OT (a little) DAB radios and battery life

[Bob Eager]

That's a very Trump-like denial, flying in the face of what you actually said.

[pamela]

I also have both those DAB radios. I use Lidl rechargeables without any trouble and my battery life is roughly the same as yours.

Some other DAB radios might have a greater power consumption. Some years ago a comparative test showed wide variation between sets and that's probably still true.

"Energy Consumption of Digital Radios"

I too prefer the Sony. The Panasonic might peform better (although it doesn't scan FM) but the Sony is easier to use.

[pamela]

I think somebody was complaining in another group about the BBC going over to a different codec (or whatever it's called) and this meant some Internet radios couldn't hear the new streams. Or something like that. It put me off using the internet as a main radio option.

Are you using the TuneIn radio service? That seems to have a vast number of stations.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

As a matter of interest, how many radio stations do you listen to?

Most people I know seem to stick to the same one all day. ;-)

[Scott]

I think OP is asking about the situation if (when?) FM is switched off. Are you suggesting satellite or Internet, or are you saying just to stop listening?

[Scott]

As a matter of interest, do higher bitrates use more power to decode?

[Another John]

This is really a Ping Pamela, but I always feel that looks a bit shouty in a Subject line ...

What charger do you use? I've had various chargers over the years, and the one I use now (Uniross Sprint, used for A4s) is now quite a few years old. I'm thinking of getting a newer one, partly on the basis of technology advances.

Cheers John

[Martin Brown]

A bit more but the big jump is in going from a classic few transistor analogue radio design where listening volume determines battery life to a power hungry digital processor with many thousands of transistors in. The chipsets have improved a bit from the early days when they were only "battery powered" with D cells and then only for a very short time.

The faster you clock a CPU the more power it uses but the speeds needed for digital audio are quite low eg. two channels @ 44.1kHz sample rate.

[pamela]

If I want to try out some offbeat radio station then TuneIn seems to have it.

A blogger wrote about their local radio station in the US and said it played interesting music. I was able to find it quickly with TuneIn.

[The Natural Philosopher]

That all depends. If you want to do audio processing in digital, you need a far far higher rate.

If you want to do RF or IF processing or decoding, you need a far far higher rate.

[RJH]

Actually mine are Lidl Tronic batteries, not Aldi.

I use the Lidl Tronic charger - seems to do the job.

I also have one that measures the amount of charge (if that's the right term) a battery has taken. The Aldi charger pretty much tops them up, and takes a fraction of the time (< 1 hr for AA, 2-3 hours for C).

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I've got the Lidl Tronic which takes up to 6 AA/AAA or 4 D cells at once. Nicad or NiMH. Quite a large unit with the PS built in rather than a wall wart. Very pleased with it - it gets a great deal of use. Think I saw similar on offer recently.

[whisky-dave]

Nothing to do with Trump either. This was set up before trump was born.

you'll be telling us next that the NHS was set up by the EU.

[Bob Eager]

Read it properly instead of knee jerking. Trump-LIKE. Contradicting yourself and denying it afterwards.

[whisky-dave]

Then explain it properly. Where did I contradict myslef ?

[PeterC]

I've one of those, but it gets used for only a few hours a month. The first one died after about 2y 10m, so I e-mailed Lidl, sent a scan of the receipt (yes, I keep thos and know where to find them ) and a new one arrived a couple of days later. I still feel a tinge of guilt, but am impressed with the service.

BTW, I think that Lidl owed me. I've had 4 PIRs and 1 was dead out of the box, 1 half worked (came on whatever the lux setting) and 2 broke down within a year of fitting. ICBA to chse for more of the same.

[tony sayer]

In article , grjw scribeth thus

It is not, streaming over 3 or 4 G isn't that wonderful once you leave urban areas;!.

[pamela]

I use a Lidl Tronic charger. I've got an old Tronic KH 980 and a newer Tronic TLG 1000. Both charge up to four C cells at a time at

1000 mAh each cell.

My chargers are the opposite of your Uniross Sprint as they bulky and very solid and feel thay have been made by a tank factory. I think they're rebadged Ansmanns. They work very well although it takes most of the day to charge a set of C cell NiMHs which have run down.

Nowadays Lidl NiMHs are low self discharge, so I keep a spare set of charged C cells in case the radio stops working just at a time when I need it.

[pamela]

Good service from Lidl. Trouble is they never have a particular product on offer when you need it.

Maybe one day someone enterprising will supply this sort of Lidl/Aldi hardware with a 15 or 20% markup because I would buy at that price.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I've seen Lidl/Aldi stuff on Ebay at a markup after an offer.