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Going Battery Powered

I have a number of components that run off of 12V DC power. This includes my DAC, preamp, tube buffer, etc. I’m looking into powering them with batteries instead of 120V AC power supplies. Does anyone have any input on if this is worth my time? Seems like DC power is the cleanest power you can get in this situation. I’ve heard batteries can have reduced dynamics but I plan on using as big of a battery as is reasonable, most likely a large sealed AGM type battery. Do I need power supplies/voltage regulators if I use a large battery and only power low draw components (no power amps); e.g. the max amp draw is probably around 1-2 amps, if that. If I do, does anyone have a link to a design for the power supply/voltage regulator? Thank you.
128x128mkgus
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
gear that can accept 12V DC will always sound better
Base line background noise is what your gain is with battery and you can measure it if you have a good crow, it's a sense of being even blacker between notes, in a quite room.
  
(assuming you have enough capacity to not choke dynamics)?
And a battery is not current limited, it's how long it can give that current for that important, and this dictates the amp hours needed in the size of the battery

Cheers George


ricevs
1,489 posts
 
I recommend the inverter route.....I have the Yeti 400 (modded) on my modded Oppo 205 and will be adding a modified 2000 watt pure sign wave inverter on my class D power amp.  Cost will be about $800 including a battery and charger.  Then I will be completely off the grid.  You still need to use the PPT stuff......still makes a big difference.
mkgus's avatar
mkgus OP
324 posts
 
I like the idea of the inverter. Seems like that would be good for my 120V devices. For the components that run off 12V DC, wouldn’t a battery be the better option for clean power as long as you don’t mind the maintenance of charging it? Best of both worlds: battery for 12V gear and inverter for power amps/120V gear?
ricevs
1,489 posts
 
In my experience batteries do not have good current delivery.  You must use thousands of microfarads of capacitance across them and also bypass those caps with high speed super poly caps (at least styrene.).  I would use an inverter to get off the grid and then a super low impedance 12V regulator system with all state of the art parts (caps, regulator, wires, etc.).  And then use PPT stuff everywhere.
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
I like the idea of the inverter.
Like I said it all depends on the amp/hrs of the battery, for the job it’s to do, you can charge it with whatever you want, but never have it charging while your listening, defeats the whole purpose.
I have a very nice sounding MSB discrete R2R Dac that has 5 x half brick size gel batteries in it for the different power supplies in it, it charges the batteries when your not listening and disconnects the charger when listening.

Also My Lightspeed Attenuator runs on 12vdc Li-Ion batteries lasts up to 2 weeks before a recharge is needed , most of my customers buy it also as a "purest" power option, as I only supply a linear wall wart with it.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/US-Portable-Super-Rechargeable-Li-ion-Battery-Pack-DC-12V-6800mAh-for-CCTV-Cam/153537757150?hash=item23bf903fde:g:CSwAAOSwq7JT5MSO

Cheers George

In my experience batteries do not have good current delivery.
Someone needs to go back to school, better still, put a dead short across the terminals of a small 12v SLA battery, but get "real close" as you may not see the current arc. 🤦‍♂️ https://ibb.co/4ZwDct1

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