I recently set about building a LiPo Power solution for my Sound Devices 552 and Lectrosonics receivers as – to be honest with you – they go through batteries like they are going out of fashion, particularly the SD552 with Phantom Power turned on. Anyway, having decided that I wished to spend no more money on buying lithium batteries for the 552, I set about trawling eBay for some interesting battery solutions and came across some four-cell LiPo batteries, dishing out 5700mAh at 14.8v for about $40 including shipping. Some deft soldering of a junction box, joining of power cables and fiddly wiring-up of a Hirose push-pull connector and hey presto – I have an externally powered solution for my mixer bag for a fraction of the cost of the ‘usual’ solution – which is to use Sony NP-1 batteries and a custom-built cradle. The LiPo solution with two battery-packs, charger and wiring comes in at about $200 which is about 1/5 of the cost of the NP-1 solution. Not bad, if I say so myself.
