Topic: very small batteries, like a laptop but not? (Read 1670 times)

ted nightshade · « **on:** October 13, 2004, 10:28:29 AM »

Hey all,

I'm trying to scheme on a very small battery pack sufficient to run my vibraphone motor for a couple hours. It's a really nice silent variable speed motor that I know ultimately runs on DC, but it has some digital stuff in there and is rather expensive so I think it best to feed it AC through one of those little Exceltech inverters.

I have a nearly suitable battery here in my laptop- puts out the 40 watts or so for a few hours, very small and light, but of course it's proprietary and doesn't have the right connections and probably doesn't put out 12 V nominal either...

Where can I find a similarly sized and capable battery that will work with a little standard 12 V sine wave inverter like the Exceltech?

I'm envisioning this all stashed tidily under the vibraphone frame so I can still fold up the vibes for portable and nobody need be any the wiser.

The why is because we often perform acoustically outdoors where vibraphone is the only thing that needs plugged in, and it's not always easy to find a place to plug it in, and I'm not always confident that the power is much good when we do find a place, especially after a long extension cord run. Plus, the extension cord fouls up the elegant aesthetics of it all.

Jakob Erland · « **Reply #1 on:** October 13, 2004, 10:40:15 AM »

How about a simple motorcycle-type lead-acid 12V battery?

Jakob E.

ted nightshade · « **Reply #2 on:** October 13, 2004, 04:42:48 PM »

Jakob Erland wrote on Wed, 13 October 2004 07:40

How about a simple motorcycle-type lead-acid 12V battery?

Jakob E.

Lead acid batteries are just too heavy, and too dangerous to tote around. I'm hoping for something that can be installed in the vibes frame and no wonder what angle the vibes are at, I'm not worried about spilling caustics.

Jakob Erland · « **Reply #3 on:** October 14, 2004, 04:47:25 AM »

That should be no problem with sealed lead-acid batteries. Generally lead-acid types are a lot cheaper than other storage cells for medium-to-high currents.

The other approach would be to mount 10 1.2V NIMH-batteries in a battery holder. But it wouldn't give you as long runtime as the lead-acid battery.

James Perrett · « **Reply #4 on:** October 14, 2004, 06:53:06 AM »

There's a company in the UK called Hawk-Woods (http://www.hawkwoods.com) who sell custom Lithium Ion battery packs for location video/audio people. It sounds like one of their packs might do the job but I'm sure you'll find someone who sells something similar locally.

Cheers.

James.

Sahib · « **Reply #5 on:** October 14, 2004, 07:24:06 PM »

Not every battery is suitable for use with inverters. You have to consider the discharge characteristics of the battery in relation to your equipment. What you will be doing with an inverter is to bulk produce electricity so you will need a heavy drain battery. I recommend Gell batteries which are used for golf caddies etc. These batteries do not contain liquid acid instead they have gell compound to provide the necessary reaction to produce current. So they come as either 6V or 12V with various current rating and are safe for your application. Just type in GELL BATTERIES in google. I have just checked and there are many US companies from whom you can obtain directly.

Cemal

ted nightshade · « **Reply #6 on:** October 15, 2004, 10:42:13 AM »

Thanks folks! Will do my research now.

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Author Topic: very small batteries, like a laptop but not? (Read 1670 times)

ted nightshade

very small batteries, like a laptop but not?

Jakob Erland

Re: very small batteries, like a laptop but not?

ted nightshade

Re: very small batteries, like a laptop but not?

Jakob Erland

Re: very small batteries, like a laptop but not?

James Perrett

Re: very small batteries, like a laptop but not?

Sahib

Re: very small batteries, like a laptop but not?

ted nightshade

Re: very small batteries, like a laptop but not?