Hi everyone!
An issue that has crossed my mind a lot regarding MD Walkmans and other
portable electronic devices that go through hatteries quickly is the use of
external battery packs for these devices.
When Sony introduced the WM-2 cassette Walkman (which worked on 3 volts) in
1981, they released an external battery pack that took 2 "D" batteries and
plugged into the Walkman's DC-IN socket. You would clip this on to your
belt, connect it to the Walkman and install 2 fresh D-size Duracells if you
wanted to jog, walk or use public transport for a longer time than what 2 AA
batteries would allow. Then, when Sony introduced other Walkman units that
worked on 6 volts and took 4 AA batteries, they released a similar external
battery pack that used 4 C batteries. The BATTERY light on the Walkmans
would still indicate what condition the batteries were in by its brightness.
They stopped making these battery packs since they introduced the WM-20
cassette Walkman which took one AA battery. These units were known to go
through the batteries very quickly and you would have to change batteries
frequently if you wanted to "go the distance".
Some people may want to make external battery packs that worked with
longer-lasting rechargeable batteries so they can use their portable
electronics, especially MD Walkmans and digital cameras, for a longer time
without worrying about batteries dying on them. This issue is more important
with people who use portable MD recorders to do on-location recording.
Has anyone ever had experience designing their own "long-distance" battery
pack for their personal high-demand electronic devices? How did they go
about designing the battery pack, what battery did they use as the basis of
the pack and how did they connect it to the electronic device? Also, how did
the device react to the external battery pack and was the device's battery
meter able to indicate true battery strength of the external batteries?
Possible battery candidates for 6-volt devices would include rechargeable
"Dolphin" lantern batteries and 6-volt video camera batteries as used by
most Sony camcorders.
With regards,
Simon Mackay
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