Build a dedicated Audio PC

[tony]

Welcome aboard gazjam you seem to have bitten the bug and also introduced balanced mains into the mix!

Nigel do you have a link for the liposuction4 battery? I think I will be waiting to hear it on a test.

Ken re anker I hope that plays into my idea to try the anker on control/audio pc usb sticks.

Fran haven't read that thread yet on a/b but the last big test in my place we used 2 ciunas dacs, same interconnect cables the only differences where the computer transports we even ensured we both used cheapo usb cables to make things as close as reasonably possible. What I like about that is there is not as much delay in changing over. The battery test night had justifiably gaps due to the effort in swapping stuff around.

[jkeny]

dont want to spoil the ankers party piece but the lifepo4's single cell is better by about half of the difference between linear to usb and to anker to usb
.

Yes, that may be true, Nige - I seem to remember powering the USB stick (5V) from the Anker at the same time as powering the NUC (19V) & it didn't sound as good as a single LiFePO4 battery powering the USB stick.

I also tried 5 LiFePO4 batteries powering the NUC but didn't notice any noticeable improvement. The sound also disimproved when I used some battery management pcbs that I had around so the Anker seems attractive in this role & cheaper than the LiFePO4 option if you want a fully finished, rechargeable, attractive looking device.

[tony]

John the lifepo4 is that an arrangement you make up yourself or can it be bought?

[nige2000]

dont want to spoil the ankers party piece but the lifepo4's single cell is better by about half of the difference between linear to usb and to anker to usb
.

Yes, that may be true, Nige - I seem to remember powering the USB stick (5V) from the Anker at the same time as powering the NUC (19V) & it didn't sound as good as a single LiFePO4 battery powering the USB stick.

I also tried 5 LiFePO4 batteries powering the NUC but didn't notice any noticeable improvement. The sound also disimproved when I used some battery management pcbs that I had around so the Anker seems attractive in this role & cheaper than the LiFePO4 option if you want a fully finished, rechargeable, attractive looking device.

ive made an odd mistake or too in the past but im sure the lifepo4s better.

id like to try http://www.buya123batteries.com/ALM_12V ... 20-201.htm
but its an awful expensive experiment
and it shouldnt be any better than your experiment with the 5 cells

[jkeny]

ive made an odd mistake or too in the past but im sure the lifepo4s better.

I'm waiting on better battery management pcb's to do another test. You've seen the size of the battery management pcbs that I sent you - they're tiny & not surprising that they would limit the output current & probably speed of the battery

id like to try http://www.buya123batteries.com/ALM_12V ... 20-201.htm
but its an awful expensive experiment
and it shouldnt be any better than your experiment with the 5 cells

Ah, it's actually not much more expensive than an Anker!

Edit: Looking into that solution - it is actually 10 of the same LiFePO4 batteries that you have plus a in-built battery management system cased up in a plastic box. Bet they won't ship outside of US.

One from the UK but more expensive http://www.ebay.ie/itm/12v-20Ah-LiFePO4 ... 1e7ebea8b4

[nige2000]

http://www.ev-power.eu/LiFePO4-w-PCM-6V ... html?cur=1

[jkeny]

Good find, Nige but when you order you find VAT + carriage brings the price to €153
Still for small single LiFePO4 cells it seems reasonable if you order enough of them. Oh, just be careful with them as they have no tabs welded onto the battery ends - soldering onto these ends will be difficult.

[tony]

John are you suggesting that some battery management is required for those batteries? If not ok €153 is a bit of money but compared to €400 for a 4-5v teddy pardo it is a bit of bargain.

[jkeny]

John are you suggesting that some battery management is required for those batteries? If not ok €153 is a bit of money but compared to €400 for a 4-5v teddy pardo it is a bit of bargain.

There is already battery management built into those 12V packs that Nige & I linked to. The packs are composed of 8 individual batteries (4 X 2).
What I'm saying is that if you buy your own individual 3.3V batteries & put them in series to form a 13.2V pack then they will need battery management for charging to prevent overcharging of individual cells

[nige2000]

Good find, Nige but when you order you find VAT + carriage brings the price to €153
Still for small single LiFePO4 cells it seems reasonable if you order enough of them. Oh, just be careful with them as they have no tabs welded onto the battery ends - soldering onto these ends will be difficult.

i think i can get them with tabs spot welded on, im window shopping anyway

ive got the 12v 7ah lead acid ones here testing a nice bit better than the big ones most likely because the big ones are knackered

bad side ive haswell build up and running but the mb is defective and will have to be rma'ed due to ram slot troubles