In the location sound business going digital means greater power consumption by many of the new breed of mixer/recorders and digital RF systems. With that in mind it has become increasingly important to know your battery status when on location and often recording for hours at a time without a break. Hawkwoods have now introduced smart technology to their tried and tested NP1 range of Li-Ion batteries so that when I am on location be it a football stadium or on the side of a Yorkshire hillside I can be confident in the runtime of my gear and reduce the number of spare batts that I need to carry 'just in case'.

The great thing for me is that I don't need to buy a whole new set of NP1s.Given the high consumption of the gear in my bag I have been running two NP1s for a few years now, Hawkwoods have designed their solution so that only a single 'smart' NP1 need be used whilst the second NP1 can be of any brand and chemistry thus reducing the cost to change. Of course, you can also use a single smart NP1 with half the run time if you prefer.

For me it's given me confidence to know how long I have and therefore plan accordingly whilst also providing much needed additional 4pin Hirose sockets in my bag for the ever increasing number of devices that I now carry and need to be powered.