RC car battery packs for PS.

[tubes]

I have an RC car 9.6v 600ma battery pack.  I was tinking of using it to run my pedal board instead of screwing around with wall warts or a tansformer PS.  Any thoughts on this Idea.

Kris

[twabelljr]

I think it is a good idea. I was wondering the same thing about using cordless drill batteries. The ones in the 9 volt range are also 9.6v.My Boss p.s. puts out 9.16v. I don't think another .5v will be a problem. That type of battery should be able to maintain a good voltage to run a few pedals for quite a while, and you could always have more than one and a charger. Alot of wallwarts tend to run higher then thier advertised output anyway.

[Peter Snowberg]

I think both battery pack ideas are great. Those cells should power a bunch of boxes for a good, long time. 

The ultimate would be one of those batteries powering a DC-DC converter than runs at well over 100KHz (to keep supply noise out of the system) and puts out a consistent 9V as the battery discharges.

[Rob Strand]

There's nothing wrong with them.  The only criticism of the RC types is the short circuit current is much higher than a wall wart.  If you short something you can do more damage to the circuit when you make mistakes.  If you put a low valued resistor in series with the battery is will reduce the short circuit current.  Fuses prevent fires etc but the initial short circuit current is still quite high.

[calpolyengineer]

If your recharchable battery has 600mAh, that is just a little less than a regular 9V battery (625mAh), so it would be very comparable. That little bit of extra voltage will drain the battery just slightly faster, but its a rechargeable so who cares! As for running multiple pedals off of one battery...it might get you by for a few weeks at a time, but I wouldn't hold out hope for much more than that.

-Joe

[Processaurus]

Cool idea, especially for gigging musicians that play small clubs, and have to hunt for power every night, maybe there aren't enough plugs, they're too far away from your board, etc.  I'm suprised there isn't a commercial version of this.

[brett]

Hi
I have one of those plastic holders for 6 x AA batteries.  I bought some cheap 1200 mAh batteries a while back ($2 ea !).  So I've got a massive 7.2 amp-hours of power at about 8 volts.  That'll even power a ruby amp for a good while.
One reason why I like this setup is that it makes me feel less intrusive if I'm going to a friend's place for a jam.
cheers

[Joecool85]

Funny you posted this, my new pedal board will be powered by a 2000mAh 9.6v battery pack or wallwart.

[R.G.]

Go to Radio Shack. If they still have parts, get a battery holder for six D cells. Fill it up, hook up the wires. Enjoy LONG battery life.

[Joecool85]

I like the simplicity of just having a pack to plug in to charge though.  Plus I already have 2 laying around that I no longer use.

[tubes]

http://www.all-battery.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=179

Check this site out for some battery pack ideas.  9.6v 2000mAh or 8.4v 3000mAh that is the question.  If you have two you don't need to wory about how long they last if you keep one charged.  I think I will go for it and upgrade my packs when I get it made.  It would be easy enough to put any conector on them.  What about a circuit that adjusts the voltage (week bat. sim) and devides it nicely to each box (or would you need to do that?).

thanks for all the input.

kris

[stumper1]

Hi
I have one of those plastic holders for 6 x AA batteries.  I bought some cheap 1200 mAh batteries a while back ($2 ea !).  So I've got a massive 7.2 amp-hours of power at about 8 volts.  That'll even power a ruby amp for a good while.
One reason why I like this setup is that it makes me feel less intrusive if I'm going to a friend's place for a jam.
cheers

In this situation I think you still have 1200mah not 7200mah.  If you parallel them I "think" (not sure though) you would have 7200mah but only 1.2v.  In series you get the combined voltage which should be about 8v.

[Peter Snowberg]

In this situation I think you still have 1200mah not 7200mah.  If you parallel them I "think" (not sure though) you would have 7200mah but only 1.2v.  In series you get the combined voltage which should be about 8v.

Correct.