Alright, I'll start by saying that I don't know whether this is the appropriate place or the Class D forums, but here goes...
I'm working on a proof-of-concept idea for a mobile karaoke setup. I have two cheap, Chinese class D amps that cost me $22 and $30 respectively, the first one based on the TPA3116 that I bought a couple years ago and a new one based on the TDA7498 that I literally just got in the mail today. They both share the same extruded aluminum "Breeze Audio" case, but I suppose that's not terribly relevant. I'm sure many of you are familiar with these. The new one is definitely more hefty.
Anyway, my proof-of-concept idea goes as follows:
I can back my Jeep Cherokee up into any random field, parking lot, etc. and pop the tailgate, and within five minutes have a working PA set up. The back of the Cherokee is the "table" where I set my laptop and mixer and the two amps, the two 12" speakers (Panasonic RAMSA WS-A200's if anyone cares) go up on some cheap stands, a mic stand is set up with two mics on it, and an 8" monitor speaker (RAMSA WS-A80) gets set up on some kind of stand (still working this part out) with a USB 3.0 screen connected to my laptop in front of the mics. Boom.
So here's my question:
The two amps are both set up stereo. Obviously I want to use the more powerful of the two (TDA7498) to drive the mains. The monitor only needs to be mono though, so should I consider attaching a dummy load to the unused channel of the TPA3116? I don't want to hurt it, but these little amps actually seem fairly resilient. Let me stress that no signal will be put through that channel.
Add-ons:
If anyone knows anything about wiring extra power into this system via a couple deep-cycle batteries so I don't have to run my engine/alternator all the time and still have enough juice to get me through a night without killing my car battery, any info on that would be awesome. Ideally I'd like the extra batteries to charge from the alternator while I'm driving. Even better would be if I could run the power from them back into my car in case I have trouble starting it in the winter, but I have no idea how plausible that is.
I'm already taking the car power from a cigarette lighter and running it into a 24v up-converter to drive the amps. I've yet to attempt driving both at once, so I suppose another question would be whether I should invest in another up-converter that puts out like 10 amps and drive both amps off that, or if I can use the two I already own that put out 3 and 5 amps. Will that make a difference? What's the more efficient way to handle this? The mixer will also need to derive its power from the vehicle but it takes 15v so I know I'll have to buy a 12-15v converter, too.
The mixer is a cheap Chinese model as well. It's an "ammoon" mixer with five mic channels and one stereo channel, along with some on-board delay/echo. I entertained the idea of using a small Behringer mixer I already own but those take AC power and I wasn't sure if there was a workable DC solution.
Any comments/info would be appreciated. I'll do my best to answer follow-up questions.
I'm working on a proof-of-concept idea for a mobile karaoke setup. I have two cheap, Chinese class D amps that cost me $22 and $30 respectively, the first one based on the TPA3116 that I bought a couple years ago and a new one based on the TDA7498 that I literally just got in the mail today. They both share the same extruded aluminum "Breeze Audio" case, but I suppose that's not terribly relevant. I'm sure many of you are familiar with these. The new one is definitely more hefty.
Anyway, my proof-of-concept idea goes as follows:
I can back my Jeep Cherokee up into any random field, parking lot, etc. and pop the tailgate, and within five minutes have a working PA set up. The back of the Cherokee is the "table" where I set my laptop and mixer and the two amps, the two 12" speakers (Panasonic RAMSA WS-A200's if anyone cares) go up on some cheap stands, a mic stand is set up with two mics on it, and an 8" monitor speaker (RAMSA WS-A80) gets set up on some kind of stand (still working this part out) with a USB 3.0 screen connected to my laptop in front of the mics. Boom.
So here's my question:
The two amps are both set up stereo. Obviously I want to use the more powerful of the two (TDA7498) to drive the mains. The monitor only needs to be mono though, so should I consider attaching a dummy load to the unused channel of the TPA3116? I don't want to hurt it, but these little amps actually seem fairly resilient. Let me stress that no signal will be put through that channel.
Add-ons:
If anyone knows anything about wiring extra power into this system via a couple deep-cycle batteries so I don't have to run my engine/alternator all the time and still have enough juice to get me through a night without killing my car battery, any info on that would be awesome. Ideally I'd like the extra batteries to charge from the alternator while I'm driving. Even better would be if I could run the power from them back into my car in case I have trouble starting it in the winter, but I have no idea how plausible that is.
I'm already taking the car power from a cigarette lighter and running it into a 24v up-converter to drive the amps. I've yet to attempt driving both at once, so I suppose another question would be whether I should invest in another up-converter that puts out like 10 amps and drive both amps off that, or if I can use the two I already own that put out 3 and 5 amps. Will that make a difference? What's the more efficient way to handle this? The mixer will also need to derive its power from the vehicle but it takes 15v so I know I'll have to buy a 12-15v converter, too.
The mixer is a cheap Chinese model as well. It's an "ammoon" mixer with five mic channels and one stereo channel, along with some on-board delay/echo. I entertained the idea of using a small Behringer mixer I already own but those take AC power and I wasn't sure if there was a workable DC solution.
Any comments/info would be appreciated. I'll do my best to answer follow-up questions.