Thaddeus Smith Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 (edited) So I've read about people using RC car batteries, regular car batteries, etc for driving their audio system DC voltage. My work was swapping out these 3Par batteries and I managed to snag one. They aren't suitable for mission critical data, but they should hold plenty of charge for powering my speakers for a couple hours. Suggestions on how to proceed? I can't crack the case here at work, but will take a peek inside later at home.. Edited February 20, 2014 by Thaddeus Smith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joessportster Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 I'm not exactly sure what you are trying to do here, I'm assuming your aim is to use a battery to power a or all components in your system ? I used to have a 47 labs DAC that was dc powered by a wall wart, It was converted to use a 12V battery Of course this only worked because the component was set up to use DC as opposed to AC, If you have a DC powered component first step would be to check the voltage requirements (typically listed on the power supply/wall wart as output) If they are compatible it would be as simple as cracking the case and connecting pos off the battery to the pos. lead in the component and then same with neg. Care is needed to assure you do not reverse the polarity as that would likely ruin the component (It would have fried the 47 labs I had) The other option would be use a bettery with an inverter, although im not sure there would be any advantage to that (may be though as several generator companys are moving to that setup) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaddeus Smith Posted February 20, 2014 Author Share Posted February 20, 2014 (edited) i guess those details are important. I have a couple of t-amps. one runs at 12v and another from 12v to 24v. currently using an AC to DC convertor, which is a big source of noise potential. I've seen instances where people run their amps directly via batteries, but I can't seem to find any "getting started from the ground up" threads. Currently my source(s) are battery powered on their own. Edited February 20, 2014 by Thaddeus Smith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joessportster Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 In that case you may want to find a schematic of your amps, which should show which leads are pos and neg, and hook leads up for pos and neg off those to your battery, I suppose with an ohm meter you could also verify which lead on your existing transformer is which and cut that wire to hook to the battery If the goal is to reduce noise, I would not use the existing set up i would connect leads directly inside the case Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 (edited) Best sound I ever heard was using a Sonic Impact T-amp that had a Denon CD player connected as a source and my old Forte IIs. Ran the T-amp off AA batteries. The Denon had it's own volume control. Holy cow was that smooth. Edited February 20, 2014 by wuzzzer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaddeus Smith Posted February 20, 2014 Author Share Posted February 20, 2014 In that case you may want to find a schematic of your amps, which should show which leads are pos and neg, and hook leads up for pos and neg off those to your battery, I suppose with an ohm meter you could also verify which lead on your existing transformer is which and cut that wire to hook to the battery If the goal is to reduce noise, I would not use the existing set up i would connect leads directly inside the case already have that figured out. I guess I mostly wanted to make sure I didn't need something between the batteries and the amp. since they're sealed lead batteries, i just need a good ol fashioned trickle charger, yes? i've never really looked into the technical side of doing this, so it seemed daunting and difficult. sounds like it really couldn't be any simpler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaddeus Smith Posted February 20, 2014 Author Share Posted February 20, 2014 (edited) this should give you an idea of what I'm playing with. I'm hoping to replace the ac adaptor on the left with pure DC power, thus removing the PS from the enclosure and AC altogether. Edited February 20, 2014 by Thaddeus Smith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joessportster Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 (edited) correct very simple, if you were worried you could add a fuse in the POS. lead, but I wouldnt. I see the amp has what appears to be a built in converter, looks like the smaller leads white green etc...twisted are leading to the amp, disconnecting those at the terminal strip and connecting battery those, should do what you want (of course do not plug in the ac. ALSO DO NOT JUST TAKE MY WORD, Verify that the leads stated are infact dc, Looks like with a good multi meter it would be easy to check and find out Edited February 20, 2014 by joessportster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaddeus Smith Posted February 20, 2014 Author Share Posted February 20, 2014 They are DC. this didn't start out as a commercial product. I put all of these components together from ebay purchases and placed them into a reused dynaco st-120 case, and it just seemed too easy that all i had to do was pull the convertor out of the chain and connect directly to the batteries, since there was so much involved in going from AC to DC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mboxler Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 They are DC. this didn't start out as a commercial product. I put all of these components together from ebay purchases and placed them into a reused dynaco st-120 case, and it just seemed too easy that all i had to do was pull the convertor out of the chain and connect directly to the batteries, since there was so much involved in going from AC to DC. I've used battery and laptop power supplies, and the laptop PS sounded best to me... This is a small Radio Shack case. A 2.5 X 5.5 mm jack allows me to connect to all sorts of DC supplies. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaddeus Smith Posted February 20, 2014 Author Share Posted February 20, 2014 score! 8 of these little guys were inside. Only measured about 6v with all of them wired in series, so I need to get a charger before I can test further. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike stehr Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 (edited) I'd figure out the maximum voltage and maximum current that the little Sure amplifier can handle, and find a 12 volt battery that can put out enough current without exceeding the amplifier's current rating. Actually, it may not matter, as the amplifier will only draw the current needed.A Optima Yellow would run that little Sure amplifier almost forever...but you want a battery that fits in the Dynaco case.http://www.chargingchargers.com/batteries/small-sealed.html I can't see why those batteries you have wouldn't work...it would nice to determine the amount of current at 12 volts. Edited February 21, 2014 by mike stehr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaddeus Smith Posted February 21, 2014 Author Share Posted February 21, 2014 No, the battery doesn't have to fit in the case. The AC cord will just be rewired to work with the battery source so that I can continue to use the case's fuse and switch. I'm currently waiting on a TPA3116 to arrive, which should be my final resting place for an amp. It can handle 4.5-26v, though the general consensus is that 19v is the sweet spot. I'm not smart experienced to discern the maximum current from these specs, but maybe it'll make sense to you: http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tpa3116d2.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaddeus Smith Posted February 21, 2014 Author Share Posted February 21, 2014 I've got a little $10 charger en route to see if these batteries are even useful. It may still be more hassle than it's worth.. just hard to pass up such a large quantity of free batteries Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted February 22, 2014 Moderators Share Posted February 22, 2014 i just need a good ol fashioned trickle charger, yes? That's what I was doing before my t-amp died. It was a car battery that was not strong enough keep a charge to start a car but worked great for the t-amp using a little trickle charger to keep it up, it would play for a few days with out the charger. I really think the t-amps play a little better with a better/bigger battery, more power before distorting, could be my imagination ? It was the older original cheap t-amp. It was used outside, since the t-amp died I switched to a Pioneer supertuner car stereo with Cd and a jack for a phone with Pandora, same battery and charger. I wanted it completely portable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike stehr Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 I had about 2K in car stereo gear in a 700 dollar car back in the late eighties...pretty much lived in the car in the summer months. I didn't bother to connect the stereo to the car's electrical system. I just used a good marine battery in a battery box for power. The battery would last a couple days, and I would pull the battery and put on a trickle charger for about 8 hours. In the winter, I'd pull the stereo out of the car and put it in my apartment. 12 volt home stereo... There was a power outage once at those apartments. The tenants were really confused as to why I was still cranking my stereo with no power. A variable regulated DC bench type power supply would be a option to run a T-amp with. Something with 12-30 volts, with plenty of current output. If such a supply exists... I wanted something like this back in the late eighties, a 12 volt DC supply with as much current as possible. But those supplies were rather spendy...too spendy for myself in those days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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