I purchased a small digital Voltage & Amps meter that plugs in between a USB power source and the equipment being charged or powered. Since I've been having sudden shutdown issues with my DR-40 with no warning, I wanted to see what current it draws under different circumstances.
Maybe this information can be of help to anyone trying to gauge comparisons of battery life. I know I'll be changing to external dynamic microphones instead of phantom powered condensors unless the DR-40 is from now on powered by a USB wall plug for anything near the times I require (2 hours).
The specifications indicate it uses a maximum of 1.7 watts and a maximum of 0.34 A. That equates to a supply voltage of 5V. I didn't measure anything near that. The meter indicates only down to 0.00, not 0.000 so that's the amount of resolution I can share. Also I noticed that the values went up and down every few seconds no matter what mode I was in. That's where I supply a range.
Other things; the current level would shift as soon as I changed settings on the DR-40, regardless of if it was on idle, record standby or actively recording. With phantom power enabled, the current increased right away to the level noted, with or without any condensor microphone being connected.
Maximum Consumption by Mfr's specs: 340 mA
Mode (tested current in mA) USB test Volts: 4.98
Stereo, Internal mics only: 20 mA
Dual, Internal or External: 50 mA
Dual, Internal or External + 48V Phantom: 80 mA
4 Channel: 80 mA
4 Channel + 48V Phantom: 140-170 mA
4 Channel + 24V Phantom: 80-110 mA
Maybe this information can be of help to anyone trying to gauge comparisons of battery life. I know I'll be changing to external dynamic microphones instead of phantom powered condensors unless the DR-40 is from now on powered by a USB wall plug for anything near the times I require (2 hours).
The specifications indicate it uses a maximum of 1.7 watts and a maximum of 0.34 A. That equates to a supply voltage of 5V. I didn't measure anything near that. The meter indicates only down to 0.00, not 0.000 so that's the amount of resolution I can share. Also I noticed that the values went up and down every few seconds no matter what mode I was in. That's where I supply a range.
Other things; the current level would shift as soon as I changed settings on the DR-40, regardless of if it was on idle, record standby or actively recording. With phantom power enabled, the current increased right away to the level noted, with or without any condensor microphone being connected.
Maximum Consumption by Mfr's specs: 340 mA
Mode (tested current in mA) USB test Volts: 4.98
Stereo, Internal mics only: 20 mA
Dual, Internal or External: 50 mA
Dual, Internal or External + 48V Phantom: 80 mA
4 Channel: 80 mA
4 Channel + 48V Phantom: 140-170 mA
4 Channel + 24V Phantom: 80-110 mA
