I still like C.Crane's NiMH "D" cells. 6 fully charged ones give 30-40
hours of play time. I had my battery meter adjusted to work with 1.2V
batteries instead of 1.5V so I don't see the blinking "BATT"
indicator, but the indicator has no effect on the run-time. With these
batteries, no modification to the radio is necessary.

Lawrence

wrote in message . ..
On Sat, 17 Apr 2004 01:24:02 -0400, starman wrote:

------- clip

The only componant(s) that would experience the higher voltage would be
the main voltage regulator which is apparently designed to handle an
input voltage of up to 15-V. The '800' actually has an internal DC to DC
converter which steps up the nominal 9-V input voltage to 15-V for
certain circuits that need a higher voltage. There must be something in
the owner's manual regarding the maximum input voltage.

Now you have me wondering if my Drake-SW8, which was the prototype for
the '800', could be run on 12-V instead of 9-V. I'll have to check the
manual and schematic.

A practical implication here is that if one desired to use the huge
S800 as a portable, a practical power supply might be a long, slim 12V
gell cell/SLA battery to fit in the battery compartment. Two 6V 1.3A
(3-3/4x2x1") gell cells will almost fit in there after removing the
receiver terminals. I'll experiment on playtime but suspect only
about 4-5 hours on the series gell cells. Otherwise, it's not that
difficult to saw a hole in the battery compartment and put a larger
gell cell in there.

Please check SW8 power and let us know if you think 12V may be
allright.

bball