AA charger for MZ-RH1 & other devices

[smkranz]

This short pictorial and review shows the Gomadic "AA Emergency Battery Extender" with the two different tips I have. One is the Palm Multi-Connector tip for use in charging my Palm T5, and the other tip I just recently purchased is for charging both a Motorola Razr v3 phone, and my MZ-RH1, both of which use the same mini-USB plug.

(The beer is a very nice Spaten Oktoberfest. It is self-powered and does not require a charger.)

Charging unit specifications from the Gomadic web site:

Emergency Battery Back-up Unit:

Cable Length: 6 inches

Holds: 4 X AA Alkaline batteries

Output: 5vdc

* Compatible with NiCad, NiMH rechargeable and alkaline batteries

* Integrated diode protects from reverse battery assembly

These shots are the front and rear of the unit (rear photo with battery door removed). Also pictured are the two tips I have, which simply plug onto the end of the 6 inch cord.

On the top of the unit is an On - Off switch, and on the front is a green LED when the power is on:

I have previously used the Gomadic charger for my Palm T5 on an extended bus trip, and it worked fine to charge and power the Palm.

Just recently, I purchased the additional tip for the Motorola Razr v3 phone and used it on a camping trip to recharge the phone. Again, it worked as advertised.

For both the Palm and Razr phone applications, the web site says it will re-charge those devices from a discharged state 2-3 times on one set of batteries.

I just recharged my MZ-RH1 with this device earlier today. I let the RH1 play continuously until the battery charge indicator began blinking...and I let it go on blinking for a pretty good while, but I shut it off before it totally discharged and shut down.

Put a fresh set of AA's into the charger, connected it to the RH1 (which was powered off), and flicked the power switch on the charger to ON. The RH1's display came on and blinked "charging", along with the "time left" indicator which started at 60 minutes. Sure enough, after an hour the RH1 display turned off, and powering up the RH1 shows a fully charged battery meter.

My guess is that since it only takes an hour to recharge the RH1, this device should provide at least 2-3 recharges on one fresh set of AA alkalines. I don't know what (if any) kind of extended run-time this device would provide to the RH1 if used in tandem with a fully charged gumstick...i.e. if it was connected and powered on while the RH1 was recording a long show, etc.

The AA charging unit with one tip costs $19.95 plus shipping. Additional tips are about $5.

http://www.gomadic.com/motorola-razr-v3-em...y-extender.html

[Roamer]

Thanks for the tests, pictures and link.

Actually, according to the manual, the RH1 is only 80% charged after one hour, and you should allow a couple extra hours to have it fullly charged.

[heathenmagic]

Now you got me wanting a beer! lol. Been looking for this kind of thing for a while, many thanks for sharing this with us. I looked at the link, and it even takes NiMh batteries, which is good. Would be ideal if recording over two of hours of PCM with this gadget connected. I think I will get one though, so thanks for the heads up! I owe you a beer. Lol

[danielbb90]

I was looking at something similar for my iAudio U2, I don't know why I didn't.

lol anyway, thanks for the review and pictorial!

[smkranz]

Thanks for the tests, pictures and link.

Actually, according to the manual, the RH1 is only 80% charged after one hour, and you should allow a couple extra hours to have it fullly charged.

Thanks for the reminder, you are right about that. [Does anyone but than me think that was a goofy and pretty darn useless design "feature" by Sony?]

[The Low Volta]

it is an inherent characteristic of LiIon Batteries that the first 80% charges quickly while it takes a whole lot of time to charge that last 20%... but as LiIon doesn't suffer from memory effects, it isn't necessary to charge fully each time (only when full power is needed)

[mrsoul]

Again, great review and thanks for the links and pricing. Made my day! Makes me long for the days when I lived in the Pacific NW and had access to great craft beers. Can be a long mile between down here in the South. But, again thanks for the mobile charging update and testing/pictorial!

[raintheory]

Nice!

This is definitely going to be my next purchase. Just the other day I was almost out of luck recording one of our jam sessions outdoors because my RH1 was dead... Luckily my fiance had her RH10 with her...

[MandoRod]

I think that the new "Energizer Instant Cell Phone Charger" (w/ USB Mini plug) might also work. I saw this item at Longs Drugs for about $20. More info here: http://www.energizer.com/energitogo/index_flash.html. Do any of you have one of these, and could you test it with the MZ-RH1?

[smkranz]

Just the other day I was almost out of luck recording one of our jam sessions outdoors because my RH1 was dead... Luckily my fiance had her RH10 with her...

Lucky, indeed! I'd say marry that girl...and quick!

I think that the new "Energizer Instant Cell Phone Charger" (w/ USB Mini plug) might also work. I saw this item at Longs Drugs for about $20. More info here: http://www.energizer.com/energitogo/index_flash.html. Do any of you have one of these, and could you test it with the MZ-RH1?

Another good-looking find. No specs shown that indicate output, and I don't know squat about battery-power and charging electronics, but I'm wondering how that device with only one or two 1.5v AA batteries would put out the 5v used by the RH1 chargers, and the Gomadic AA charger. Another question is, could the RH1 battery be recharged with less than a 5v output?

Maybe you could spring for the $20 and let us know if it works?

[milomind]

That seems like a good way for me to recharge the RH1's battery away from a power source, but in order to make outdoor festival stealth recording more doable there needs to be a small footprint single or double battery solution. With the sheer amount of USB devices out there, there has to be a ton of products.

Thank god Sony has kept a non-proprietary USB miniplug instead of something cradle recharge only.

I think that a Spaten Octoberfest will be my next purchase, however. I drank a liter at our local German Club's Octoberfest last weekend.

I think that the new "Energizer Instant Cell Phone Charger" (w/ USB Mini plug) might also work. I saw this item at Longs Drugs for about $20. More info here: http://www.energizer.com/energitogo/index_flash.html. Do any of you have one of these, and could you test it with the MZ-RH1?

Like this thing. I didn't even look to see what the product was, sorry.

[A440]

Something that looks exactly like the Gomadic is on sale at Ebay for $12 shipped.

Like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...A%3AIT&rd=1

Or search for Motorola Razr Battery Extender

[smkranz]

Something that looks exactly like the Gomadic is on sale at Ebay for $12 shipped.

Like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...A%3AIT&rd=1

Or search for Motorola Razr Battery Extender

It does look pretty much the same as the Gomadic model, except that the photo doesn't show the same plug at the tip which interchanges with various other tips to make it compatible with other devices, nor does it mention this ability in the description.

[milomind]

Killing two birds with one stone this morning. I'm charging a LIP-4WM battery I bought off ebay from China, and I'm doing it with the Energizer instant cell phone charger. I'll check back in later to let you know if my RH1 blew up or not.

[milomind]

All charged up. Seems to be fine, and charged a half charged battery to full in about an hour.

[A440]

Can you take out the LIP-4WM battery and just run the RH1 from the charger?

[raintheory]

Can you take out the LIP-4WM battery and just run the RH1 from the charger?

Should work... I know having the unit plugged into the AC adapter thingy without the battery in works fine. I've no idea how long it would last with the charger thing though.

EDIT: The only thing I would worry about doing this is the fact that if the unit thinks it's running off of AC (which it would if you are using the charger without the LIP-4WM in the unit) it may not try to save power in order to be sure it can write the system file.. So you could lose your recording, in theory.

Edited September 21, 2006 by raintheory

[milomind]

Can you take out the LIP-4WM battery and just run the RH1 from the charger?

Didn't work when I tried it with the Energizer charger. I think it needs to sense a battery in the unit in order for the charger to turn itself on.

[smkranz]

Didn't work when I tried it with the Energizer charger. I think it needs to sense a battery in the unit in order for the charger to turn itself on.

Could this have something to do with the output voltage of the Energizer charger? I will try to remember to do the same experiment with the Gomadic model which has 5V output.

[smkranz]

Can you take out the LIP-4WM battery and just run the RH1 from the charger?

That's affirmative, at least with the Gomadic model. I just tested it this evening. The pic shows the battery out of the RH1, the Gomadic charger connected and powered on, and the RH1 happily playing away.

[attachmentid=2036]

[Russell Letson]

I'm not sure what the factors are, but not all 4-cell USB boxes seem to be created equal. As I posted on another thread, the APC PNoteBX UPB battery box (4xAAA) does not charge my RH-1. The unit will recognize that the USB cable has been plugged in, but it thinks there's a problem, since the message is usually to plug it in again. Voltage? Lacks the proper pins?

[Tokend]

This short pictorial and review shows the Gomadic "AA Emergency Battery Extender" with the two different tips I have.

The AA charging unit with one tip costs $19.95 plus shipping. Additional tips are about $5.

http://www.gomadic.com/motorola-razr-v3-em...y-extender.html

Thanks for this information. This device almost makes up for Sony's omission of a battery pack sidecar.

I have a few questions about using a device such as this:

(1) Is the pack safe re over-voltage?

(2) If so, does it have its own regulators, or does it depend on the RH1?

(3) You describe using the battery pack as a charger, with the RH1 turned off. Can I use it, instead, as a supplemental battery pack? That is, can I use the RH1 while the battery pack is charging the internal battery?

(4) If yes, any idea how much recording time I could expect with a fully-charged internal battery and 4 fresh AAs?

Thanks.

[smkranz]

Thanks for this information. This device almost makes up for Sony's omission of a battery pack sidecar.

I have a few questions about using a device such as this:

(1) Is the pack safe re over-voltage?

(2) If so, does it have its own regulators, or does it depend on the RH1?

(3) You describe using the battery pack as a charger, with the RH1 turned off. Can I use it, instead, as a supplemental battery pack? That is, can I use the RH1 while the battery pack is charging the internal battery?

(4) If yes, any idea how much recording time I could expect with a fully-charged internal battery and 4 fresh AAs?

Thanks.

1) & 2) From the Gomadic web site, I would say Yes:

• Advanced internal circuitry protects device from power surges, overcharging, and short-circuiting.

3) & 4) The Gomadic charger wil power the RH1 without the gumstick battery installed, but I just don't fully know yet how the combination of a charged RH1 battery -plus- the Gomadic charger works. For example, with the Gomadic connected and the RH1 powered off, if I turn the charger to -ON- the charging indicator immediately starts flashing. Then, while this is going on I press Play (Enter) on the jog button, the RH1 starts playing and the battery charge indicator disappears...same thing that happens if the RH1 is connected to its own A/C charger. This suggests to me that while the Gomadic is powered on, the RH1 is taking its power from the Gomadic rather than simultaneously from the internal battery. I don't know the electronics of the RH1, but the RH1 manual says (page 15):

• It is possible to do operations on the recorder or the remote while charging the battery with the AC power adaptor, as well as computer-related operations while charging with USB bus power. However, the charging time will be longer.

It also says, on page 22:

• When the recorder is connected to a computer, power (bus power) is supplied to the recorder through the computer's USB port...

Hmmm...so are we to infer from this, and the above behavior, that while the RH1 is connected to either a computer (USB) or a wall outlet, it is taking its power from that external source, and simultaneously recharging the internal battery? Sounds that way to me. If so, then the next question is what happens when the AA batteries in the Gomadic start losing their oomph...does output drop below 5v and then the internal battery kicks in? I dunno...a future experiment for someone to try...

[Vesuvio]

...the other tip I just recently purchased is for charging both a Motorola Razr v3 phone, and my MZ-RH1, both of which use the same mini-USB plug.

Would it be fair to say that any power accessory designed for the Motorola Razr v3 would work with the RH1? I saw an auto adapter for a car auxillary port (ie, cigarette lighter) for the Razr in an electronics store, and I was wondering if I'd be safe using it with my RH1. Anyone tried such a device? Any cautions?

--V.

[A440]

I just got the Gomadic-like "battery extender" from Ebay, $11 shipped, and it works. The tip isn't interchangeable like the Gomadic--it's on there to stay.

Search for "Battery Extender" V3 or Razr

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Motorola-V3-V3m-SL...1QQcmdZViewItem

Edited September 30, 2006 by A440

[kentek]

This short pictorial and review shows the Gomadic "AA Emergency Battery Extender" with the two different tips I have. One is the Palm Multi-Connector tip for use in charging my Palm T5, and the other tip I just recently purchased is for charging both a Motorola Razr v3 phone, and my MZ-RH1, both of which use the same mini-USB plug.

[attachmentid=2027]

(The beer is a very nice Spaten Oktoberfest. It is self-powered and does not require a charger.)

Charging unit specifications from the Gomadic web site:

Emergency Battery Back-up Unit:

Cable Length: 6 inches

Holds: 4 X AA Alkaline batteries

Output: 5vdc

* Compatible with NiCad, NiMH rechargeable and alkaline batteries

* Integrated diode protects from reverse battery assembly

These shots are the front and rear of the unit (rear photo with battery door removed). Also pictured are the two tips I have, which simply plug onto the end of the 6 inch cord.

[attachmentid=2022] [attachmentid=2023]

On the top of the unit is an On - Off switch, and on the front is a green LED when the power is on:

[attachmentid=2024] [attachmentid=2025]

I have previously used the Gomadic charger for my Palm T5 on an extended bus trip, and it worked fine to charge and power the Palm.

[attachmentid=2026]

Just recently, I purchased the additional tip for the Motorola Razr v3 phone and used it on a camping trip to recharge the phone. Again, it worked as advertised.

For both the Palm and Razr phone applications, the web site says it will re-charge those devices from a discharged state 2-3 times on one set of batteries.

I just recharged my MZ-RH1 with this device earlier today. I let the RH1 play continuously until the battery charge indicator began blinking...and I let it go on blinking for a pretty good while, but I shut it off before it totally discharged and shut down.

Put a fresh set of AA's into the charger, connected it to the RH1 (which was powered off), and flicked the power switch on the charger to ON. The RH1's display came on and blinked "charging", along with the "time left" indicator which started at 60 minutes. Sure enough, after an hour the RH1 display turned off, and powering up the RH1 shows a fully charged battery meter.

[attachmentid=2028]

My guess is that since it only takes an hour to recharge the RH1, this device should provide at least 2-3 recharges on one fresh set of AA alkalines. I don't know what (if any) kind of extended run-time this device would provide to the RH1 if used in tandem with a fully charged gumstick...i.e. if it was connected and powered on while the RH1 was recording a long show, etc.

The AA charging unit with one tip costs $19.95 plus shipping. Additional tips are about $5.

http://www.gomadic.com/motorola-razr-v3-em...y-extender.html

You could also use re-chargable AA batts. I think I like the new Energizer US solution.

Tha

nks for the good report on your project.

[robo11]

Anyone know if this can be bought in Australia? having a hard time finding on ebay too.

[smkranz]

Anyone know if this can be bought in Australia? having a hard time finding on ebay too.

This link shows the Gomadic international shipping rates...not so bad from what I can see.

http://www.gomadic.com/shipping.html

[robo11]

This link shows the Gomadic international shipping rates...not so bad from what I can see.

http://www.gomadic.com/shipping.html

Cool thanks. I just ordered from the site. The shipping rates are very nice indeed!

[robo11]

I just got my (2) battery extenders from Gomadic. I put in some energizer alkaline rechargeable batteries into both ... tried and tested each. And so far it won't charge my RH1 nor will it charge my Motorola cell phone.

It just won't charge anything or play off the AA batteries itself.

...not happy!

Is it the batteries that are at issue here?

or could it be that in Australia the voltage might be slightly different than in America?

[smkranz]

I just got my (2) battery extenders from Gomadic. I put in some energizer alkaline rechargeable batteries into both ... tried and tested each. And so far it won't charge my RH1 nor will it charge my Motorola cell phone.

It just won't charge anything or play off the AA batteries itself.

...not happy!

Is it the batteries that are at issue here?

or could it be that in Australia the voltage might be slightly different than in America?

That's not good. The site says it works with rechargeables. Have you tested with a set of new non-rechargeables to rule out the batteries as an issue? Obvious (but gotta say it, sorry) first thing to check is that batteries are facing in the right direction. I have put them in backwards more than once when I was in a hurry . When you switch it on, does the power lamp go on?

[ahsan]

Hi,

I have mz-nh1 is there a charger for that other than the cradle. Will this work the mz-nh1?

Can someone help me.

Thanks

[robo11]

That's not good. The site says it works with rechargeables. Have you tested with a set of new non-rechargeables to rule out the batteries as an issue? Obvious (but gotta say it, sorry) first thing to check is that batteries are facing in the right direction. I have put them in backwards more than once when I was in a hurry . When you switch it on, does the power lamp go on?

I've since fixed the issue. I realised I had mixed in some 2300mAh and 2500mAh rated rechargeable batteries. This for some strange reason would light up the LED, but it wouldn't charge; not even my phone or RH1. I soon later realised that it was a user error and switched all to the same batteries. It all works fine now

Lovely recharge pack! Great for extended traveling.

to ahsan: this charger won't work on the NH1 because the NH1 uses a proprietary plug.

[Nathan P]

A friend of mine made one of these himself for his iPod, He used a 9V and resistors to step it down to 5V (what a normal USB supplies), It actually worked pretty good, and he put it in an altoids tin, which is quite possibly the most classic thing to put homegrown electronics projects into.

[cochra1]

What's the deal with this auxillery back-up power/charger thing that uses AA batteries? Why not simply invest in a second rechargable battery or two, and circulate them if need be?

Surely has to be more convenient than that great lump of a recharger/back-up unit to carry around!

[tekdroid]

What's the deal with this auxillery back-up power/charger thing that uses AA batteries? Why not simply invest in a second rechargable battery or two, and circulate them if need be?

Surely has to be more convenient than that great lump of a recharger/back-up unit to carry around!

I would have to agree. What a pain to carry...

The only advantage I see is the unit can be used with different devices, and I suppose the popularity of AAs.

Ideally, Sony really needs a new, current Hi-MD unit with integrated AA.

[cochra1]

I would have to agree. What a pain to carry...

The only advantage I see is the unit can be used with different devices, and I suppose the popularity of AAs.

Ideally, Sony really needs a new, current Hi-MD unit with integrated AA.

Yeah. Don't reckon it's gonna happen though. It's been reckoned almost since it's release that the RH1 is the last minidisc recorder ever to be produced (by Sony, if not anyone). I've just ordered mine and I'm gonna treasure it.

[raintheory]

Also, this is a good idea as you can plug in the charger before the internal battery is exhausted and continue your recording/playback uninterrupted. If you were switching out the internal battery you would have to stop, wait for TOC to be written (if need be), replace battery, and then restart recording/playback.

Edited February 13, 2007 by raintheory

[cochra1]

Also, this is a good idea as you can plug in the charger before the internal battery is exhausted and continue your recording/playback uninterrupted. If you were switching out the internal battery you would have to stop, wait for TOC to be written (if need be), replace battery, and then restart recording/playback.

Man's got a point.

[tekdroid]

Also, this is a good idea as you can plug in the charger before the internal battery is exhausted and continue your recording/playback uninterrupted. If you were switching out the internal battery you would have to stop, wait for TOC to be written (if need be), replace battery, and then restart recording/playback.

When recording extended sessions in ATRAC, I guess. But I never do that, personally. I suppose it has some utility, tho. But I know if I bought the thing, it would be left at home 99.99% of the time 'cause of it's size alone.