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No interest in battery powered components?

I would have thought that with all the hoopla going on around here with AC power problems and the myriad of band aid fixes for sale, that some would be interested in using battery power for their systems. Apparently not. I have posted previously on this subject and got little interest. I am using battery power on two-thirds of my system right now and am working of converting my preamp to battery supply. This is not as hard as it may sound. My David Berning amp came standard with a battery power option, and my Teres turntable has a DC motor/controller with battery power option. When comparing the exact same equipment with the same system, in the same room, with the same records, the battery supplied system sounded considerably superior to the same system using AC mains supply. Now, as some of you know, I generate my own power, so I do not have even as much line contamination as a standard house AC mains. And the improvement was still great. I would venture to say that the improvement in a normal home with street mains would be astonishing.
I am posting this because there is a method available to eliminate, not band-aid, the power problem and nobody seems to care. Why is this?
I can understand that people with 1 kilowatt amps may not be able to power that amp for very long off of batteries, but that does not affect their using battery supply for other components like turntables and preamps and head amps and CD players. Why does nobody consider this?
A battery supply system is cheaper than most of the line conditioners and power cords out there and eliminates the problem at the source. A battery power supply system eliminates the internal(or external) power supply transformer of the component, thereby reducing hum and stray fields and making the unit run more efficiently, using less power. A battery power supply system has no line induced voltage fluctuations, RF hash, digital noise, or AC switching to rectify. It automatically charges up when not in use. It requires no special knowledge or extra care or maintenance over and above what the normal audiophile would do anyway. If you want, you can have totally separate battery supplies for each component, thereby eliminating any interaction between components in the power supply section(think CD). They will run for hours without going dead or reducing voltage. They don't have to be big cumbersome units. I use the portable power units that are commonly affixed with jumper cables for automotive use.
Why is nobody pursuing this idea but me? Is there anyone out there that is thinking like me, but has not talked about it? If so, please post here because I would like to converse with others who are interested in leading-edge stuff like this. If you think I'm crazy, you can post that too. :-)
twl
oneprof
147 posts
 
I have Merlin Milleniums with the Battery Bam. Once in a while I forget to unplug the Bam, which lets it run in AC mode. It doesn't take me long to realize my mistake, because the sound with the Bam run by batteries is noticeably superior to the AC. It just sounds more 'real'.
By the way, twl, I have a Berning too, only it's the 270.
audiofile9
45 posts
 
Excellent post Twl. It sure would be nice if more manufacturers made it easy to substitue batteries for AC. Almost everything except for some turntable motors rely on DC anyway, so it makes a heck of a lot of sense to skip the AC->DC step, which can't even approach the "clean" power of a battery. Not to mention, batteries can supply gobs more _instantaneous_ current: the typical auto battery pumps out 5-600 amps to start an engine! and even the porta-powers come close.

Your suggestions for exploring components with walwarts or other external power supplies is an excellent suggestion indeed!

Questions:
how does one achieve HIGHER than 12 volts?
Can the batteries be connected in series for say 24 volts?
How about a few in parallel for more stamina?
Is there any danger to doing that?
How many could one connect in series?
If I remember correctly, a typical 100w solid state amp would like 70-80V DC. That then brings up the question of tubes. I think some amps run as high as 600V for output tubes?

I suppose there is info "out there" on the net somewhere. Perhaps others could post links that they have run accross.

Keep carrying the torch Twl. It is a worthy quest. I think I'm gonna hunt down a wal-warted thinga-ma-jigger of some sort.
twl OP
3,251 posts
 
Audiofile99, yes you can increase the voltage by adding batteries in series. With 12v batteries, 2 in series would give the 24v you are talking about. And yes, you can parallel the batteries for more run time. No danger in doing this. There is no limit to the number of batteries that you can connect in series or parallel, except for the space required for a large battery bank. Connections should be short, and kept clean and tight. For the higher voltage requirements, the 70-80v should be no problem with several series batteries. The 600vdc you refer to for some tube amps is generally stepped up inside the amp from some lower voltage that is supplied. Just supply the necessary supply voltage, and the amp will kick it up to the high voltage. But remember that whatever voltage you are dealing with, the current requirements must also be met. 1 amp at 600v is going to be 50 amps at 12 volts, or 25 amps at 24volts, or 12.5 amps at 48 volts, etc. The entire package needs to be considered for the parameters involved, including wire guages and wire run length with losses calculated. This is not to be off-putting, but just a necessary part of doing the job correctly. Glad you are interested. Please let me know if you have some successes with your experiments. If I can help you, don't hesitate to email me.
twl OP
3,251 posts
 
One caveat to the above post. Since large battery systems can dump enough current to arc weld, proper fusing of the output cables is needed to reduce the possibilty of a fire in case of a direct short circuit on the output lines.
jeffloistarca
1,004 posts
 
Call me lazy, but I'm not interested in spending time trying to set up a battery powered system. It seems to me there's a business opportunity for the power conditioner companies...

One unit that houses the batteries and has an intelligent recharge circuit. Build the unit with common automotive batteries making "battery rolling" easy. I envision the unit having six hospital grade plugs. Plug your source components and preamp into the power conditioner, then in turn plug the power conditioner into the wall. A more robust unit could be sold for amplifiers and the like. The KISS principle is alive and well, consumers will pay for intelligent engineering and ease of use. Jeff
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