#29

Well then!
I thank you very much.
:slight_smile:

1 Like
#30

I would definitely call battery powered “nice to have” for me, but far from essential. I can think of two situations where batteries are very interesting:
a) when something is very compact and self-contained. Something you’d want to use on the road to make/compose/produce music, or to perform in situations where you don’t have access to power.
b) something that you can actually play while dancing/jumping around, so you don’t have too many wires in the way.

This said, I’m not really the jumping on stage kind of guy (the little I perform, I do in a pretty static fashion) and I rarely feel the urge to compose music in the wilderness (though I should try that once). Usually I can live with one more cable attached to whatever I use.

I can imagine situations where a) could be interesting in combination with playing live in places where you don’t have power, so you have use either go with acoustic instruments or something that is battery-powered. In this situation though, the instrument would also have to be equipped with a good quality speaker, that can deliver the necessary volume and cover the needed frequency spectrum to be able to be sound together with other instruments.
Which is where most battery-powered instruments usually fail.

The only thing where I really do need battery power is field recording, in fact I’d be really great if I could get the Field Kit to work on the go, with enough juice to drive the motors and all.

My main thoughts and concerns when buying something that has a built-in battery is: how long will it last – in terms of expected life – and how long will the charge hold? Can I get a replacement when it dies? Can I replace the battery myself? How much avoidable waste am I going to produce?
In general I don’t use batteries in instruments a lot. For example, I usually have the Volcas attached to the wallwart. The problem is, these batteries usually run out and you have to replace/recharge them, which is just one more thing to think about. Also, there’s really few situations where I really don’t have a power outlet close by.

#31

Anyone know about battery lifespan issues with the OP-1 and how the company has dealt with it? They use LiPo batteries don’t they? I’m assuming most first gen OP-1s (2011 batch) would be past or at least near life expectancy on their batteries.

#32

Battery power can be pretty useful, the Deluge is a good example of good battery power. I echo the sentiment it really only makes a difference if its handheld or laptop size - something you can lay in bed with.

#33

Are manufacturers really creating devices with non-replaceable batteries? I thought this was a terrible design decision limited to the thin-obsessed cell phone market (thanks to Apple’s relentless planned obsolescence). I’d be less concerned about inability to replace a battery than I would be about inability to recycle a dead battery. I need to do more research into the rechargeable battery recycling supply chain, at the end of the lifecycle. It would be great to learn that there are good ways of accomplishing battery recycling or at least minimizing the toxicity of disposal, but I admit that I’m not especially optimistic.

This is of great concern given that power systems are growing increasingly distributed and batteries are appearing in more and more devices all the time.

#34

My feelings about batteries is that they should be removable (having an appliance leak or bulge leaving you wondering if it’s going to catch fire or what (looking at you, old Macbook!) is not fun), and another source of power must be usable, preferably with a locking connector (or at least, one that does not remove itself from its socket when submitted to, say, the stupidly high bass level one can experience in a live venue).

1 Like
#35

While I mention recycling, some food for thought:


Off-topic I know, but think about it for a moment. Plastic is considerably easier to recycle and much less toxic than a battery.

This pains me. I want batteries in everything that uses electricity. Energy mobility is an extremely useful thing. But it comes with a price tag that is more dear than any money.

5 Likes
#36

The solution used in mobile sound recording is not too bad: one large battery in the bag, distributing power to all devices. This works because devices accept a wide range of voltage.
Also, being efficient on battery seems to involve strong design decisions, and to reflect on cost.

1 Like
#37

Battery power for musical devices isn’t something that’s very important to me. One, I’m largely music room bound and, two, the issues of recycling and obsolescence are something that bother me quite a lot. I have many devices that people have given/thrown away because the built-in battery has died and they neither have the skills or inclination to try to fix the issue.

For things that do need it - field recorders would be pretty much my only example - I prefer not to have a built-in rechargeable battery. I’d rather use standard replaceable rechargeable batteries. That way, if I do run out of power at an inopportune moment I can relatively easily carry/buy replacements rather than try to find a power socket.

Devices that accept a wide array of powering options thereby suiting the use cases of as many people as possible are good though. I had a MOTU Traveller at one point. It could pretty much take anything short of plugging it directly into the sun!

1 Like
#38

If you (anybody) ever has an opportunity to experience off-grid living, I highly recommend it. I lived off-grid for a couple of years using 70s era solar technology, and it provided many revelations. Mostly having to do with how unnecessary most of our energy use is.

4 Likes
#39

I guess Apple did a very good job at making me paranoid about it! :slight_smile:

but btw. this reminds me of another point. The infinite number of different standards when it come to even replaceable batteries. Not only every brand does have its own type of battery, but often even every model.
I’m now in the happy position that most of my gear uses the same type of 9V power brick… not so much with my battery-powered stuff.

2 Likes
#40

I wouldn’t mind having a variation of the c1t1zen PCB that uses 9V DC instead of USB. That way you could treat the mini-case idea I talked about above almost like a “pedal” and take advantage of the many very advanced pedal board power supply solutions that are available.

#41

should tag @c1t1zen here!

1 Like
#42

Oops, yes, thanks! .

#43

I remember seeing some discussion about big batteries for mobile power setups and had a quick search, but didn’t find a thread about it. I remember seeing a bunch of discussion about it in one of the norns threads (@glia maybe posting one that looked really cool?), but there’s so many threads and so long that it’s hard to find the specific info.

SO

What are people using for mobile battery setups?
Are you also using separate power regulators? A guitar-style power brick?

Basically I was thinking of getting some EU power supplies/wallwarts for my ciat-lonbarde gear (corresponding muffs thread) and thought maybe it’s worthwhile just switching to a purely battery powered setup (hence searching on here for the battery info I remember seeing a while back).

edit: weird thread merge as this topic is more about the use of battery powered equipment, rather than specific batteries for doing so…

#44

@Rodrigo, I haven’t tried these yet for modular or other musical gear, but I’m very happy with a couple of LiFePO4 batteries I got from https://www.bioennopower.com/ for ham radio equipment. They’re safe, have no memory, and have long shelf and service lives.

1 Like
#45

I guess you charge and manage it separately and just use the battery as the pure DC source?

#46

I use this. Runs the modular for well over 5 hours. Little heavy but fits in my backpack easily.

1 Like
#47

Yep! I got the batteries with a wall charger – could also use solar panel and controller.

#48

I use film-industry standard V-mount batteries with D-Tap (also confusingly called P-Tap, same thing) polarized connectors. I then combine them with the necessary DC-DC switchmode converters with low ripple and run a bevy of things from that. I have some custom 12V power leads for my elektron boxen, as well as 9V for my H9s and micromonsta. I also can easily generate USB power for the keystep, the pisound, and other USB peripherals. All from the same lead on the same battery, or I can mix and match across more than one set of leads.

I buy cheap but well reviewed dc converters off eBay from China and then put them in little plastic project boxes. It works very well and packs up easily in my backpack or even in the pockets of the elektron bags. And with a variety of capacities for the batteries you can choose day to day whether you want to balance runtime with bulk and weight.

3 Likes