Hi, sorry about the newbie question but I've had some great luck with improving the quality of the output from my ART DJ Phono Pre with a simple battery power pack that plugs directly in where the wall wart would and now I'd like to try the same thing with my Musical Surroundings Phonomena and I'd like some advice. This is a 24 volt device and would require a more robust power source. Is it as simple as putting two 12 volt batteries in series and then connecting them using the appropriate connector to the phono preamp? Would something like this work?
Electric Scooter Battery SET 2 X 12V 9AH Razor E300 E200 MX350 Dirt Quad | eBay
How would one go about recharging this kind of battery outside it's native environment? Thanks and sorry if it's a stupid question!
Electric Scooter Battery SET 2 X 12V 9AH Razor E300 E200 MX350 Dirt Quad | eBay
How would one go about recharging this kind of battery outside it's native environment? Thanks and sorry if it's a stupid question!
or maybe something like this would be better?
KDQ12 12V 4000mAh Lithium ION Rechargeable Battery Pack AC Charger Plug US | eBay
KDQ12 12V 4000mAh Lithium ION Rechargeable Battery Pack AC Charger Plug US | eBay
Perhaps if you start by posting relevant power supply tech details of the equipment you want to power.
A battery has a voltage and an Ah or Wh rating for a given period of use. I'm guessing you don't want the battery being charged whilst you use the battery for audio gear powering - so you need to define how long you want to use the battery, and what power or current the gear requires, and what voltage range the gear can operate properly over.
If the power supply is designed right you don't need batteries.
Its easy to get hum if you don't design the supply right and connect it up right (star grounding.)
Its easy to get hum if you don't design the supply right and connect it up right (star grounding.)
Multiple mains powered, serial analog connected, equipments will always introduce some parasitic hum. The query goes to connecting commercial gear. Even with digital connections, not everyone uses fibre optic interconnects.
Interesting... I couldn't find any info on the power supply or power requirements so I just looked at the wall wart. Apparently it's putting out 12V AC at 600 mA. Does that seem right of us that odd? I guess I won't be able to supply it with batteries after all if it requires power input into the unit in AC eh?
Chuckle. You would need to open up the audio gear to see what happens to the 12VAC supply. If you are lucky then the 12VAC is just simply rectified and then regulated to power internal circuitry. If so, then yes you may be able to still use battery powering, but you need to then be quite aware of the internal circuitry and parts to identify a DC voltage range that is allowed to be supplied without damage or poor performance.
T
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I use SLA PSes a lot - you should have no problems (and deliver a better sound) by using 2x 12v SLAs in series, to deliver 24v for your MS Phonomena.
Be aware, though, that SLAs have a higher voltage when they are fully charged - so the 2x 12v SLAs will delivery ~27v when fully charged. So you need to make sure that the Phonomena won't be damaged by 27v (I sincerely doubt it will be, but go ask MS).
You also shouldn't keep using the batteries after they get down to much below 23v (combined), as the SQ will suffer. So you need to calculate the size of the batteries you need (in AH - ampere hours) to, say, power the Phonomena for 10 hours before getting down to 23v. Then you re-charge the SLAs, overnight.
I suggest you should use a digital meter to give you the state of the battery voltage - controlled by a switch, so as not to have it switched on (and 'wasting' valuable battery power) all the time - you can get these on eBay for <USD10.
Attached is a pic of my 'Muse' phono stage, with 2 of these meters (I use separate battery stacks for R & L channels).
I would expect the Phonomena would draw ~100ma, so something like a pair of 2AH or 3AH batteries (or 2 pairs, in parallel, for a longer supply time) would be plenty, for 10 hours 'Play'.
All this, though - plus the cost of a case and a good 24v charger - means that an SLA power supply is not a cheap exercise! 🙂
Regards,
Andy
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This all sounds a bit over my head... Looks like I won't be doing this after all! Maybe keep my eye open for one of the official musical surroundings BPS. Thanks.
Why not just use a suitable psu (transformer, diode bridge and a regulator circuit or a wall wart) plus a couple of suitably sized power wirewound resistors to give a trickle charge when powering the pre-amp/device and not exceed maximum charge rate when the pre-amp/device is switched off. You can then permanently connect the device to the batteries and put a switch between the charger and batteries for ultimate sound.
I have done this and the noise when switched between charging or not charging is virtually unnoticeable.
I have done this and the noise when switched between charging or not charging is virtually unnoticeable.
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