Class D/T in the wild

[gmonno]

Hi all, I have the following problem : have a small piece of wild land with no water (this is not the problem here, Spain is a bit dry) nor any kind of electricity, so in the small cabin I built myself I'm using a car battery with 12V leds for lightning.

Before you ask, no possibility of solar or wind energy, things would disappear quick.
So my "space" is limited to a car battery environment; when the battery goes down have to bring it back home to charge again.

Now I'd like to listen to some music, have a nice broadband high efficiency speakers, a phone (read Spotify), so would need a bluetooth module (not the problem here) + a good sounding AND efficient amplifier.
I'm thinking about TA2025 or TA2050 board because they need 3-4A (probably I'd use only first 5-10W), but would like to have your opinion and suggestions :

a) would a Tripath like these be best combination of good sound and best efficiency in terms of battery use? Like this for example :
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/J34-Free-Shipping-TK2050-50W-50W-Dual-Channel-Class-T-HIFI-Stereo-Audio-Digital-Amplifier-Board/32436103376.html?ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_3,searchweb201644_3_79_78_77_82_80_62_81,searchweb201560_1

b) are there best alternatives?


Thanks for the help and happy 2016

 

[den_hr]

a) would a Tripath like these be best combination of good sound and best efficiency in terms of battery use?

b) are there best alternatives?

Happy 2016!

Now to your question: if I were you, I'd go with PAM8403 - you can get them for less than $1 on ebay, something like this:
PAM8403 Ultra Miniature Digital Power Amplifier Board Class D 2CHANNELSX3W HC | eBay

It is only 2x3W, but that's quite loud with modestly efficient speakers: what's best, it runs on 5V.
I've had that amp run for a week (all day long, about 12 hrs a day) on 4 rechargeable 1,5V batteries (actually, they're about 1,2V, so 4 of them are just right).
So, avoid messing with 12V car battery, use 4 rechargeable AA batteries ("Eneloop" brand recommended, they're excellent, I use 2.000 mAh ones - a bit more expensive, but well worth it).

Try one of those amps, I think it will be loud enough - although it's not exactly hi-fi, the sound is actually really good... you might be surprised....
Combined with a small solar AA battery charger, it may prove to be all you need...

 

[gmonno]

Now that's something new to me...very interesting
Thanks I'll give them a try.

 

[den_hr]

BTW, another, perhaps more practical option, is to power the PAM8403 amp via a "power bank" - those rechargeable packs used for mobile phones
Use something of about 5000 mAh (again from ebay), and again combine it with some kind of portable solar charger... should give you a lot more options (you could also use it to juice up your mobile phone).

Don't you love it how technology has become accessible and cheap?


Thing like these were science fiction 15-20 years ago - although I remember using rechargeable AA batteries to power my portable cassette player/radio, and recharging those batteries using a pocket solar charger - some 20 years ago...
It's only that the technology has become better and cheaper: an mp3 player (or a smartphone as a music source) needs a lot less power to play music than a portable cassette player/Walkman

 

[gmonno]

Something like this? :

Solar Power bank 5000mah Waterproof Dual USB Solar Charger Travel Portable Charger External Battery For iphone5s mobile phone -in Power Bank from Phones & Telecommunications on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

 

[den_hr]

Something like this? :

Yes, that should be quite OK - with the added convenience of having an integrated solar cell...
Can't say much about charging efficiency - but it's cheap enough to get one and try it out. It might take quite a while to charge the battery, though, judging from the solar cell size (0.88W power...)

But, 5000 mAh should be enough to drive the amp for days and days....

 

[doctormord]

Replacing the BT-module with just a plain cable would also save some energy.

 

[dangus]

T-amps are a bit more expensive, but still dirt cheap, relatively speaking. Search ebay for TA2020 or TA2024. Also, there's Yamaha's YDA148, less popular but has some better features, although I don't know which if any boards actually bother to implement the good functions like the built-in clipping prevention.

Keep in mind that with music, average power consumption will be much less than the peak power, so a 10 watt amp will probably use less than one watt on average, even when played very loud.

 

[misuspita]

Well, considering you said you are using a car battery, I assume you need this to function for many days. So if I were you I'd get a power bank like this:
Aukey Quick Charge 2.0 10000mAh Portable External Battery Fast Charger (20W/5V 9V 12V Quick Charger power bank for S6 5 iphone6s-in Power Bank from Phones & Telecommunications on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

or even this:
Top Quality 23000mAh 5V 9V 12V 16V 19V Solar Panel Mobile Power Bank Charger Battery-in Solar Panel from Computer & Office on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

the second one especially, because it also is much bigger and has a solar charger. Not much, but in need it can be useful. I think it has a 2.25W solar charging ability.

And use a highly efficient amp such as this:

A96 Free Shipping 12V Mini Hi Fi PAM8610 2X10W Dual Channel D Class Stereo Audio Board Amplifier-in Amplifier from Consumer Electronics on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

or even a 3116 based one, because it also has nice efficiency, like this:
Free Shipping TPA3116 Amplifier Board(50W+50W ) D Class Amplifier Board The left and right channels-in Amplifier from Consumer Electronics on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group.

You also need a speaker with high efficiency, I'd recommend using something "pro" like
FaitalPRO | LF Loudspeakers | 4FE35

wich has 91dB, so I'd use one per channel and get some nice sound out of it. Or, if portability is not paramount, get a TB W5-1611SAF and a bigger box and have some bass too.
http://www.tb-speaker.com/en/products/detail/189