, but even those vary a little bit, the Energizer is about 1/16 inch taller than the duracell.
https://www.medicbatteries.com/Dura...tery-9-volt-batteries-9v-battery-9v-batteries
@JD I well recall the pain with early generation Vega packs. The packs were designed to accommodate the slightly taller batteries and maintained contact reliably with them. Using the highly touted, and arguably better performing, Duracells with the early Vega packs was always a gamble. Using tape to build up the bottom of the Duracells was folly as the layers of tape compressed over time. I recall gluing scraps of plastic to the bottoms of batteries, waiting 24 hours for the two-part epoxy to set and then lightly sanding down the thickness of the pad 'til it was JUST RIGHT. Oh what a pain in the posterior those early Vega packs were when it came to loading them up with reliable batteries. Good little transmitters and receivers. Very solid and reliable through the air, but memories of the battery agony are reminiscent of an old Abbot and Costello routine: "Niagara Falls! Inch by inch. Step by step. EVERY TIME I HEAR THE WORDS: NIAGARA FALLS!!"
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.
 
I'm a heavy battery user (digital cameras and flashes, taking hundreds and sometimes thousands of pictures during a shoot), and I would never charge my batteries to only 80%!

I've always charged my Li-Ion and NiMH batteries 100%, and they've lasted for years without noticeable drop in capacity...I would NEVER risk using something with batteries that weren't fully charged, especially for a live show!

Obviously for my camera Li-Ions I use the OEM (not cheap third party), but for my flashes I use Eneloop NiMH batteries. Unlike normal NiMH batteries Eneloops retain 85% of their charge for more than a year...when you buy Eneloops they come pre-charged, unlike normal NiMHs which when you buy them are for the most part dead.

What's worse...having a few less cycles that cost you a few bucks more often, or have a battery that was only charged 80% die on you in the middle of a show?

Link to Eneloop Pros (there are regular and lite versions too, but I only use the high-capacity pro line):
https://www.panasonic.com/ca/consumer/accessories/consumer-batteries/eneloop/bk3hcca4ba.html
 
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I'm a heavy battery user (digital cameras and flashes, taking hundreds and sometimes thousands of pictures during a shoot), and I would never charge my batteries to only 80%!

I've always charged my Li-Ion and NiMH batteries 100%, and they've lasted for years without noticeable drop in capacity...I would NEVER risk using something with batteries that weren't fully charged, especially for a live show!

Obviously for my camera Li-Ions I use the OEM (not cheap third party), but for my flashes I use Eneloop NiMH batteries. Unlike normal NiMH batteries Eneloops retain 85% of their charge for more than a year...when you buy Eneloops they come pre-charged, unlike normal NiMHs which when you buy them are for the most part dead.

What's worse...having a few less cycles that cost you a few bucks more often, or have a battery that was only charged 80% die on you in the middle of a show?

Link to Eneloop Pros (there are regular and lite versions too, but I only use the high-capacity pro line):
https://www.panasonic.com/ca/consumer/accessories/consumer-batteries/eneloop/bk3hcca4ba.html
I use Eneloops too, but the white ones are better for AV than the "pro" black ones. The white ones are rated for 4 times the cycles, and they are slightly smaller than the black ones. Black Eneloops get stuck in UHF-R handhelds and need to be pounded out. The extra runtime of the black Eneloops is unlikely to be useful in a wireless mic/IEM application, as even the white Eneloops last 8+ hours.
 

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