Hey torclausen, thank you for your response. so do you think the Parrot would cause ground loop also? since the Bluetooth in it would be running on the same power supply? I had some issues with ground loop on my last system because of the Head Unit, something tells me this would be the same 
As for the airport express, we actually cracked one open, removed the circuit board, threw out the power circuit, and hooked up a 3.3v and 5v power supply from the battery to run it, the new airport express is much easier to do this apparently, so no home power is required, and it runs around 200-300ma.
WesleyK, I have actually considered a raspberry Pi, and it would be considerably less power consumption, which is a bonus, did you connect a bluetooth dongle to it? or do you use the wireless only. I will have to have a look at volumio, one of the reasons I decided not to use Raspberri was because hooking up a screen was going to be an issue, using a webUI is a brilliant idea.
I'll be honest, using the HU was also giving me a simple Pre-Amp, because I had no idea how I would control volume when using the RCA direct to the amp, but I know there is info on adding a volume Pot somewhere, might have to get my mate to have a look and see if he can do it
Thanx for your help guys.
As for the airport express, we actually cracked one open, removed the circuit board, threw out the power circuit, and hooked up a 3.3v and 5v power supply from the battery to run it, the new airport express is much easier to do this apparently, so no home power is required, and it runs around 200-300ma.
WesleyK, I have actually considered a raspberry Pi, and it would be considerably less power consumption, which is a bonus, did you connect a bluetooth dongle to it? or do you use the wireless only. I will have to have a look at volumio, one of the reasons I decided not to use Raspberri was because hooking up a screen was going to be an issue, using a webUI is a brilliant idea.
I'll be honest, using the HU was also giving me a simple Pre-Amp, because I had no idea how I would control volume when using the RCA direct to the amp, but I know there is info on adding a volume Pot somewhere, might have to get my mate to have a look and see if he can do it
Thanx for your help guys.
The onboard sound quality is terrible, I have a HifiBerry on the way to fix that. With my 125Wh battery, I would be able to have a RPi streaming for 50 hours. Together with the standby power of the other electronics that would be cut in half. As long as I can get 10 hours of runtime at a loud volume I'm happy. I can charge the Boominator in a few hours as I'm going to use lithium batteries and I will never use the Boominator at a high volume for longer than say, 5 hours.
And of course I will look into minimizing power usage as much as possible by removing leds and downclocking the RPi.
And of course I will look into minimizing power usage as much as possible by removing leds and downclocking the RPi.
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Hmm you have peaked my interest, I will have a look into HifiBerry and volumio, if you were to connect a USB Bluetooth dongle to the RPi, would it also then support Bluetooth directly? I could get a separate device, but then I need to work out a way to switch sources without leaving the comfort of my chair... haha
Sure it's possible. I think he's talking about those cheapo 5 dollar usb powered dongles. Just to support bluetooth. They don't need any drivers, you can hook them up with a 3.5mm jack. If he's talking about those tiny dongles that need drivers: I don't think they support streaming out of the box, they'd need a pretty big workaround.
Sorry I was talking about a USB one connected to the RPi using the Volumio distro, But I think the Sure Electronics one might be better, set up to a source switch or something.
So this setup will use more power, but I think 2.2w is still considerably less then the 12w that the Parrot would have used, and setting up a switch board to turn off any device that is not in use would save a little power. I'd love for it to run on its own using just the 2x 10w solar panels, like Saturnus said, that might be a stretch, but this might also be the best solution for wireless control so far? other then Bluetooth, which while the sound quality is good, is lacking in range.
I should point out when we go camping, I have a side project loading 2 24v 20ah LiFePO4 batteries into a box with multiple USB charging ports, different voltage outputs etc, so ill probably have an external 12v connector on the Boominator as well, but would like to use it as a last resort.
Edit: Having it on a switch also, I could have it all turned off baring the Sure Electronics BT Adapter when I need to conserve power.
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Yep the sound quality of a 4.0 module is fine, but it's just lacking too much in range for me. I noticed drops in playback when I'm only like 5 meters away, that's just not enough. You'll end up putting your phone on the lid of the Boominator, in which case you might as well just use the 3.5mm jack.
I've done some research, and it seems that the Model A Raspberry Pi only uses 0.5W, that's without a wifi dongle though (0.25W). Model A differs from model B in having less ram, no ethernet, and only one USB port, but that not really a problem, since I'm planning on using a WiFi dongle. Also, there is a voltage regulator on the board that can be replaced by one that wastes less power. That together with removing all the leds and other unnecessary stuff, should make power consumption not that big of a deal.
I've done some research, and it seems that the Model A Raspberry Pi only uses 0.5W, that's without a wifi dongle though (0.25W). Model A differs from model B in having less ram, no ethernet, and only one USB port, but that not really a problem, since I'm planning on using a WiFi dongle. Also, there is a voltage regulator on the board that can be replaced by one that wastes less power. That together with removing all the leds and other unnecessary stuff, should make power consumption not that big of a deal.
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Thats awesome to know, I do want to know tho, how does it play music, does it have airplay built in (Volumio) or did you install it separate. I noticed it has the option to add a USB stick, if you can load it with music, I could always have a collection of all my music on a stick as well, saves the power on the phone not having to stream music as well.
Currently there are multiple options:
- Airplay, just like you are used to use airplay. Select the output on your iPhone/Mac and play music. There is a slight delay of 2-3 seconds, but that shouldn't be a problem.
- USB memory
- Network Attached Storage
- Internet radio
- Ramplay (music stored in the ram memory of the Raspberry Pi, not usable in a portable situation as this memory will be cleared each time the Boominator is powered down)
- Memory on the SD card that has the Distro installed
Currently there is a very basic GUI, where you can control play/pause/stop etc, ofc volume and create a (currently only one) playlist. And a bunch of settings to select the audio sampling and some other options. It's optimized for mobile use, but there is also a android app and some iOS apps support the protocol.
- Airplay, just like you are used to use airplay. Select the output on your iPhone/Mac and play music. There is a slight delay of 2-3 seconds, but that shouldn't be a problem.
- USB memory
- Network Attached Storage
- Internet radio
- Ramplay (music stored in the ram memory of the Raspberry Pi, not usable in a portable situation as this memory will be cleared each time the Boominator is powered down)
- Memory on the SD card that has the Distro installed
Currently there is a very basic GUI, where you can control play/pause/stop etc, ofc volume and create a (currently only one) playlist. And a bunch of settings to select the audio sampling and some other options. It's optimized for mobile use, but there is also a android app and some iOS apps support the protocol.
Oh btw, just to be sure. I regard 8-10 days of battery life to be the goal with normal mixed use (8 hours off/8 hours normal volume/8 hours party volume + 1-2 smartphone recharges per day). It's in that light you have to read my reservations.
One 10W CIS panel will give 30-40W total over a Summer day under normal conditions (suboptimal placement, typical weather, and so on) in Northern Europe, or 40-50W in the land of Oz.
One 10W CIS panel will give 30-40W total over a Summer day under normal conditions (suboptimal placement, typical weather, and so on) in Northern Europe, or 40-50W in the land of Oz.
40-50w in the land of Oz every day, since its always sticking hot and sunny... haha.
What is your goal (maximum) wattage usage for those figures? The amp that was suggested on the wiki was the 41hz one, uses about 4.2w? correct me if I am wrong, the RaspberyPi and extras probably add another 1w to the mix, give or take a little, so lets say 5.5w, does that sound about right?
Assuming a 7.2ah battery really gets about 6ah safely, that's around 72watt, which should run the whole system for around 12-13 hours without sunlight, I assume that would be at full power, although I might have it all wrong?
I'd probably get a 12ah battery, but to be honest, I don't know if you could fully charge that with the sunlight provided for the day :/
To some extent, and the simple fact that you are a lot closer to the equator than we are here which raises the effectiveness of panels that are mounted on a flat surface quite a lot.
Normal power consumption is considered to be 1W. And party level is considered to be 4.5W. A smartphone recharge is considered to to be consuming 10W total. So that's about 60W consumed daily. Meaning 2 panels should keep the system running "forever".
However, if we add 1.2W of power consumption per operating hour to the setup that's suddenly 80W of daily consumption, and that's too much for even 2 panels to keep up with (here at least).
Get lifepo4 batteries. SLA batteries only have a charging efficiency of about 66-71%. Lifepo4 batteries have a charging efficiency of 92-94%. And you don't have to fully charge the battery. You just have to top it off as much as possible.
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So based on this, how long do you think it would last using the standard 8/8/8 usage, with the extra 20w? I mean if 60w would last for ever, you 80w get the 8-10 days you aim for?
I am not saying I would use this method to connect all the time, but, when we go camping, currently the speaker sits at camp, about 10m away from the creek bed, and we are fishing off the creek, controlling the music, so airplay or some method of wireless control (That has enough range) would be our most common method of use.
With a 20W panel (or 2 10W panels) you should be basically set. No need for you to consider recharging at any point, just as long as you monitor your usage. Especially smartphones can be power hungry if you have a tendency to go online and play wordfeud a lot. Under this use I also think you'll not even be using the full "party level". It is very very loud.
Thank you very much, I will have switches to turn off anything that is not currently in use, to stop power leakage (Including the Solar charger as they can leak power when there is no sunlight).
For the phones, I actually have a 24v 20ah LiFePO4 battery that I used in my old box, once this one is completed I will be turning that into a portable power cell for LED Lamps, etc, it will also have USB Ports for charging, so in most cases that will be covered. And on the off chance I do use the Boominator, I might get my mate to set up a circuit to cut power to the USBs once the battery gets to a certain level, so we never run out of music during the dark hours
For LiFePO4 inside the Boominator, I haven't seen any Solar chargers for them, I assume they would need leads to charge the battery and separate ones to power the stereo, since, all the ones I have owned recon you cannot charge the battery and use it at the same time, although maybe I am mistaken.
Hi there folks, after a long break from building, i finally have the time and money to continue... the only problem being, now i have found the 41hz forum to be down, alas, my building has been halted again due to the lack of instructions for completing my amp6.
If anyone has these saved to their computer, i would be most grateful.
Blessings to all for the new year !!
If anyone has these saved to their computer, i would be most grateful.
Blessings to all for the new year !!