› Forums › Music › Sound Engineering › Battery Powered Mobile Party Sound Systems
- This topic has 28 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated August 13, 2010 at 4:40 pm by bimbleinn.
-
AuthorPosts
-
May 8, 2010 at 8:25 pm #1049099
Just found this thought it might be of interest. Dont hurt me if I am wrong though, the speakers do look a tad small…
Whether its for a mobile bike party or a solar powered concert, a 12V or 24V sound system is the key. I recently built several systems for mobile bike parties and this article has a pile of details. You can also check my Easy Bike Party Sound System project if you don’t want to get too involved.
This article covers:
- a simple but efficient setup where you just plug your stuff together
- a true Active 12V speaker – an ultra-efficient speaker with integrated 12V or 24V internal amp.
- choosing efficient speakers and amps
- choosing a battery
- weatherproofing and vibration proofing
My friend Deep runs Flashdance, and we used his system as a reference point to compare our work against. Deep has an amazing tricycle setup that lets him bring the party wherever he goes. San Francisco has rather notorious hills though, so our goal was to see if we could cut the weight of his setup without sacrificing any of the sound. A big key to cutting the weight is to see if we can use something much smaller than a car battery – and that means being more efficient about power use.
May 8, 2010 at 8:43 pm #1225569there’s a British site here. The guy what runs it is a old hippy dude who I have met many years ago, he works for the NHS maintainting defibrilatrors and medical kit and knows his stuff with regard to electronics. Its always better to use UK sites as American constructors tend to use Jap and Taiwanese components which are expensive to get in Europe (we use European or Chinese components). there are different safety rules too (ours are slightly stricter) which is why US stuff is hard to find here
Now there are a lot of “mountain bikes” rusting away in garages – awful things made out of thick steel pipe, like those £70 ASDA type bikes. all these are fucking useless abominations as bicycles and wholly unfit for the road (some even have dangerous faults!) but would be a perfect conversion for a project like this.
May 8, 2010 at 8:51 pm #1225583yep these things are pretty easy and fun to make 🙂
i was thinking of building a system for my pannier bags lol
not difficult all you need is a pair of drivers, prefferably coaxials, an amp, and a 12v battery raaa
the amp/battery is the expensive bit but i get the batteries cheapcheapcheapcheap coz my bro works at a car place what sells the leisure batteries raaraaraa
May 8, 2010 at 8:51 pm #1225584ps nice find u twoD:
May 9, 2010 at 11:56 am #1225580May 9, 2010 at 1:23 pm #1225577I saw one bike this morning 0300 when I was driving out of the city we was in…you will get friends! massive
May 9, 2010 at 1:24 pm #1225570the bimble Inn would be just as impressive if they didn’t lie about the audio output power – also there is the issue that the fuel / environmental costs of transporting 2000 AH of heavy lead-acid batteries (which would probably need a vehicle to themselves!) might be more than using conventional methods!
That said, such a setup in a venue like a community centre / small club would be viable (it would also allow this venue to be used as a shelter in the case of disruption to mains electricity supplies!)
May 9, 2010 at 1:35 pm #1225578the bike I saw, was an improved ricksaw…3 wheels ftw
May 9, 2010 at 1:44 pm #1225591@Tank Girl 383133 wrote:
solar powered:
The Bimble Inn – Solar Powered Mobile Venue – Music Festivals – Hire
Wish they would hurry up and tell us when their festival is, I need to go to at least 2 this year!
May 9, 2010 at 3:04 pm #1225571they don’t hold events themselves, but support themselves by hiring the rig to others. Its interesting from an engineering POV but other than publicity I’m sceptical about the green motives TBH – for instance there is very little discussion about the technical side of the kit – perhaps they don’t want to encourage competition?
The Bimble Inn – Solar Powered Mobile Venue – Music Festivals
May 9, 2010 at 3:30 pm #1225592@General Lighting 383153 wrote:
they don’t hold events themselves, but support themselves by hiring the rig to others. Its interesting from an engineering POV but other than publicity I’m sceptical about the green motives TBH – for instance there is very little discussion about the technical side of the kit – perhaps they don’t want to encourage competition?
The Bimble Inn – Solar Powered Mobile Venue – Music Festivals
they were going to do one or at least as u say team up with people:
Changes are happening!!
The Bimble Inn is now at Bestival which is on the same dates as we were planning, so we are currently finalising new plans for the Bimble Bandada! Please bare with us while we organise what is going to happen, and we shall be back to you all shortly.
Bimble Bandada! – The Bimble Inn Festival
was considering going there were dates up etc then that message came up 🙁 boooo
May 9, 2010 at 3:39 pm #1225579technology should be open and for all…..development divided on more people will find solutions that will be for common good….or more accurate in terms of need….generally speaking….seeing is beliving I think…long way to dk….and its someway perverted eco the american way….bigger words bigger terms…bla bla bla but no essence then again my favorit festival sez nothing at all….the line up info comes on the day the festival starts….sometimes the best is left unsaid…and now thanx to sinner the motha fuckin’ cameleon piece of shit…
May 9, 2010 at 4:08 pm #1225581@General Lighting 383153 wrote:
they don’t hold events themselves, but support themselves by hiring the rig to others.
as 84 said they do a festival themselves in dorset, only been a few years though so I’d not heard of it before,
unfortunatley I do question their organisational skills – arranging a festival, advertising it and selling tickets before ‘realising’ they were booked for Bestival, :hopeless: then cancelling it – so waiting for new datesMay 9, 2010 at 4:18 pm #1225572when globaloon was on here he pointed out things going on in the SW England festival scene what would result in mainstream businessmen being arrested – whether these happened by stupidity or calculated attempts at fraud is debatable but they didn’t do much to inspire confidence..
May 9, 2010 at 4:24 pm #1225593@Tank Girl 383165 wrote:
as 84 said they do a festival themselves in dorset, only been a few years though so I’d not heard of it before,
unfortunatley I do question their organisational skills – arranging a festival, advertising it and selling tickets before ‘realising’ they were booked for Bestival, :hopeless: then cancelling it – so waiting for new datesblimey didn’t realise they were selling tickets then stopped! I really must get a credit card to get tickets on at least then you have protection if I remember correctly.
May 9, 2010 at 4:25 pm #1225573@!sinner69! 383160 wrote:
technology should be open and for all…..development divided on more people will find solutions that will be for common good….or more accurate in terms of need….generally speaking….seeing is beliving I think…long way to dk….and its someway perverted eco the american way….bigger words bigger terms…bla bla bla but no essence then again my favorit festival sez nothing at all….the line up info comes on the day the festival starts….sometimes the best is left unsaid…and now thanx to sinner the motha fuckin’ cameleon piece of shit…
keeping a festival line up secret isn’t a big issue, but if people really cared about being green sharing the design of a large renewable power supply could help everyone worldwide – people as far away as Lowestoft, Copenhagen and Singapore could all use the design..
May 9, 2010 at 8:33 pm #1225585@General Lighting 383171 wrote:
keeping a festival line up secret isn’t a big issue, but if people really cared about being green sharing the design of a large renewable power supply could help everyone worldwide – people as far away as Lowestoft, Copenhagen and Singapore could all use the design..
there is an irish pot of gold in both political and monetary senses of the word under the adjective of ‘green’
May 9, 2010 at 8:39 pm #1225586@General Lighting 383143 wrote:
the bimble Inn would be just as impressive if they didn’t lie about the audio output power – also there is the issue that the fuel / environmental costs of transporting 2000 AH of heavy lead-acid batteries (which would probably need a vehicle to themselves!) might be more than using conventional methods!
That said, such a setup in a venue like a community centre / small club would be viable (it would also allow this venue to be used as a shelter in the case of disruption to mains electricity supplies!)
i would disagree, i think 6k rms is quite doable on 12v, with 2000ah… however, as plausible as it is, i dont reckon theyre the sort to be running 6k rms of void acoustics… sounds like its gonna be some PA what theyve quoted the (bullshit) *max rating* from..
May 9, 2010 at 8:56 pm #1225574@joshd96320 383188 wrote:
i would disagree, i think 6k rms is quite doable on 12v, with 2000ah… however, as plausible as it is, i dont reckon theyre the sort to be running 6k rms of void acoustics… sounds like its gonna be some PA what theyve quoted the (bullshit) *max rating* from..
6000W at 12V (just DC power) is 500 amps! they would probably have to set up the cells to give 230V DC (as is done on old ships) to not need immense amounts of thick cable, but then the battery room would have to be totally locked down for health and safey
from their own site they mention
# 12 x 180W solar panels giving 2.16 KW of power
# 2000 Ah of batteries
# 3Kw Pure Sine Wave invertor – we also have the ability to peak to 12Kw!
if their invertor is only putting in 3kW of electric power into the amps most of the time it will be impossible to get more power out than what went in or these hippies have managed to overturn the laws of physics and could sort out the worlds energy problems! if they crank that up too often it will end up like a Norfolk rave where people try similar stunts with conventional gensets 😉That said, I think I’ve worked out where the confusion arose, the 6K PA is also hired out separately from the solar powered stage bit. I expect what is being used there is about 1/2 K (leaving power spare for the lights etc) and will be adequate but no way near 6K.
2000 Ah is 20 100Ah leisure batteries. Imagine having to cart all that lot about (with perhaps a few extra in case of faulty ones) and the space it would take up in the wagon!
May 9, 2010 at 9:02 pm #1225587jeeez 1 100ah battery is heavy enough.
yeah i didnt really consider the inverter LOL
just on the power amp side of things 6k is possible … couple of vibe blocks and your away!
May 9, 2010 at 9:04 pm #1225594@joshd96320 383191 wrote:
jeeez 1 100ah battery is heavy enough.
yeah i didnt really consider the inverter LOL
just on the power amp side of things 6k is possible … couple of vibe blocks and your away!
do you study electronics and other related topics or is it a self taught type thing? I wish I could understand electronics 🙁
May 9, 2010 at 9:20 pm #1225575@joshd96320 383191 wrote:
jeeez 1 100ah battery is heavy enough.
yeah i didnt really consider the inverter LOL
just on the power amp side of things 6k is possible … couple of vibe blocks and your away!
it would actually be silly to use an inverter for anything other than decks, laptops and other very sensitive equipment (this is what the campaign for real events dude mentions). They are expensive and power is lost at each stage of conversion.
power amps use DC power anyway (+ and – 50/70 volts or thereabouts) and could take power directly from the batteries if they are tapped at the right points (you will have to be careful about earthing and isolation and have plenty of fuses!
May 9, 2010 at 9:47 pm #1225588@1984 383192 wrote:
do you study electronics and other related topics or is it a self taught type thing? I wish I could understand electronics 🙁
nah just stuff ive picked up through my years 🙂
May 9, 2010 at 9:55 pm #1225589@General Lighting 383194 wrote:
it would actually be silly to use an inverter for anything other than decks, laptops and other very sensitive equipment (this is what the campaign for real events dude mentions). They are expensive and power is lost at each stage of conversion.
power amps use DC power anyway (+ and – 50/70 volts or thereabouts) and could take power directly from the batteries if they are tapped at the right points (you will have to be careful about earthing and isolation and have plenty of fuses!
yep, the whole project seems a bit unfeasible looking at it on the whole tbh…
i assume that turntables etc would be run off the inverter, and then it would be amplified by Class D 12v amps… (check this beast… vibe audio amps highly praised in the 12v portable market currently. VIBE – Products )looking at it, even if it was only half as powerful, it would need to be bloody efficient with the drivers also. efficient amps one thing, efficient everthying else, nother universe
May 11, 2010 at 11:36 am #1225582
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
› Forums › Music › Sound Engineering › Battery Powered Mobile Party Sound Systems