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TH & Unity Horn - Solar sound system

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Phil B View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Phil B Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 July 2020 at 8:46am
Ok so the plan we have worked out...

1 x 2 ohm 200w resistor to live next to the Super Cap bank. That then is used in-line everytime the bank is connected up. We're gonna make sure the caps at least are up to 13v so the pull from the batts shouldn't be too much for the resistors.
We only disconnect the batts about once every year so shouldn't be a huge pain in the butt !
Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut.

Solar Sound System Shennanigans..http://diyhifi.biz/
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bob4 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bob4 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 July 2020 at 9:34am
Enjoying this thread time and again...... Phil, do you have any comments on the keystones? Would be interested to have a little assessment from you! 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote odc04r Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 July 2020 at 10:04am
Originally posted by studio45 studio45 wrote:

Well, actually SLA (sealed lead acid/gel cell/AGM/maintenance-free) aren't any good at all for starter motor duty, which is actually 300A+ for a medium sized engine. Only flooded lead acid (the kind with liquid acid inside, that you can't tip over else it dribbles out) can cope with that kind of instantaneous current.

I suppose you could be brave, and just accept the massive spark that happens the first time you hook up the caps to the batteries; if you're then leaving them connected all the time, not a problem; it will be a doozy though!

or, use the bulb to limit current initially via some croc clip leads, then when charged bolt up the connection permanently.


Ah fair enough, I thought they were fairly cross compatible. Must admit not something I've ever looked into too deeply, datasheets are good
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Phil B View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Phil B Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 July 2020 at 10:09am
I love our Keystones !
For a single box with 4 ohm driver they make a lot of noise but I think the main thing is they complement the SS15 main subs. The SS15s drop off sharply at 40 hz and the keystones take over at that point. I haven't quite nailed the delay between the two as we seemed to always have no time on setup to do a time align ! But we are running them:

keystones 35 HPF L-R 24 , LPF 80 L - R 24
SS15      40 HPF BW 24 , LPF 100 L- R 24

That seems to me to give the nice blend of both whilst reaching up to the Unities.

.p.
Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut.

Solar Sound System Shennanigans..http://diyhifi.biz/
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Phil B View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Phil B Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 October 2020 at 10:16am
So after being under proper lockdown ( no leaving house, 5km limit etc etc ) we finally have a bit more freedom and have been fitting the Super Caps. We ended up with the resistors setup in a box with two terminals...one going direct , one through the resistors. I found a heap of old passive crossovers at work which were going to be binned so we grabbed a heap of resistors from them. Charged up fine, nice and slow up to 14v.





Then fitted them in small wooden cases which live under the benches and they go in parallel to each 12v side of the trailer.







But we then ran a quick check to see what effect they would have.... seemed to be not a lot ?? Running flat out with solar off and the batteries at full charge still seemed to cause the inverter to ripple. So Rich investigated further .... One noticable thing whilst the batts were visible was the corrosion that had formed on some battery terminals, seems even a plastic sticker or even a small piece of gaff ( which you can see in the pic above) on the top of the batts could cause enough of a moisture path between poles to start the fur up ! Also some of the cable was doubled up across the multiple terminals but not all. So Rich cleaned everything, doubled up all the cabling and coated all the terminals in anti-corrosion paint...



Ran it all up again and a vast improvement. We had to go very hard on the amps to get a ripple alarm but at that point the voltage was really sagging. It's probably down to the chemistry of the batts themselves on how much they can actually give that quickly, being " deep cycle / standby " batts they are not really made for that usage with a low C rating compared to modern li-po / li-ion but we would never run at that level without sunshine anyway so a kind of win !!

So now we will have to wait for our first gig to really test out wether the caps have improved things sonically..... gonna be a long wait sadly...nothing till next March on the books so far...

.p.

Edited by Phil B - 23 October 2020 at 11:43pm
Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut.

Solar Sound System Shennanigans..http://diyhifi.biz/
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Phil B View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Phil B Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 March 2021 at 10:18am
So a few gigs finally !! A couple of outdoor festivals ...







After a long time in lockdown where we managed to get a lot of system testing / fine tuning done ....and finally we got to run the system hard on the batteries / capacitors...it all seems a lot better.
One thing that cropped up in measurement is that the mids seem to HPF themselves ( due to the tap size). We were trying to add a HPF for the combined mids + tops which meant we always had issues around 300-350. Lowering the overall HPF and allowing the mids to do it themselves seems to have cured the problem.
There were no more ripple alarms when running purely on batt power ... sadly the weather on the first festival was " biblical" and we had to run backup power all day. But festival 2 was glorious and we only hit backup after sunset because we were running all the sound and backline !!

... Happy to be out in the wild again ... and Happy with the little tweaks ..

Roll on the next gigs


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Solar Sound System Shennanigans..http://diyhifi.biz/
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Phil B View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Phil B Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 October 2021 at 1:40am
So after getting out of lockdown #6 this week we finally got access to our trailer and finished the install of our new battery/ inverter system...

3 x Pylontech US3000c lipo4 batts
1 x Victron Multiplus II - 48v ..5K
With the Cerbo GX interface...

So first off was removing 1000kg of lead / acid batts !





Then installing the Victron gear in the nose of the trailer. Still a few bits of tidying up to do but it works ! And we have full web access, full control plus geo-fencing which is kinda nice. First problem was the trailer is a very good Faraday cage and no wifi gets in/out with the doors shut! An old household router that amazingly supports USB tethering and an old mobile phone on the outside got past that issue.



The mess on the bottom left is the trailer braking system which we still have to hook up... we have just lost over a ton in weight with the batt swap but we want an independant system contained in the trailer with it's own sensor and brake-away system. We need 12v though for that system and we are now at 48v ...so more bits are needed.

The pylontechs are vertically mounted in wooden sleeves with rubber suspension and foam inserts..holes at the bottom for cooling.



Now we just need some gigs ....sigh.

.p.



Edited by Phil B - 24 October 2021 at 1:40am
Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut.

Solar Sound System Shennanigans..http://diyhifi.biz/
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Natedub Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 October 2021 at 6:43pm
Looking great Phil  Have you had a chance to test it under load yet and check runtime? We looked at the pylontechs but ended up using salvaged ev battery modules and external bms. 

Regards 
Nath
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bitSmasher Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 November 2021 at 1:37am
Originally posted by Phil B Phil B wrote:

Now we just need some gigs ....sigh.
I'm super keen to check this out when you get the chance to give it a run!

After 9 months of lockdown limbo, I finally moved to Melbourne earlier in the year, and can't wait for the local music and events to come back to life - it was a big drawcard for the move down...
https://www.instagram.com/batteryacidsoundsystem/
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Phil B Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 February 2022 at 10:39am
OK..so finally last weekend we got to do our first proper gig in a year ! It was a Dancehall party in the courtyard of a small club in Inner North Melbourne but we were allowed to set everything up outside with power from the solar trailer and able to run at a decent level all night, no complaints and the cops didn't show up...that was the first plus.

Second big plus was that it all worked. The new batts performed amazingly and when we shut the system off at 3am after starting at 5pm the day before the batts were still at 30% SOC. We had some solar input till about 7pm but never needed any backup power. No voltage sagging, no ripple alarms and being able to remotely monitor via the Victron phone app meant we could see exactly what was going on. We even ran the Keystone subs off the FFa 6k on the batt supply which we were always wary of doing before.

Third plus is actually a 4th one ! We are going ahead with buying a 4th Pylontech batt which should give us up to 12hours runtime with no input. We have already built the case and have the leads ready so it can just slot in.

We are all super stoked in our camp and pretty gob-smacked...

Some pics....









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Solar Sound System Shennanigans..http://diyhifi.biz/
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Phil B View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Phil B Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 April 2022 at 2:46pm
Summer has been and gone down here in the Southern part of the globe .... we managed a few festivals and the new battery system has performed flawlessly, no need for constant backup power to keep the system voltage up, we have set the backup to kick in at 15% s.o.c and it's only happened twice....

Some pics of our off-grid summer gigs...

Firstly a great Jamaican Music & Food festival down at the docks in Williamstown ( the Sea Shepherd Ship -Steve Irwin in the background). Just DJ's all day but a great crowd and a chance to really turn it up to eleven !





Then our usual adventures down in Warnambool for Goomfest 4. An eclectic mix of punk to thrash to DJ's...the system was on for 20 hours flat out and didn't miss a beat...

Welcome to Country with the local mob...






Edit....yes that low tent caused loads of issues with monitors ! Was a different world out front !


And lastly a very different gig doing OffGrid Living Festival. Just two tops and subs for the band stage( but the amp decided to let out the magic smoke on day one !). And 3 stages with battery powered speakers doing talks and lectures...

My fav band from that event..Whiskey Dram ..proper folk/sea shanty/ sing along style.



Next up is a full day of post summer servicing/ cleaning and then Heavy Congress.... watch this space.



Edited by Phil B - 30 April 2022 at 2:51pm
Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut.

Solar Sound System Shennanigans..http://diyhifi.biz/
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cravings View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cravings Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 April 2022 at 3:02pm
So good
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