I'm sorry if this has been asked/suggested/spoken of before but I couldn't find it in a search of the board.

Is there such a thing as a small "battery pack" type device for the empeg? I assume this would be fairly easy. For example, when I had a Sega Game Gear it had a little potato shaped rechargeable battery that ended in one of those common power plugs that looks like the one for the empeg (although I'm sure it had a different amount of power - I'm not good with this type of stuff).

Anyway, does anyone know of something that could substitute for this particular purpose? All I want is something rechargeable and something that lasts for oh, say, 4 hours.

And if there are issues with this that I am not seeing, please alert me to them.

DiGNAN

Although the Empeg wasn't really designed for that kind of portable usage, I could forsee a combination of a battery pack and powered speakers becoming an "empeg boom box".

This is definitely something worth discussing in the "Projects" forum.

___________
Tony Fabris

But wouldn't there be a problem being able to package enough power to keep it going for four hours? While the empeg doesn't require a lot of power, it does require an external amplifier. I think the power requirements of the empeg plus even a minimal 50-watt amplifier might prove difficult to make truly portable. The battery pack would be more like a cantaloupe than a potato, I'm afraid...

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

I completely forgot about that.

Oh well.

Who knows, maybe someone will figure something out...

DiGNAN

Another problem is that the display also eats juice. Ideally you'd want to run with the display off as much as possible to give best battery life...

It doesn't last long with alkalines, I have tried this once. You really need Nicads/NiMH/Lead-acids due to the current peaks. Bear in mind, though, that it was never designed to be a battery operated device and so isn't terribly frugal (ie, the display filament heater takes over a watt alone!)

Hugo

I guess it depends on the quality you want to maintain. If you care more about having your selection than how well it sounds, a cheap pair of amplified PC speakers shouldn't draw much...

I'd been thinking of making something like this. The system I'd have is an empeg in docking bay, a small 1-DIN amplifier and a Gel-Cel motorcycle battery. Two 6x9's on either side in a sloping enclosure to provide a bit more than the usual compact speaker arrangement. I might even make the speakers detatchable so you can set it up somewhere and make a decent stereo out of it. You might be able to replace the full motorcycle battery with a smaller (but still sizeable) sealed 12V rechargable battery (similar to the type used in alarm systems).

Of course, you'd have to use a 12V charger occasionally and it would become luggable rather than portable. But I can cope with that; basically carry it in the car to where I want it, unload it, plug the empeg in and away I go.

This is still a pipe dream though...

Save the whales. Feed the hungry. Free the mallocs.

Edited by PaulWay on 29/6/00 10:17 PM.

I have a gel cell 12v battery from a 100watt camcorder light, which I could use for such a device...

However, I was going to put the mk1 (if I don't sell it) into a box with my spare 4x60 watt amp (it says 800 on it, but we know better). A set of nutrix speakon connectors for the speakers, a flying 12v lead (with battery terms on) and my big truck battery would take care of the power.. Oh, and my mates Mach PA speakers... =)

I will build it this summer (If I don't sell the mk 1... =)

Jazz
(List 112, Mk2 on order. Mk1 Unit for sale S/N 00030, 4 gig blue, apply within)

I dunno, Paul... to get four hours out of a motorcycle battery....

Let's say it was rated at 8 amp-hours. That means if you drew only 24 watts to run the whole thing, you would completely exhaust the battery in four hours, except of course by the time you'd run it for three hours the voltage would have dropped to the point where either the empeg or the amplifier would have already quit.

An empirical way of looking at it might be to think that an empeg and a decent amplifier would pull about as much current as one of the headlights in your car. How big a battery do you need to keep that light burning bright for four hours?

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

hmmm... I have been able to run my stereo in my car for 3 hours + without a hitch, just get in the car and a flick of the key and she starts!

Simple cheap Wal-Mart battery in my old car that I used to do that with.

That was running a Pioneer 12 Disk Changer with a KEH-P7400 headunit and a Craig Powerplay 250 amp (rated at 250 watts... yeah right) pushing 2 12" subs and 2 tweeters and 2 horns.

hmmmm.... oh yeah, approx. 450 Cold Cranking Amp Battery.

http://www.geocities.com/renejeddore/photos/somenew.htm

Look at the Red Cliff/Salmon Festival Pictures.

#170... previous deferrer in denial about not receiving one from the first mini-batch of Mark II's

hmmmm.... oh yeah, approx. 450 Cold Cranking Amp Battery.

Uh-Hunh. That's only about five times the size of a typical motorcycle battery...

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

Look at the Red Cliff/Salmon Festival Pictures.

I did, and I have to say... it looks like a party of some kind, people getting together and camping out in their cars, but I didn't see either a cliff or a salmon in any of the photos.

So what was the point of that festival?

___________
Tony Fabris

For the record, a 12volt alarm battery (lead acid) from Radioshack kept my empeg going for over 2 hours...
-mark

...proud to have owned one of the first Mark I units

What did you have hooked up to it as far as amplifiers and speakers? How many watts do you think you were drawing?

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

As I remember car batteries have something between 20 and 40 amp-hours - depending on what car you have, what brand you want (and on how much it costs - I guess a Wall-Mart isn't too expensive)

I've done things like that (My car made the music for parties), too for at least more than 5 hours - But I had only 1 12" sub to drive not 2 of them

TeeMcBee

So true you know... actually there is a small Statue of a Salmon out on the highway... the community we are near is called Red Cliff... I guess there's a cliff around somewhere that's red..???... I dunno.

There's a big summer concert there every year about 10 kms away and this is the designated camping ground. Kinda nice, separates the hardcore drunks who camp and drink all day from those who want to take their families to the concert. This year Nazareth (Yeah!), Blue Rodeo, and a bunch of others.

Great party... too bad you guys can't all come and show off your Mark II's!


#170... previous deferrer in denial about not receiving one from the first mini-batch of Mark II's

Yup, but it sure did the job!

Now I can't wait to try it out with the empeg!



#170... previous deferrer in denial about not receiving one from the first mini-batch of Mark II's

As I remember car batteries have something between 20 and 40 amp-hours

Actually, Tee, more like 80....

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

Same plan here. I also plan to use a motorcycle battery in my car to power the empeg when the ingition is off, so I won't wear down the main battery.

Steve

Well - I had a quite small car ( 1 liter engine with only 3!!! zylinders) and didn't look for bigger sized batteries.
My car needed something like 36 Ah as far as I can remember. But I'm sure there are bigger ones....I've seen something like 72 Ah comes to my mind now...

TeeMcBee