[bdb55]

I have a Sony D-25 portable CD player that I recently bought off eBay and am trying to find a power solution. The original AC adapter was included, so my only problem is portable power. I have heard that the Radio Shack Power Bank #273-1900 (http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...Fid=273%2D1900) will work with this CD player. I have a few questions, though:

It says that I can specify what adaptaplug I want - what size/polarity do I need?

Where do I specify this? - I don't see a place on the order page

Will I need any extra cables to connect the bank to the CD player?

What kind of rechargeable batteries would you recommend?

How long will they last on one charge?

The 9v 660 mA setting WILL work - right?

I know that a lot of people here have the identical D-25S players, and if anyone has this power bank, or any other options for portable power, I would really like some advice.

Thanks,

bdb55

 

[00940]

Quote:

Originally posted by bdb55 It says that I can specify what adaptaplug I want - what size/polarity do I need?

Plug M, for the polarity just check the picture above, negative in I think, be cautious, the plug is often too long don't try to push it too far

Quote:

Where do I specify this? - I don't see a place on the order page

no idea, I see it is avalaible in stores, wouldn't be less expensive to go to the nearer radioshack ? the same for the cables.

Quote:

The 9v 660 mA setting WILL work - right?

seems logical, the ac adapter run on 9V, 660mA is just above the original specifications

 

[bdb55]

Thanks - Going to a Radio Shack probably will be the easiest thing to do. Anyone have AA battery recommendations? Any other advice?

 

[akar]

I don't know how much the "power bank" costs, but it is very in-expensive to make your own external battery pack.
Then you can use regular AA batteries in it.

Radio Shack has all of the parts.

I think it cost me about $4 to make one.

 

[bdb55]

akar - thanks for the reply! $4 would be a lot better than $40... I don't know too much about how to go about building something like that; any part #s or descriptions of what to buy/what I need to do would really help.

Thanks

 

[DeeJayBump]

bdb55--

From a suggestion from another member (Yang) I am going to use a 8 cell AA battery holder ($1.69), a 9-volt battery snap ($0.25--the 8 cell holder has a snap and not wire leads) 8 1800Mah Maha Powerex NiMH rechargeables and the approriate size plug (free--cannibalized from an old wall-wart power supply) to power my new D-25S (thanks, Silicon Salvage).

Since rechargeables put out 1.2 volts rather than the 1.5 volts that alkalines do, this will give my D-25S a 9.6 Volt battery supply. Total cost for the battery holder, snap, plug and wiring is less than $5. All it requires is basic soldering skills.

I just ordered the rechargeables, and they may be here by week's end, so I can report back then. By all indications from others who've gone this route (rechargeables to power the D-25, D-25S, and D-555, to name a few) I don't anticipate any problems. Should provide a very nice, long battery life.

Give it a try. Your local radio shack has all the goodies mentioned. I can't vouch for the quality of their rechargeable batteries, though.

Good luck.

Edited to add a small length of heat-shrink to make it look semi-professional ($1.50).

I would provide parts numbers from Radio Shack's site, but they apparently have a trained gerbil as the webmaster, because their site is ridiculously hard to find anything.

 

[bdb55]

DeeJayBump - Thanks for the info - please let me know how it turns out. Unfortunately, I have NO soldering skills, though I don't know how hard it would be for me to learn...

 

[DeeJayBump]

I did track down a few part numbers for you

the 8-cell battery holder is part #270-387 http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...5Fid=270%2D387

the 9-volt snap is part #270-324 (heavy duty version, pack of five)
http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...5Fid=270%2D324

or the standard 9-volt snap part #270-325
http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...5Fid=270%2D325

Soldering is not difficult to learn, expecially the basics. You can take old wire that you might have laying around and practice on that. Or, you can have someone you know do it for you while showing you how to do it.

Good luck.

 

[ChenaynayC]

I have one of these and like it pretty well. When I first begin testing with newly purchased 1600mah RS batteries, per this thread http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...&threadid=7752 I received @ 2hrs 45 mins for 3 charges. Finally, it went up to @ 3 1/2 hours which I thought was pretty good. I stopped measuring at that point.

What I really like about it is that it packs up well for road trips and I have tips for all portable gear that I might be traveling with. It fits nicely in a side pocket of the Traveler, and due to it's adjustable voltage works with the D25, the Panasonic 570, and my Sony minidisc. Plus I can use it charge batteries for stuff around the house. Only AAs though. Come to think of it I wish it had a connector for this d**m Sony Clie T615C I just bought which sucks as far as battery life.

This could be a DIY projet for me now that I solder = huh?

It comes with a cable that fits it's 'DC out' and whatever RS tip for your device. Your first tip is free. The others you'll have to negotiate for. The guys at RS are nice to me!

That's all I know. Hope it helps.

 

[bdb55]

Quote:

Originally posted by DeeJayBump they apparently have a trained gerbil as the webmaster, because their site is ridiculously hard to find anything.

LOL! I thought that too - it took a long time to find stuff and it seemed like adding more words to my search returned more results rather than fewer...

Anyway, this may show what a complete idiot I am, but why do you need a 9v battery snap if you're using AA batteries?

 

[bdb55]

ChenaynayC - Thanks, I may well get the Radio Shack made one just for convienence. I'd like to find a solution that's as cheap as possible but don't have much confidence in my being able to build one...

 

[DeeJayBump]

Quote:

Originally posted by bdb55 Anyway, this may show what a complete idiot I am, but why do you need a 9v battery snap if you're using AA batteries? [/B]

Fair question. Most battery holders have wire leads. This particular 8-cell AA holder does not--it has the snaps for a 9-volt battery-type-snap-thingie. If you follow the link to radioShack's webpage (the first link) you can see it in the images there.

So, in this case, you would solder a length of wire (some plugs already have a short length of wire attached--then you'd just solder the snap to those ends) to both the 9-volt battery snap and the appropriate size plug that the D-25 uses, and just fill your franken-creation with your choice of rechargeables

Then, to quote John Madden, BAM! you're in business. It should provide a TON of battery life. The only unknown (at least to me) is HOW MUCH battery life this will provide. I'm hoping it might approach 50-100 hours, though that may be flux and solder smoke-induced delusion.

Don't be afraid of soldering. I realize that I may have made this process sound way more complex than it actually is. Soldering, once you do it or see it done is easy. Try it, and you'll ask yourself why you were so nervous to do it yourself.

 

[bdb55]

OK, I think I get it now. Maybe I'll try it this weekend. Please post when you get it done - that much battery life would be amazing!

 

[DeeJayBump]

Here's a link to a soldering tutorial animation that might help.

http://home.att.net/~joemacjr/diyproject/soldering.html

 

[bdb55]

Thanks again to everyone who gave advice. Looking at DeeJayBump's link, it said that a basic soldering iron cost $30... that means the iron + the parts would be almost as expensive as the Radio Shack power bank. And I'd have to get a charger for the rechargeable batteries, so it would end up being more work and more expense. If I already had a soldering iron, I probably would have given it a try.

I just went to Radio Shack and bought the power bank and selected the correct adaptaplug. It works, though I only tested it with alkalines (just DC output, I didn't try to charge them!) I ordered some 2100 mAh AA's from thomasdistributing.com. Hopefully that will give me a bit more than ChenaynayC's reported 3.5 hours of battery life with 1600 mAh batteries. Just a note for anyone buying batteries: buying 2 four packs of the 2100 mAh batteries + shipping cost me about ten cents less than if I'd have bought the Radio Shack 1600 mAh batteries (a four pack of the 2100s cost $16.97 + shipping vs. Radio Shack's $19.99).

Yay! When everything arrives my (trans)portable system will be complete!

D-25 -> Bolder M-80 mini to RCA -> JMT-built maxed-out META42 -> Ety 4S (well, they're actually 4Ps but the amp has a built in adapter).