Compact flash to SD card adapter in DL1

[Colin105]

So I’m getting pretty sick of having compact flash card reader, hanging off a usb cable pluggd into my new laptop to get the data out of my DL1 logger
. As most laptops do it’s got an internal SD card reader, so would be great to be able to use that instead of the compact flash. I’ve got my hands on a compact flash to SD converter, unfortunately they only make them in a type II card, just due to the physical space, but after removing some of the case of the adapter, I can get it to fit into the DL1.
So the only difference I can find is that a type 1 compact flash should only ever draw 70ma while a type II is allowed to draw 500ma. I think this was done to allow micro drives to be used in type II slots, but I doubt that the SD card would draw anything like that
So the question is, am I just being stupid and about to damage my DL1 ?
Cheers

[Greg Amy]

I'd be interested in an answer to this, too.

I'm in the same situation: laptop has an SD slot and I hate toting around the USB card reader. As you've found, the DL1s cannot use Type II CF cards (time to evolve to SD and/or micro-SD slots, RT...) and I've yet to find a CF1-to-SD adapter (no reason for anyone to make one; no one ]-- well, almost no one -- builds devices that use CF1 anymore.)

Minolta made one at one time: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00008WD8W

I suggest one of two options:

- CF1-to-microSD adapter, then use an SD-to-microSD adapter in your PC:
http://www.amazon.com/Komputerbay-Micro ... 1398002843

- In my case, my PC (a Dell Latitude) has an ExpressCard slot, so I bought an CF-to-EC adapter:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0010T ... UTF8&psc=1

The latter is bulky and sticks out of the side of the laptop (CF is larger than EC so it's unavoidable) but it's not as bulky as a USB-based card reader. This EC adapter also supports CF2.

Honestly, I can't see how trying the SD/MicroSD adapter will hurt the DL1. But I also don't think you're going to get a firm answer from RT on that. I'm tempted to try it myself...

GA

[Support]

I would be very surprised if it caused any damage at all, if it takes too much current it will stop the unit from working correctly but won't hurt it. I doubt very much if it will take a lot of current as the SD cards are very low power. I have never heard of anybody trying one of these and would be interested to hear the results.

Martin

[Buckie]

Im very interested in this. Any news or update about the converter?

Im placing the DL1 on my motor but i cant easily acces the card to get the data from.

[Colin105]

OK, has taken a while but i have an update (if anyone cares any more...)

So the Type 2 card does not work at all, but Type 1 compact flash to SD adapters are available, and with a 2GB SD card the DL1 logger worked 100%.

So this gives a very neat way of accessing the data, it also opens up the possibility of using an SD card extension cable (plenty on ebay) to give easy access if the logger itself is positioned in a hard to get position. I haven't tried this yet, have one on order, but i see no reason why it shouldn't work

[Colin105]

yes, with a bit of mucking around to get the ribbon cable out of the DL1 (unfortunately the SD card mounts on the side of the CF adapter) the SD card extender also works, makes it a lot easier to get to the card!

[Jim Perry]

Well, I am still interested in this topic. It seems the CF cards have a finite lifespan and they are becoming more difficult to come by, so having an alternate is good. Thanks for the research.