28Mar Tascam DR-60d powered by a USB battery pack
This question actually came from Ray Ortega on Twitter. He wanted to know if you could run the Tascam DR-60d on an external USB power pack. I hadn’t really thought about it, so I decided to give it a try. When you hook up the USB power pack to the DR-60d and power it on, it’ll ask you if you want to power via usb or transfer data. Once you select the power option the unit runs as it normally would on batteries. That includes full support for phantom power.
On a side note, once you start powering the unit via the usb port you don’t want to unplug it. If you do, it will power down and it could mess up your recording.
This 5200mAh Powergen USB battery pack I tested is equivalent to roughly 4x AA batteries so it’s probably not going to get you through a whole day of shooting. If you want extremely long battery life, you might want to consider something with a much larger capacity like the PowerGen 12000mAh External Battery Pack. Something with that much juice will likely be more than enough to run the Tascam DR-60d all day without an issue.
You might also consider just buying the Tascam BP-6AA battery adapter box if you have a lot of rechargeable batteries laying around. It allows you to use 6 batteries instead of 4, giving you about the same amount of boost as the 5200mAh Powergen USB battery pack I tested.
Now I just need to find a nice 1 foot right angle usb cable to going along with this sort of setup. I have a couple on order for testing. I’ll keep you posted.
March 28th, 2014 at 12:57 pm
was a fun twitter conversation yesterday. I’m liking that 12000mAh battery as well. I wonder if a flat usb cable would be fine? Also, just noticed Tascam makes a battery pack as well. The positive on the Tascam BP=6AA is that it can be mounted under or over the DR-60d, BUT requires 6AA batteries and will nut be a quick change if mounter under anything.
http://tascam.com/product/bp-6aa/
also, if you are worried that the dr-60d is NOT listed in the compatibility, the bp-6aa IS listed in the DR-60d page along with remoted and stuff.
March 28th, 2014 at 1:26 pm
I mentioned the Tascam BP-6AA in the post. It does work with the DR-60d, but it doesn’t come with a right angle USB cable.
March 28th, 2014 at 2:43 pm
i somehow missed that! i blame my lack of sleep over the past month!
April 2nd, 2014 at 9:17 am
Can I use for PowerGen 12000mAh External Battery Pack for DSLR cameras (5D Mark or 7D)???
April 4th, 2014 at 8:42 am
Hey Deejay,
Your old rehabitalitated troll here… I use the RAVPower 1400 (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EHEEFWY)and I can literally use it with the DR60d for 8+ hours. I just velcro it to the battery door and I’m able to take it on and off fairly easily to charge it.
While it does add some weight, when I’m on a sound recording gig and can’t afford any downtime, this really does the trick.
April 14th, 2014 at 8:00 am
Sean – I just ordered the DR-60D and I am thinking about getting an external battery pack. Do you use phantom power on the DR-60D with the RAVPower 1400? Does the RAVPower 1400 cause any hum or noise, being mounted so close to the recorder? The RAVPower 1400 like a great, affordable solution for extended recording time.
April 14th, 2014 at 11:14 am
Hi Dave,
Yes, I use phantom power always. To me, the NTG-2 (and now the NTG-3) sounds way better with phantom power. I filmed close to 10 hours yesterday and still had power to last a bit longer.
The RavPower 1400 does not cause any hums when connected to the DR-60d. However, I did try to power the DR60d and a wireless router (which then connected to a Canon DSLR) and the DSLR picked up some kind of feedback noise. I suspect that the router wasn’t designed to be charged and used at the same time.
Yes, I do only use the 1Amp circuit for the DR60d. The great thing about the RavPower is that it includes 2 small coiled cables , which keeps things tidy around the combination unit.
April 14th, 2014 at 11:50 am
Sean – Thanks for the prompt reply. This is exactly what I was hoping for, and I will order one of these today. My Tascam DR-680 goes through batteries very fast with phantom power, so the DR-60D will be a good option for when I don’t need 6 inputs.
Q: Does the NGT-2 work with 12V phantom power (to conserve battery life) or do you find it works/sounds best with 48V phantom power?
Sorry about deviating from the original topic a bit.
April 14th, 2014 at 11:54 am
I don’t think it can. I think it can work with 24v Phantom, but when I tried it, it lost a lot of its luster. Once you get the RavPower, running out of power on location will be a thing of the past for shoots less than 12 hours.
April 14th, 2014 at 8:02 am
Sean – I forgot to ask if you use the 1 amp or 2 amp output tap on the RAVPower unit. As phantom power typically draws about .5 amp for normal use, I’m guessing the 2 amp tap is mainly for charging devices and may be overkill for the DR-60D.
January 26th, 2015 at 1:43 pm
What about using the iStart Li-Ion Power Pack that can delivers for a very long time 2A/5V DC ?
January 26th, 2015 at 3:37 pm
That should work just fine.
April 4th, 2015 at 6:27 am
hi guys… someone could tell me if a normal battery pack for smartphones does work with d60 (2200 mA, in & out 5V are the main features of this product)… thank’s a lot!
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July 24th, 2017 at 1:09 pm
I’m using mine as basically an audio interface for XLR (shotgun) mics on USB power-not recording to the sd card. The audio passing through is pristine. Yet I find it has a habit of shutting off after about 10 minutes or so if it’s not recording. (THere IS an audio signal coming in-you can see it on the meters.) Just curious if this is normal and can be overridden in the Menu somehow?