27 May
2010
27 May
'10
4:24 p.m.
Hello,
A friend of mine was talking about how he would like to be able to busk
with his keyboard, and I said I would look into the possibility of
building him a battery powered PA for it. Does anyone have any
suggestions for good ways of going about this? We would like to keep the
cost as low as possible.
Cheers,
andy
27 May
27 May
4:34 p.m.
Car battery + used car stereo equipment?
On 5/27/10, andy baxter <andy(a)earthsong.free-online.co.uk> wrote:
Hello,
A friend of mine was talking about how he would like to be able to busk
with his keyboard, and I said I would look into the possibility of
building him a battery powered PA for it. Does anyone have any
suggestions for good ways of going about this? We would like to keep the
cost as low as possible.
Cheers,
andy
_______________________________________________
Linux-audio-user mailing list
Linux-audio-user(a)lists.linuxaudio.org
http://lists.linuxaudio.org/listinfo/linux-audio-user
4:36 p.m.
A friend of mine was talking about how he would like
to be able to busk with
his keyboard, and I said I would look into the possibility of building him a
battery powered PA for it. Does anyone have any suggestions for good ways of
going about this? We would like to keep the cost as low as possible.
How about an off-the-shelf UPS? Don't know how big you'd need, would
depend on the gig time, etc. There is probably a way to calculate that
:)
The consumer UPS units I've see all have lead-acid (sealed) batteries
and are quite reliable.
--
**** Listen to my CD at http://www.mellowood.ca/music/cedars ****
Bob van der Poel ** Wynndel, British Columbia, CANADA **
EMAIL: bob(a)mellowood.ca
WWW: http://www.mellowood.ca
28 May
28 May
2:23 p.m.
Sorry - forgot to send to the list.
On 27/05/10 17:34, micromoog wrote:
Car battery + used car stereo equipment?
Thanks - I think we're going to do it this way.
Looks like costing about 65 UKP for the electronics (amp, battery and
charger, and an inverter to plug the keyboard's power supply into). This
doesn't include speakers - we're going to start off with some 2nd hand
hi fi speakers and then maybe get some pa speakers when he has some more
money.
You can get a 2 channel 12v amplifier incredibly cheap on ebay at the
moment:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Hi-Fi-Audio-Stereo-Amplifier-Car-Motorcycle-Boat-12V-…
<http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Hi-Fi-Audio-Stereo-Amplifier-Car-Motorcycle-Boat-12V-/220503151376?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Audio_TV_Electronics_In_Car_Entertainment_GPS_Car_Amplifiers_PP&hash=item3357031310#ht_3620wt_754>
7:50 p.m.
On 05/27/2010 06:36 PM, Bob van der Poel wrote:
not really recommendable for a permanent setup. with an ups and standard
mains equipment, you will waste battery (and carry dead weight) twice:
in the inverter that generates grid voltage from the battery, and in the
PSUs of your gear that will re-transform the precious grid voltage back
into low-voltage DC. throw out the middle man.
the nice thing about car equipment (as a previous poster has suggested)
is that all the gear is standardized to work at 12 volts dc. many car
radios have line ins these days (for file players etc.). it's easy to
hook up a small mixer here - you should be able to find a cheap one by
the Brand That Shalt Not Be Named or one of the other manufacturers they
steal their designs from - i've seen a few that take 12v dc.
A friend of
mine was talking about how he would like to be able to busk with
his keyboard, and I said I would look into the possibility of building him a
battery powered PA for it. Does anyone have any suggestions for good ways of
going about this? We would like to keep the cost as low as possible.
How about an off-the-shelf UPS? Don't know how big you'd need, would
depend on the gig time, etc. There is probably a way to calculate that
:)
The consumer UPS units I've see all have lead-acid (sealed) batteries
and are quite reliable. 
8:31 p.m.
On Fri, 28 May 2010 11:13:46 +0200
Jörn Nettingsmeier <nettings(a)folkwang-hochschule.de> wrote:
On 05/27/2010 06:36 PM, Bob van der Poel wrote:
not really recommendable for a permanent setup. with an ups and standard
mains equipment, you will waste battery (and carry dead weight) twice:
in the inverter that generates grid voltage from the battery, and in the
PSUs of your gear that will re-transform the precious grid voltage back
into low-voltage DC. throw out the middle man.
the nice thing about car equipment (as a previous poster has suggested)
is that all the gear is standardized to work at 12 volts dc. many car
radios have line ins these days (for file players etc.). it's easy to
hook up a small mixer here - you should be able to find a cheap one by
the Brand That Shalt Not Be Named or one of the other manufacturers they
steal their designs from - i've seen a few that take 12v dc.
How much sound output power do you actually need? In bridge mode an
amplifier running off 12V can deliver a maximum of 18W RMS into 4ohms.
Here in the UK Maplins supply a suitable power module (they call it 40W
- that's peak power) very cheaply - 15.99ukp
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=37737
It's actually a Kemco product. I don't know how available that would be
in other countries.
At 500mV sensitivity it will probably be a pretty good match for
direct connection to most keyboards. If not, a small buffer amp could
easily be patched in.
I don't recommend using a car battery. They are not designed for steady
discharge, but for short bursts and long recharge times. Although
initially more expensive you would do a lot better getting a sealed gel
type lead-acid battery with suitable charger.
--
Will J Godfrey
http://www.musically.me.uk
Say you have a poem and I have a tune.
Exchange them and we can both have a poem, a tune, and a song.
A friend
of mine was talking about how he would like to be able to busk with
his keyboard, and I said I would look into the possibility of building him a
battery powered PA for it. Does anyone have any suggestions for good ways of
going about this? We would like to keep the cost as low as possible.
How about an off-the-shelf UPS? Don't know how big you'd need, would
depend on the gig time, etc. There is probably a way to calculate that
:)
The consumer UPS units I've see all have lead-acid (sealed) batteries
and are quite reliable. 
11:11 p.m.
On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 09:31:03PM +0100, Folderol wrote:
An Optima or other AGM car/boat battery would work well, but they are pricey and HEAVY.
There are large Li/Ion batteries available that might work, designed for electric bicycle
applications, but they tend to run at 24v or 48v or some odd voltage.
Or, you could just buy a Crate busking amp. Those things are A/B amps (I think) can run
forever on a few D batteries.
-ken
On Fri, 28 May 2010 11:13:46 +0200
Jörn Nettingsmeier <nettings(a)folkwang-hochschule.de> wrote:
v>
On 05/27/2010
06:36 PM, Bob van der Poel wrote:
not really recommendable for a permanent setup. with an ups and standard
mains equipment, you will waste battery (and carry dead weight) twice:
in the inverter that generates grid voltage from the battery, and in the
PSUs of your gear that will re-transform the precious grid voltage back
into low-voltage DC. throw out the middle man.
the nice thing about car equipment (as a previous poster has suggested)
is that all the gear is standardized to work at 12 volts dc. many car
radios have line ins these days (for file players etc.). it's easy to
hook up a small mixer here - you should be able to find a cheap one by
the Brand That Shalt Not Be Named or one of the other manufacturers they
steal their designs from - i've seen a few that take 12v dc.
How much sound output power do you actually need? In bridge mode an
amplifier running off 12V can deliver a maximum of 18W RMS into 4ohms.
Here in the UK Maplins supply a suitable power module (they call it 40W
- that's peak power) very cheaply - 15.99ukp
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=37737
It's actually a Kemco product. I don't know how available that would be
in other countries.
At 500mV sensitivity it will probably be a pretty good match for
direct connection to most keyboards. If not, a small buffer amp could
easily be patched in.
I don't recommend using a car battery. They are not designed for steady
discharge, but for short bursts and long recharge times. Although
initially more expensive you would do a lot better getting a sealed gel
type lead-acid battery with suitable charger.
A friend
of mine was talking about how he would like to be able to busk with
his keyboard, and I said I would look into the possibility of building him a
battery powered PA for it. Does anyone have any suggestions for good ways of
going about this? We would like to keep the cost as low as possible.
How about an off-the-shelf UPS? Don't know how big you'd need, would
depend on the gig time, etc. There is probably a way to calculate that
:)
The consumer UPS units I've see all have lead-acid (sealed) batteries
and are quite reliable.
29 May
29 May
9:29 a.m.
On 28/05/10 21:31, Folderol wrote:
On Fri, 28 May 2010 11:13:46 +0200
Jörn Nettingsmeier<nettings(a)folkwang-hochschule.de> wrote:
This is something I'm not sure about - how much power you need for
busking to a small audience? I'm thinking of using a cheap chinese amp
off ebay that does 180W per channel, but I'm not sure if this is more or
less than he'll need. He also wants to be able to use the amp for
gigging in a small room (which takes about 50 people), so I want it to
be able to run off mains power as well.
On 05/27/2010 06:36 PM, Bob van der Poel wrote:
not really recommendable for a permanent setup. with an ups and standard
mains equipment, you will waste battery (and carry dead weight) twice:
in the inverter that generates grid voltage from the battery, and in the
PSUs of your gear that will re-transform the precious grid voltage back
into low-voltage DC. throw out the middle man.
the nice thing about car equipment (as a previous poster has suggested)
is that all the gear is standardized to work at 12 volts dc. many car
radios have line ins these days (for file players etc.). it's easy to
hook up a small mixer here - you should be able to find a cheap one by
the Brand That Shalt Not Be Named or one of the other manufacturers they
steal their designs from - i've seen a few that take 12v dc.
How much sound output power do you actually need? In bridge mode an
amplifier running off 12V can deliver a maximum of 18W RMS into 4ohms.
A friend
of mine was talking about how he would like to be able to busk with
his keyboard, and I said I would look into the possibility of building him a
battery powered PA for it. Does anyone have any suggestions for good ways of
going about this? We would like to keep the cost as low as possible.
How about an off-the-shelf UPS? Don't know how big you'd need,
would
depend on the gig time, etc. There is probably a way to calculate that
:)
The consumer UPS units I've see all have lead-acid (sealed) batteries
and are quite reliable.
9:32 a.m.
On 29/05/10 00:12, Ken Restivo wrote:
An Optima or other AGM car/boat battery would work well, but they are pricey and HEAVY.
I was thinking of using an 18 amp hour yuasa NP series lead acid battery
(a general purpose lead acid battery which is cheaper and lighter than
the big leisure batteries sold for caravans and boats.)
9:33 a.m.
Sorry forgot to send to list (again!)
On 28/05/10 10:13, Jörn Nettingsmeier wrote:
On 05/27/2010 06:36 PM, Bob van der Poel wrote:
not really recommendable for a permanent setup. with an ups and
standard mains equipment, you will waste battery (and carry dead
weight) twice: in the inverter that generates grid voltage from the
battery, and in the PSUs of your gear that will re-transform the
precious grid voltage back into low-voltage DC. throw out the middle man.
I think we actually need an inverter anyway, because my friend's
keyboard has a low voltage AC input, not DC, so it would be hard to
generate that from 12v DC directly.
What I'm thinking of doing is to have the amp running directly from DC,
using a cheap car amp, but also have an inverter to power the keyboard
and the effects boxes he uses.
A friend
of mine was talking about how he would like to be able to
busk with
his keyboard, and I said I would look into the possibility of
building him a
battery powered PA for it. Does anyone have any suggestions for good
ways of
going about this? We would like to keep the cost as low as possible.
How about an off-the-shelf UPS? Don't know how big you'd need, would
depend on the gig time, etc. There is probably a way to calculate that
:)
The consumer UPS units I've see all have lead-acid (sealed) batteries
and are quite reliable.
1:52 p.m.
I don't think you'll find anything cheaper than that, because all the
equipment is so commoditized. Be careful transporting the battery,
though.
On 5/29/10, andy baxter <andy(a)earthsong.free-online.co.uk> wrote:
Sorry forgot to send to list (again!)
On 28/05/10 10:13, Jörn Nettingsmeier wrote:
On 05/27/2010 06:36 PM, Bob van der Poel wrote:
not really recommendable for a permanent setup. with an ups and
standard mains equipment, you will waste battery (and carry dead
weight) twice: in the inverter that generates grid voltage from the
battery, and in the PSUs of your gear that will re-transform the
precious grid voltage back into low-voltage DC. throw out the middle man.
I think we actually need an inverter anyway, because my friend's
keyboard has a low voltage AC input, not DC, so it would be hard to
generate that from 12v DC directly.
What I'm thinking of doing is to have the amp running directly from DC,
using a cheap car amp, but also have an inverter to power the keyboard
and the effects boxes he uses.
_______________________________________________
Linux-audio-user mailing list
Linux-audio-user(a)lists.linuxaudio.org
http://lists.linuxaudio.org/listinfo/linux-audio-user
A friend
of mine was talking about how he would like to be able to
busk with
his keyboard, and I said I would look into the possibility of
building him a
battery powered PA for it. Does anyone have any suggestions for good
ways of
going about this? We would like to keep the cost as low as possible.
How about an off-the-shelf UPS? Don't know how big you'd need, would
depend on the gig time, etc. There is probably a way to calculate that
:)
The consumer UPS units I've see all have lead-acid (sealed) batteries
and are quite reliable.
5113
days inactive
5115
days old
linux-audio-user@lists.linuxaudio.org
10 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
andy baxter -
Bob van der Poel -
Folderol -
Jörn Nettingsmeier -
Ken Restivo -
micromoog