Portaphiles get no love? - Page 10

So far iPowerUS has not responded to my e-mail that I sent both to their sales and support departments, nor have they responded to my notes to Trew Audio who said they forwarded my e-mail to Richard at iPower.

Perhaps he was offended by my critique and/or discounted my comments as the unimportant rant of a flake.

Flaky I may be, but having related that a fair number of people I know were very vocal in their anger over the dismal failure rate of both the first 400mAh and the 2nd-gen 500mAh - one would think that a manufacturer with any common sense would want to communicate to at least assuage the ire of potential customers and find out if there is merit to the complaints.

I intend to press the issue and find out how much integrity they do or don't have.

I had the problem with the iPowers and so I too am curious about these new ones. TNMike1 led me to ones that do work (Maha Powerex 9 Volt 300 mAh rechargeable battery) but if I could get longer rechargeable battery life, I might consider spending the money on new rechargeables. So like Romanee, I am curious to find out how they fare.

Those Maha Powerex 9 Volt 300 mAh rechargeables are the ones that I have that I stated that I get 45 minutes from. Maybe 50 minutes.

Does anyone know if the portaphiles have been selling at all lately?
There are so many amps to choose from, and Skylab didnt rank it in the top 10, (which does influence some people)....and i dont see anyone posting that they have a new Portaphile.......So, any news?

I'd seriously post a message to Cesar on that one. I'm getting hours and hours on mine, and the only 'off" switch is the "wide bandwidth" and I'm using low gain.

Maybe you've got a short somewhere in its little guts??? Dunno. Or maybe a bad battery???

And DragOn: I know Cesar doesn't advertise aggressively, so maybe that's the answer. Don't know. Sound technology is sound technology, and his is quite sound in my opinion. But then again, what do I know?? I just plug in and enjoy the music

BTW - the test I did with one my really old (well over a year) iPower 1st-gen 500mAh, Class-A on and WB Off, driving K701 loud and non-stop was 7.75 hours. When they were new I was getting close to 8.5 hours.

Anyway, it is strange that immtbiker is only getting 45 minutes from the Powerex 300mAh NiMH. Check with Cesar, indeed.

iPowerUS has still not deigned to respond to my inquiries.

I guess I'll have to notify them that I speak for 68,446 Headfi members. Not a small potential client base, eh?

Okay, so we don't all use 9V portable amps that can use Li-Po batteries - but a pretty fair number of us do.

I use 9v batteries in 5 of my amps. One of my amps uses dual 9v batteries, and im buying another amp that uses dual 9v's when i save up, so Thomas better get off his butt and get some good batteries!!!

I own PortaphileV2^2. It is the best. I test and checked battery life.

------------------------------
Class-A ON and WB ON

Manganese: 0.25h
Alkaline: 2.50h
NiMH(MAHA 9.6V 230mAh): 2.00h
NiMH(MAHA 8.4V 300mAh): 3.00h
Li-Ion(7.2V 400mAh): 4.00h
Li-Ion(7.2V 400mAh): 4.50h+
------------------------------
Class-A OFF and WB OFF

Manganese: 0.50h
Alkaline: 4.50h
MAHA 9.6V 230mAh: 3.50h
MAHA 8.4V 300mAh: 4.50h
Li-Ion(7.2V 400mAh): 6.00h
Li-Ion(7.2V 400mAh): 7.00h+

OK here's another maybe answer to the battery problem: I'm using Ety4p in my Portaphile almost exclusively--lo gain"on" and wide bandwidth "off". All other switching "on".

So that said, maybe lower impedence IEMs don't drain as much?? I'm dumb about things electronic so you guys tell me. I dunno.

I use the UE10's pretty exclusively.
I'll take you up on that offer Mike, if it still stands. YGPM

OK, PM me, tell me which battery you want and your address and can get it out tomorrow

I'd be more than happy to check out anyone's amp should the need arise. Please keep this in mind if any concerns should arise. Just shoot me a PM or an email anytime.

Cesar --

Have you as yet had the opportunity to try the new iPower 520mAh Pro 9V Li-Po rechargeable batteries?

I haven't yet tried them, but there is a new site for them. Here is the FAQ page: iPower 520mAh Pro FAQ

So far the only vendor I know of is Trew Audio: Trewaudio.com iPower520mAh page.

I found a professional (sound pros) discussion group where some members own large numbers of the 500mAh battery and speak very highly of them - so I don't know why so many units from Thomas Distributing have been failures. (google groups audio pros)

I had mixed results with the 2nd-gen, smaller version - but all of my 1st-gen 500mAh still work well, after more than a year.

I just received a courteous and detailed reply, from Richard of iPowerUS, to my initial e-mail relating the basics of our members' very poor experiences with some of their products.

He seems to be genuinely concerned with quality control. Surprisingly, he said he rarely hears from customers and was glad of the opportunity.

He did say that "In the past two years we have worked with dealers, manufactures and customers to find the problems and correct them. This has lead to the new 520 Professional battery."

I haven't yet responded to his notes, but instead of trying to select salient passages to post - here is his e-mail, quoted verbatim:

Hi Peter,

I am very sorry that you have had problems with our Products.

I have been with iPower for 2 years, and Quality control has been, and
remains, the upmost issue in that time. Lithium Polymer is a relatively
young chemistry and I know most manufactures have faced the same issues.
Lithium has not been easy to tame as a rechargeable energy source.
In the past two years we have worked with dealers, manufactures and
customers to find the problems and correct them. This has lead to the new
520 Professional battery.
We have published a new website for this battery. "ipoweruspro.com"
We have learned that this product needs professional sales staff to ensure
customers understand the product and its applications.

A large number of returned batteries work normally. Each battery has a micro
possessor to control the protection circuitry needed to protect the Lithium.
Often the battery seems dead but it is only that the circuitry is in shut
down mode. The charger can reactivate the circuit, but it often takes a few
tries or some time on the charger to reset. The other reason for false
returns is measurement. 9 volt testers give a false reading and high
impedance multi meters may not start the battery, so they appear dead. Also
the 9 volt iPower runs at 8.0VDC to 8.4 VDC, with most batteries at 8.2 VDC.
This throws users off and some devices also. Professional dealers are
erasing these problem.

The fact is iPower starts lower, but stays above, and delivers 80% of its
capacity before it hits, 7.2 VDC.

Lithium processing has had a tumultuous upstart, but has been refined.
Being stamped out in sheets, it happens that defects will occur across
batteries that have contiguous serial numbers. So defects can affect several
batteries in a row. This can give customers the impression that there is
catastrophic failure, when in fact 20 batteries of 1000 have failed.
All LiPo manufactures have the same issues, but iPower has modified the
circuitry, upgraded the Lithium and raw materials, upgraded the terminals,
and attempted to educate dealers that support the product. All iPower
batteries now have a 20 day cooling period, and retesting before shipping.

The Professional battery is similar to the 500mAh, but has the best possible
lithium and precision balanced cells. The Pro battery also has different
circuit parameters, as we have been working with Pro Audio device
manufactures to optimize the product. We have been eliminating compatibility
issues.
If you let me know the manufacturer of your device, I will review
compatibility.

I thank you for bringing these issues to my attention, as the consumer
market is very hard to track, and this is a rare occasion where I can get
valuable feedback from a user.

Trew audio is an exceptional dealer, as you probably know, and we are
working together to ensure customer satisfaction.

I do apologies for any inconvenience, and I truly hope you have success with
iPower products in the future.

Best regards,

Richard Lintlop
International sales
iPower Corporation

More to come, to be sure.........

OK a little more research. As I've posted, I use the Portaphile primarily with the charger plugged into the wall next to nightstand. But just for the heckuvit, I put everything "on" including wide bandwidth, put the 300 MaH battery in, and the thing still ran for about four hours, again using Ety, occassionally Triple Fi and everything on low gain. So half the battery life I experience with wide bandwidth "off"

So maybe I've got an exceptional battery???

I like Cesar's suggestion: mail the amp back to him and have him check it out

O and Peter: is your source saying that perhaps we didn't charge and recharge them enough??? That the circuitry is in "shut down mode" and the charger might have to wake them up?? That perhaps all those "defective" batteries really weren't?? Very interesting indeed. So maybe we buy more of them from Thomas and experiment??? Dunno

Weird -- 4 & 8 hours form a 300mAh battery is remarkable! I never got that many hours from my 300mAh NiMH 9V batteries - only from the iPower 500mAh. You have a nice amp - or is it magic?!.

Personally, I'm not interested in trying Thomas Distributing's iPower batteries again. I bought my original 6 (1st-gen) 500mAh from them and have never had a single problem with any of them from day 1, but the the 2nd gen units I bought are troublesome. Later this week I'll try iPower's suggestions and see if they behave better.

I'm more interested in trying the new 520mAh Pro than the troublesome 2nd-gen 500mAh.

Perhaps the 500mAh that Trew Audio sells are dependable.

One audio pro noted having 40 of the 500mAh and loving them! I wonder - which version does he own, 1st or 2nd generation?