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Store
The BIG One upside down, particularly for long periods,
as this allows the gel electrolyte to gradually settle
to the bottom of the cells. |
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Don't
leave The BIG One in a part charged state for extended
periods.
You
should charge the unit fully before storing it.
Unlike Ni-Cads, The
BIG One will hold its charge for many months; well
over 90% charge is retained for over three months.
You should charge the
unit fully at least once a year. |
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On
the PD4 DAT Recorder - when you are powering the Recorder from The
BIG One - which position should the NiCad/Lithium battery switch
be in? |
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The
switch is designed to give an accurate warning of
battery life since NiCad and Lithium have different
discharge characteristics.
The BIG One uses Lead Acid batteries, but since the
output voltage is regulated there is no voltage change
from fully charged to almost flat, it is always 12.6
volts.
Use The BIG One's bargraph display to determine
available battery life.
Set the PD4's switch to NiCad. |
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What is the
best way to care for the batteries in The BIG One and
The MONSTER? |
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Both The
BIG One and The MONSTER use Valve Regulated Lead Acid
Batteries. The care of these batteries is almost
the direct opposite of Ni-Cads. You can part
charge and part discharge lead acids with no problem.
Indeed, unlike Ni-Cads, they don't really like being
discharged fully all the time. The service life of
a lead acid battery is very much dependent on how deeply
the battery is discharged. Constantly fully
discharging a lead acid will halve its life compared to
only discharging it half way. If a lead acid
battery is fully discharged it should be fully charged
as soon as possible. Leaving the battery fully
discharged for any appreciable time will destroy it.
Lead acid batteries like to be kept fully charged.
Whereas Ni-Cads lose about 1% of charge a day, lead acid
will only lose less than 10% in 3 months!
Lead acid batteries use constant voltage charging,
whereas Ni-Cads use constant current charging.
This means that with lead acid most of the charge is
acquired in the first hour or so, but with a Ni-Cad it
is a linear process. On The MONSTER, the three
stage charger starts with a constant current charge,
then changes to a constant high voltage boost phase and
finally switches to a constant voltage trickle charge.
This provides the fastest charge time without damage to
the battery. If you only had time for an hour of
the first charge phase the battery will still have a
very useful amount of charge applied. |
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Can I re-cell
my BIG One or MONSTER myself? |
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Can I use The MONSTER to power 24
volt equipment? |
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You can
use The MONSTER to power 24 volt equipment with a
maximum current draw of 10 amps. Don't forget
though, that without The BIG One it has no regulation or
over discharge protection so the voltage will gradually
fall from a fully charged voltage of about 25 volts to
the minimum useable voltage of 20 volts.
Do not discharge The
MONSTER below 20 volts or damage can occur. Use
the Black Box Video curly lead supplied to connect so
that the blue LED works. When the blue LED goes
out stop using The MONSTER and re-charge as soon as
possible. |
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What is the maximum voltage Black
Box Video units will stand? |
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Most
Black Box Video equipment is designed to run on a
nominal 12 volt supply. The word "nominal" 12 volts in
the film and video world generally means 12.6 volts to
allow a small voltage drop on connecting cables. A
nominal 12 volts in the auto industry actually means
13.8 volts, so everything in a car actually is designed
to run on 13.8 volts, not as commonly believed, 12
volts.
In days
of old the original NP1 battery had 10 x 12 volt cells =
12 volts. Now, with lithium NP batteries you have
4 x 3.6 volts = 14.4 volts. However, fresh off a
charger the voltage can be as high as 16.4 volts!
This high voltage will drop below 16 volts when
connected to a load.
All Black Box Video
equipment is fitted with voltage regulators and can
withstand 16 volts. All our Video Sender
Transmitters (except The Stamp) can even withstand a
maximum 36 volts without damage as they may be used with
24 volt film cameras.
Incidentally, not only
do all Black Box Video's units have voltage regulators
but they also have protection diodes to prevent reverse
polarity damage from incorrectly wired leads. Note
that the Panasonic 7" Monitor (TC-7WMS1
model, now obsolete) will be damaged by a
reverse polarity connection! We can fix it for you
for £50! |
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Why have you
stopped making the Handy Power Batteries? |
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Sadly,
the Handy Power Batteries just cost too much to produce
- we couldn't make a living out of them! I still
have the original prototype on my workbench in daily use
and I can't imagine life without it, but its not
economic to produce more for sale. Our apologies
to all of you who wanted one, or even those who own one
and want more. |
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