a couple of simple questions about Sennheiser ME66

[Sam Mallery]

1) After every 4 or 5 hours of recording I dispose of the AA battery. I have only just read it has 150 hours of phantom power. Does that actually refer to on and recording time?

—This is referring to “on” time. A single AA battery in an ME66 should last you a very long time. No need to change your battery this often. It doesn’t take much juice at all to power the capsule of the mic. 150 may well be a very conservative number. Many people put a AA in their shotgun and forget that it exists.

2) Will the LED flash or anything to indicate that the battery is low? At the moment, the LED flashes on when I turn it on and then goes off, leaving the mic on.

—The LED will not start flashing when the battery is low. Your mic is operating properly. It’s supposed to only flash once when you turn it on.

3) If I leave the mic connected and switched on, but turn the camera off, would the mic still be using as much battery as it would be if the camera was on and recording?

—Yes, I believe this will drain the battery. It’s a good habit to train yourself to turn the mic off when you’re finished, and to turn it back on before you begin.

It’s important to use headphones whenever you use the mic. Listen to your audio. You will know that your battery is dieing because you will hear your audio quality deteriorate.

Also, if you’re using your ME66 with a video camera that supplies phantom power, you may not need to use batteries at all. What camera do you have?

[Ty Ford]

[Sam Mallery] “Also, if you’re using your ME66 with a video camera that supplies phantom power, you may not need to use batteries at all. What camera do you have?”

But you may need to leave the battery in the mic, even if it is dead, for proper conduction of the external voltage to the mic.

Regards,

Ty Ford

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[David Payne]

thanks guys, I’m using it with a Sony HDR-FX1. I have done some research but can’t find a definite answer on whether this gives phantom power to the mic?

By the sounds of it I’ve probably wasted a lot of AA batteries in the past then! Yes I always use headphones but I’m worried that the battery might die half way through a wedding ceremony and I dont really want to keep an AA on me at all times (I know its only small) in case it dies.

Perhaps I’ll just change battery every 4 or 5 weddings to be on the safe side… Unless this camera gives phantom power ofcourse?

[Ty Ford]

Hello David,

Let Google be your friend. Put Sony HDR-FX1 “phantom power” in the search field and see what you find.

Regards,

Ty Ford

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[Randy Wheeler]

Instead of guessing how good your batteries are or how much juice they have left, why don’t you use a battery checker? They come in all different sizes. I’ve been checking all my normal and rechargeable batteries with a volt meter for many years and know down to the 100th of a volt where each type of battery should be at for optimal performance when recharged and when they have gone bad or are too low to use.

I just caught two bad AA rechargeable batteries out of 20 (came in two 10-packs) the other day and these were brand new. I checked them after all 20 had been charged to see how consistent and where the voltage was at when these type of batteries are fully charged. This way I will know when these rechargeable batteries begin to lose their useful life.

I also keep track of how low batteries can go and still function by checking the voltage after a shoot.

I basically keep track of the voltages of five types of batteries, AA normal, AA rechargeable, 9V normal, 9V rechargeable and Sony Lithium NP-F### series rechargeable batteries.

Randy

[David Payne]

thanks Randy, I didnt know such a thing existed. I will have a look what is available, I’m sure it will pay for itself when I consider how many AA’s I will save.

And Ty thanks, I did just that for quite a while but couldn’t find out what I was after, only similar questions from people like myself.

[Ty Ford]

[david payne] “And Ty thanks, I did just that for quite a while but couldn’t find out what I was after, only similar questions from people like myself. “

David,

Step away from the expresso machine! I plugged in those parameters and got this from the very first post.

“Sony HDR-FX1: The FX1 has, unlike the DVX, one of the worst audio systems of a prosumer camera. There are no XLR jacks (which begs the question, what was Sony thinking?) and all input is done through a 1/8″ unbalanced mini-jack. There are no phantom power provisions, and you can’t control the audio level of a track individually (the dial controls both tracks simultaneously.) ”

Regards,

Ty Ford

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[David Payne]

thanks big man

[Randy Wheeler]

I have the ME66, a AA battery will last a very long time as long as you either remember to turn off the mic after using it or take the AA battery out of the power module. Leave the mic on with the battery and power module still attached, it will be dead within a week.

Randy

[Sam Mallery]

Again, you have the option of using the Beachtek DXA6:

https://www.beachtek.com/dxa6a.html

This model supplies phantom power to the ME66. In a sense, you would still need to feed this Beachtek the occasional battery, but if you’re worried about the battery dieing in the middle of a wedding, you could have a battery in your ME66, and if it dies, you can turn on the phantom power in the Beachtek.