• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Best Deep cycle marine batteries for mobile PA system

Seth Shonefeld

Seth Shonefeld

Oct 14, 2016
445
482
San Francisco, California
www.sethschoenfeld.com
#1
Hey all,

I want to take my jazz group mobile and I'm reading a lot of posts and fora about how to put together a mobile PA with car battery and a power inverter.

My question / uncertainty about it is that I want the thing to power bass 600w draw) , keys(200wd), vox (100wd), guitar(200wd) 1100w draw for 3-4 hours. Plan would be to run two deep cycle marine batteries in parallel through an inverter into a power bank. Concerned about mobility and about power.

Would everybody be able to plug into directly into a single big pair of PA speakers and anybody who wants to model their sound do it with a pre-amp? Would we need to have separate speakers for the separate instruments? Or everybody bring their own amps and go through a power bay? I like the mobility and safety (busking) of playing everybody through a single PA. Can anyone reccomend equipment for this?
 
#5
Downunderwonder said:
To run PA on batteries you need to lower your sights a bit I think. Either that or go with a little generator that you can drown out with your huge sound.
Click to expand...
You mean to say have smaller amps?

Also, I would not exactly describe our sound as large, not to even mention "huge". All the more reason to opt for battery.
 
Last edited:
#7
Welp, we want to busk.

Way i see it, I have an Aguilar TH500. Max power consumption is 670, presumably at full capacity and 4 ohms, which I don't run. I'm at 8. So full capacity at 8 woud be around 335 w continuous draw with master / gain around 5 would I imagine be closer to 250 conservatively. I'd be the biggest amp. Two others max, both solid state (more efficient at my insistence) 100 watts max output apiece roughly 100 draw apiece. Be looking at only around 450w continuous.

56V x 7.5Ah = 420 watt-hours
420Wh x 4 batteries = 1680Wh
1680Wh/450 watts = 3.75 hours

Not a bad gig. No? We don't commonly play more than 4 hours. Plus there is down time between songs.
 
#10
Seth Shonefeld said:
Welp, we want to busk.

Way i see it, I have an Aguilar TH500. Max power consumption is 670, presumably at full capacity and 4 ohms, which I don't run. I'm at 8. So full capacity at 8 woud be around 335 w continuous draw with master / gain around 5 would I imagine be closer to 250 conservatively. I'd be the biggest amp. Two others max, both solid state (more efficient at my insistence) 100 watts max output apiece roughly 100 draw apiece. Be looking at only around 450w continuous.

56V x 7.5Ah = 420 watt-hours
420Wh x 4 batteries = 1680Wh
1680Wh/450 watts = 3.75 hours

Not a bad gig. No? We don't commonly play more than 4 hours. Plus there is down time between songs.
Click to expand...
You've got it all worked out. Your amps should draw a fraction of their ratings most of the time. But you're neglecting heat made by discharging batteries at kW levels.

Personally I haven't met a mini battery system worth a damn yet. Best of luck with it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Thegrandwazoo
#11
Downunderwonder said:
You've got it all worked out. Your amps should draw a fraction of their ratings most of the time. But you're neglecting heat made by discharging batteries at kW levels.

Personally I haven't met a mini battery system worth a damn yet. Best of luck with it.
Click to expand...

FWIW, I have made rough estimation here including both the factors of heat dissipation or watts consumed, understanding that's more than watt output by roughly 1.6 for solid state and that the amps won't be operating at full capacity. Hence, 100w (output) solid state amp consuming ~100 watts.

Will post the tryout results here if I go with the EGO 3000
 
Last edited:
#15
There is tons of 12v stuff out there. Use a 12v power amp. battery pre amp pedals and your regular passive PA speakers. Avoid inverters, without proper grounds, they can be dangerous....PS, Maybe a hybrid system. Run a small inverter to power your board, everyone plugs into the board.. Run the board into a 12v amp for the heavy lifting. Much less power loss due to DC-AC-DC conversion
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: selowitch, Thegrandwazoo, SoCal80s and 2 others
#16
With modern stuff the loss from conversion is really small. Also the power drain from amps is a lot smaller than you’d think. As long as everybody leaves the tube amps at home.

I occasionally gig with a 1000 watt converter and asolar power/marine battery. Using a 400 watt bass amp, a 2*250 watt pa and a 60 watt tube guitar amp. Those gigs mostly don’t last more than an hour, but my guess is the battery would last for an hour more. It is all well within capacity of the converter.


Heavy and large batteries for solar and marine use are the best and cheapest solution. No point in spending money on Lithium if you have to carry al that gear anyway.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Roxbororob, Thegrandwazoo and Rabidhamster
#17
4-stringB said:
There is tons of 12v stuff out there. Use a 12v power amp. battery pre amp pedals and your regular passive PA speakers. Avoid inverters, without proper grounds, they can be dangerous....PS, Maybe a hybrid system. Run a small inverter to power your board, everyone plugs into the board.. Run the board into a 12v amp for the heavy lifting. Much less power loss due to DC-AC-DC conversion
Click to expand...

What you may be missing is high-powered 12V car power amps use inverters to step the voltage up. So I don't think there really is any way around the DC-AC-DC conversion if you want significant power.

Also, a big car stereo amp pulls a lot of current. I have a 5-channel Kicker KX700.5 amp in my truck that requires a 90A fuse. Power output with a 13.8V supply is 75W at 2 ohms x 4 and 400W at 2 ohms x 1 for the sub. The sub amp is class D which is supposed to be more efficient, but if you run this system at about 1/4 volume for 10 minutes it will drain the battery so far that the truck won't start.

Still, I have considered a stereo class D car amp such as a Kicker KXA400.2 and a battery-powered mixer like the Behringer Xenyx 1002B with a couple of hefty deep cycle batteries. I.E. use one side of the amp for mains, and one side for monitors.

Concerns:
1. My KX700.5 is supposed to run as long as the voltage remains between 9-16V. I am not a battery expert, but I think even a deep cycle battery will not last long if repeatedly discharged it to 9V.
2. As I mentioned previously, my KX700.5 can drain regular truck battery pretty fast. I think it would be necessary to operate the system conservatively for extended play time.

Battery powered amps I would consider:
1. Roland Cube Street EX
2. Roland BA-330
3. Soundboks

The Cube Street EX is very portable and is about the minimum volume I would consider for busking with bass. It's not very loud. Don't even bother with the regular Cube Street or Bass Cube RX as they are unusable IMHO. Roland - CUBE Street EX | Battery-Powered Stereo Amplifier

The BA-330 actually makes less power that the Cube Street EX but I believe it holds together it bit better because it has 4 x 6.5 inch woofers versus 2 x 8 inch for the Cube Street EX. It's also about twice as big and heavy. Roland - BA-330 | Stereo Portable Amplifier

I believe you can daisy chain a mix of the two Rolands and they both run of AA batteries. Buy a bunch of Eneloops and chargers.

I believe the Soundboks is way louder and way more expensive as well at $999. Running a few off a Xenyz 1002B would probably work pretty well. The Xenyx runs of three 9v batteries. I believe the Soundboks uses a lithium ion battery and includes a charger. You can buy extra batteries. [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] currently shows "out of stock"

behringer Product

If you really want clean and relatively loud, I think a small inverter type generator is really the best solution. I don't totally buy the argument that batteries are cleaner, as battery waste is extremely toxic. Also, some sort of fuel must be use somewhere to generate the energy that is used to charge the battery.

I am personally torn between the Cube Street EX, BA-330 and Jackery 240 Explorer 240 Portable Power Station

The Cube Street EX is the lightest and most convenient. The BA-330 would be hassle to carry if much walking is involved but it's noticeable louder. I think I could use the Jackery conservativelywith one of my existing amps and blow both of the Rolands away. I don't need any of them.

If you are interested, I linked videos for some of these amps in this post: Roland MICRO CUBE RX Bass Combo Amp
 
  • Like
Reactions: Seth Shonefeld and thetragichero
#18
My experience with marine battery’s is that they discharge fast when under a good load, and only the most expensive and advanced technology is helpfully in a word marine stuff is good in a marine environment. IME
 
#19
In the telecom world all power is 48VDC and a good quantity of the batteries used are 2VDC in strings of 24. You wouldn’t want to go with the 2V batteries, but you can find a 48VDC to 120AC inverter and run it with four 12VDC deep cycle batteries. Based on how long it took me to type this out, it’s still too complicated....
 
  • Like
Reactions: bbh, Thegrandwazoo and Huw Phillips
#20
Seth Shonefeld said:
Hey all,

I want to take my jazz group mobile and I'm reading a lot of posts and fora about how to put together a mobile PA with car battery and a power inverter.

My question / uncertainty about it is that I want the thing to power bass 600w draw) , keys(200wd), vox (100wd), guitar(200wd) 1100w draw for 3-4 hours. Plan would be to run two deep cycle marine batteries in parallel through an inverter into a power bank. Concerned about mobility and about power.

Would everybody be able to plug into directly into a single big pair of PA speakers and anybody who wants to model their sound do it with a pre-amp? Would we need to have separate speakers for the separate instruments? Or everybody bring their own amps and go through a power bay? I like the mobility and safety (busking) of playing everybody through a single PA. Can anyone reccomend equipment for this?
Click to expand...
Go get a little generator. Bout a grand should power a small band. If you pop the circuit, return it. Its not going to be enough.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Thegrandwazoo and Huw Phillips

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back