HD Native Power Supply

[landstrom27]

It's been asked many times but I have never seen it actually answered. Is there a way to purchase just the power adapter for the HD Native TB? I realize it is bus powered and it works fine that way. The reason I want one is because I noticed that when I have the HDN TB connected, the laptop battery drains aound 3 times (maybe even more) faster than when it isn't connected. So, I figure if I have the power adapter, that will save me a lot of power cycles on the battery of my new MacBook Pro. Another plus is that I won't have to disconnect it when I'm not recording. Every time I disconnect the HDN the MacBook restarts and there is a panic report when I reboot. The main concern is the battery usage. Thanks in advance

[JFreak]

Just beware of grounding issues.

I had one HDN|thunderbolt bricked because of some strange issue with electricity. The bricked box went to Avid and I got a replacement, but I did not get (and did not further ask, because I was okay with the replacement unit) any explanation what went wrong. Just my educated guess that whenever you have too many interconnected cables and therefore too many possible ground loops, things may happen.

[landstrom27]

Wow, I wonder how common that issue is. Thanks for the heads up. How long ago did that happen? I wonder if there have been any revisions to the HDN or the power supply since then? I guess I'd be willing to take the risk. I'm going to try and contact Avid sales tomorrow and find out if they even sell a replacement power supplies. Maybe they would know who to talk to about any electrical issues

[Darryl Ramm]

Did Avid ever actually sell a rebadged power supply, all occurrences I've seen folks just grabbed a third party 1A/12VDC supply. Make sure you are using a center positive barrel connector on the power supply brick.

Would have to be a pretty horribly bad design for the power brick and/or Thunderbolt box for this to blow up the box... not saying that can't happen.

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by landstrom27

How long ago did that happen?

It must have been 2014-2015 (ish)

[albee1952]

I'm confused. If you have an available outlet to plug the TB box into, why not simply plug the laptop in and not run on battery?

[landstrom27]

Originally Posted by albee1952

I'm confused. If you have an available outlet to plug the TB box into, why not simply plug the laptop in and not run on battery?

Yeah that would probably be the best bet, at least until I can find a power supply. They say your supposed to unplug the charger once the battery is 100% and let it drain down to about 40% and that leaving it 100% charged all the time isn't good for it. But it might be better than going through 1 or 2 charge cycles a day. Maybe I'm overthinking it a little on long term battery usage,

Darryl, I looked at a picture of the power supply on the Sweetwater site and it looks like it is rated for 1.5 amps. I know it says 1 amp on the back of the HDN, but it probably wouldn't hurt to go with a 1.5 amp. So I'll be on the lookout for a 12v 1.5 amp center positive power supply.

I didn't get a chance to contact Avid, but I'll try and remember post what I find out

[Obsidian Dragon]

Originally Posted by albee1952

If you have an available outlet to plug the TB box into, why not simply plug the laptop in and not run on battery?

That what I was thinking also. As for keeping the laptop plugged in, it seems that the batteries in modern laptops need to replaced in about 3-5 years regardless if they are allowed to run down regularly or remain fully charged all the time. If you are still worried, take the laptop out once in while (2 times per month) and let it run down the charge before plugging it back in, it should be fine.