DR-40 powered off at 27 minutes

[Art Anderson]

After about an hour of (supposedly) recording a session, I went to stop the DR-40 and it was already powered off. Recording stopped at 27 minutes. The first thing I thought was the phantom power for one external condensor mic ate up my batteries because it's the first time I used a mic that needs phantom, for more than a few minutes of testing. No, the on screen battery indicator shows 2 of 3 bars and with a volt meter they test at 1.3V now. They were 1.5V at the start of the session.

Next I thought it was the auto shut off but that is not supposed to kick in while actively playing or recording, although I am used to seeing the screen blank out to save battery while it continues to record, usually. And anyway, it is set to 5 minutes.

The SD card is a 4GB and the System menu shows it as having 2.5 GB free. My tracks add up to under 1.2 GB.
I'd expect to see a Card Full message if that was the cause anyway, not a shut down.

Under the same circumstances a few weeks ago, except the external feeds were L & R from a mixer, I got my 58 minute session recorded without issues with the same set of batteries and the screen showed only 1 bar depleted after that so I used the batteries again; and as mentioned, the 27 minutes barely ate into their capacity.

This is trouble shooting time. The firmware is version 2.11
Recording settings were 4 CH; EXT IN: EXT IN 1 (one condensor on the L input XLR - Phantom 48V ON
Format: WAV 16bit; 96K
System:
Auto Pwr Save 5 min.
Backlight: Always
Battery type: Alkaline (Energizer)
Phantom: 48V

 

[Art Anderson]

Just me, huh?
Well that's probably a good thing. I left it running on my desk where I could keep an eye on it, started Record and it twice shut down at random times. All Tascam tech could suggest is turning off the power save. Again, that's set at 5 minutes - no relation to my random shut downs. But I turned it off anyway.

The follow up is that the unit has not done it since, over several different sessions up to 48 minutes of uninterrupted recording. One thing I did do is format the SD card through the DR-40 menu. Who knows. I'm just relieved that what I expected was a good product choice is performing as it should.

The built in mic capsules are surprisingly good. Mostly I record small venue solo/duo musicians where getting a line in feed from their is not always possible and often it's impromptu when they are already underway so I can just prop up the DR-40 close to them and leave it alone.