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PJHawke · Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 5:46 pm Post subject: Modding a portable phantom supply

I was online looking for a battery operated phantom power supply, and the cheapest one was well over a hundred bucks, while a 1-channel plug-in kind can be had for about $20-30. So I was thinking... if the plug in kind runs off ofa 12-VDC wall wart, couldn't I just series up 8 AA batteries to get the 12-VDC and plug that into the power port? Laughingly simple question, I know, but I'm not exactly an electronix whiz.

Mike Sommer · Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 6:21 pm Post subject:

You could, so as long as it is "DC". The problem with using battery is that it drains them pretty quickly.
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PJHawke · Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 6:46 pm Post subject:

Thanks, Mike. Yeah, it's DC. I figured that the power drain would be minimal since a condenser mic pulls -- what -- 2, maybe 3 milliamps? Of course, that's just my inner non-electronix-whiz reasoning. Dunno what kind of loss occurs in the phantom box.

Charles Nove · Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 11:37 pm Post subject:

Not an efficient way to use batteries! The mic won't consume much, but the batteries will squander most of their oomph (highly technical term!) in the transformer. Just go for a "battery operated by design" phantom power unit. AKG do a nice one.
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Mike Sommer · Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 11:50 pm Post subject:

What's going, is the circuit is quadrupling 12 volts to get it to 48 volts. Not very efficient.

In the old days of Telephony, a 48 volt battery was a common thing, that's why were are stuck with it today. Thank you Bell Telephone.

There are a few mics that operate on 15 Volts, but those are few and far between.
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Acoustics are counter-intuitive. If one thing is certain about acoustics, it is that if anything seems obvious it is probably wrong.

georgethetech · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 10:48 pm Post subject:

Why reinvent the wheel? How about this one?
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