Recommendations for a battery powered rig?

[the_big_e]

I bit the bullet and ordered a Xantrex ProWatt SW600 inverter and other stuff I need. Once it all arrives I'll give it a try and let y'all know how it works out. If nothing else, I got me a backup power supply for the house LOL!

[the_big_e]

Did a quick power test tonight, hooked up the inverter to my battery and ran my k10, mixer, loop pedal and the keytar all of the inverter. Played for an hour with no problems although I was not playing very loud but probably not that much quieter than I would be at the sort of gig I am looking to do (seems people don;t like load buskers!). I didn't have the mic hooked up so no vocals but again, I'm not looking for loud here, just listenable within 20/30 feet max outside.

The power reading on the inverter reads in kilowatts for some daft reason even though it can never get above 600 so 00.1 would be 100 watts and I never saw it leave zero so on that basis I am below 100 watts right now which equals around 8 or 9 amps from that battery. Even if the load doubles I am thinking I should be able to get a good couple of hours out of a charge without over discharging the battery (which shortens it's life).

More info to come as I find out more.

Next step is to make box to hold everything so I an move it around easily on a hand cart. Roll up (literally), plug in, turn on and play!

[Bobby1Note]

Good show, the_big_e

 

What battery are you using? Have you got a charger?

 

For transport, a folding luggage cart may serve you well.

 

https://www.google.ca/search?q=telescopic+luggage+cart&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb&gfe_rd=cr&ei=MT1dU-OIDOvY8gefp4HgCg

[the_big_e]

Battery is an old marine battery I had lying around. There's nothing wrong with it, I just replaced it in the boat last year. From what I understand a marine battery is somewhere between a deep cycle battery and a regular car battery so it should be OK, for a while at least! The 20 hour rate is around 4.5 amps so I should be good for a couple of hours based on my experiments so far. For this battery all I've ever used is my regular charger on a low 2 amp charge rate whenever it got flat which happened quite a lot as the boat has an automatic bilge pump that eventually flattens the battery over the winter!. Seems to have been fine so far. Again, time will tell!.

I've almost got my box done to hold the battery, converter and my mixer. It's a little smaller than I would have liked but doing it the size I have let me make the sides out of one piece of 2x4 1/2 inch ply instead of two and I used 5/8 mdf for the floor pieces which easy replaced if damaged or get wet) which helps keeps the cost down a bit!

I also had to squeeze a heavy duty isolation switch and an 80 amp fuse in there as well so I'm hoping all the cabling does not cause too big of a voltage drop to the converter although I used #2 welding cable (more stuff I had lying around!) so I'm hoping any drop should not be too big.

The battery is not too heavy (for a battery) so overall the whole thing is 'manageable' although I am looking at one of those folding carts for moving it around.I' thinking power box on the bottom, speaker on top, along with standsetc, all strapped to the cart. Cables, wall warts etc in a small rucksack and the keytar in it's own bag and I 'should' be able to move it all in one go which is sort of a requirement for this sort of situation.

[the_big_e]

Here's a few pics of my 'mobile' power supply, mobile is relative, it weighs in at 66.6 lbs (maybe that number is significant!).

Basically it a 12v battery in the lower part, the inverter in the open section in the middle and a tray above for the mixer. I used a heavy dty car battery isolator switch to disconnect the battery from the inverter and there's an 80 amp ANL fuse in there as well. The terminal on the side is just for charging, the other connection being the inverter negative. Everything in the battery compartment is hooked up with #2 welding cable.

I did a test last night running at typical busking volume (ie, no too loud) with all my gear and played for two hours and it was fine, battery voltage was down to 11.9 at the end. Power reading on the inverter never moved off zero!

 

[Bobby1Note]

Good show the_big_e. Sounds like it's coming together nicely.

[MusicalSchizo]

Maybe this would sound good enough (and it for sure would make for a lighter rig)...http://www.rolandus.com/products/details/1025

 

Just an additional thought, since I didn't see anyone else mention it.

Brian V.

 

[the_big_e]

More info on my setup and results here on the talkbass forum.

 

I found it interesting that in spite of all my 'calculations' about power consumption etc, after measuring the actual current draw from the battery at a reasonable busking volume (IE, not too loud) my rig was only drawing 3.4 or so amps.

A UB12350 (12v 35 Ah) battery will aslt around 10 hours according to the spec sheet at that rate (to complete discharge). If you stay above 50% discharge to extend the battery life then that 'should give me around 4-5 hours of playing and a UB12350 battery weighs around 24 lb, far less that the monster I am currently using (but happen to have!)

[Bob Dey]

Maybe this would sound good enough (and it for sure would make for a lighter rig)...http://www.rolandus.com/products/details/1025

 

Just an additional thought, since I didn't see anyone else mention it.

Brian V.

Yes I provided a link to this on post #6. Too much $ for poor musicians

[the_big_e]

One of the things that has driven my efforts has been trying to reuse what I already have. Since I have a good speaker/amp and mixer etc as well as a deep cycle battery lying around, the cheapest option seemed to be to go the inverter route. I spent a LOT of time looking at various battery powered pa options and none of them suited my needs for one reason or another, including not being able to tell how load some of these things really would be while I know my K10 can crank it out if I need it too.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the various battery powered speaker options but going the inverter route is what works for me. YMMV.

[Hoppy Shimko]

The cube ex looks very interesting. I'm anxious to hear one.

[RoadRanger]

I just bought off fleaBay a used Carvin Stagemate for $200 (battery needs replacing) - I've been GASin' after one for a while .

 

Yesterday we started playing back at the local farmer's market - more of an unpaid rehearsal than a gig LOL. Jazz standards with a group that goes out as a duo (classical guitar and female signer), trio (add sax), and maybe a quartet with me on bass.

 

I used my Duracell 600w powerpack to run a Fishman LoudBox for guitar and vocal, a Behringer B208D for me, and a Chauvet SlimPar38. The "low battery" alarm came on towards the end of the 2.5 hours but I didn't fully charge it before so not a fair "test". Last year I never had an issue with it but I was on the Cajon so the powered speaker is a new load this year - but I suspect the light takes as much power as the rest combined.

 

Anyways I'll run the Stagemate off the powerpack until I get a new battery for it. I'd like the extension cab too but they are $200 and then you really need the second optional battery too.