[glynnw]

Looking for suggestions for possible uses of a 75 amp hour SLA battery from a project that never was realized.     Unfortunately this thing is the size and weight of a car battery.   Have charger, of course.  I have played with it to power a few of my pieces that use wall warts, but really heard no improvement in system sound.  Now all my wall warts are 9V so I have this battery free to play with.  While I can build a Bottlehead kit, I cannot just take a set of schematics and build anything, so I am looking for some simple things to try.  Currently my PC is running in pieces without a case, so adding wires or whatever is relatively doable.  Could I power the SSD my OS is on by simply running a power cable to the SSD?  I am looking for technically simple things like that. 

[JohnR]

The SSD will run off 5V, connecting 12V to it is a "very bad idea" (I know from personal experience...  ) So at a minimum you'd need a regulator. If it were me, I'd try using the battery to power some Class D amps and leave the computer alone.

[WGH]

Paul Pang has a lot of interesting products besides his excellent USB card, one of them is a Battery Adapter:

http://ppaproduct.blogspot.tw/2014/09/battery-adapter.html

This  adapter is a powerful regulator for battery or DC input.
At 5V output it could offer 3A output current,
It could powered 3 x SSD or SSD + USB CARD + DDC at  the same time.

[jparkhur]

Drop the battery on your pc and kill it.   Use the battery now to power your new Mac mini and extra hard drives etc.  dispose of old pc appropriately by using it as an anchor.  That's my dark humor for the day.

FYI Pi Audio has a nice mod for powering hard drives and computers off batteries.  I am sure there are others too.  Jp

[jparkhur]

[glynnw]

I appreciate your suggesting I switch to a Mac system and thank you for not suggesting I place the battery somewhere in my body.

I think the Mac stuff is cool, but I am hopelessly involved in the PC, everything networked, and I share files with others in other states, so I will be a PC user for a while more.  And while ultimate musical quality is the goal, there are many areas where I bend in favor of convenience.  I enjoy being connected to the internet where the Wiki, images, etc. features of J River add to the enjoyment.  But I am open to someday switching, if not to Mac then to some other system now being developed.

[glynnw]

Thanks for the link to the Pang site.  I had read of his stuff but never looked it up before. Looks like just what I need. 

 Any other sites anyone wants to mention would be appreciated

[kenreau]

Put the battery on Craigs List and use the proceeds money for something more useful.

Kenreau

[glynnw]

I feel I'll get a better return on investment in fun by playing with it than the small amount of money I'd get on Craig's list here in NW Louisiana.  So far I have used Craig's list  to give away speakers that I cannot sell.  And besides, I think there is probably an application using the battery that will improve sound.  I initially used the battery on an amp, but it died a week after I got it and wasn't worth the repair costs to me.  Now I am currently in love with my Shindo Montille amp and have no plans to replace it (until I do).  So another battery powered amp is not on the horizon.

My system was recently rearranged within the room to coexist with  a projection TV and now as I look at the stereo rig, the front end looks like the area I want to try to improve.  Since system is all digital and I just got a Bottlehead DAC, the PC is about all I can work on.

[srb]

I feel I'll get a better return on investment in fun by playing with it than the small amount of money I'd get on Craig's list here in NW Louisiana.

It's hard to imagine someone buying a used battery  , at least I know I wouldn't personally even consider buying one used.

[kenreau]

It's hard to imagine someone buying a used battery  , at least I know I wouldn't personally even consider buying one used.

I'm often surprised as well, but there are a lot of people just scraping by that would spend ~$40 on a used battery rather than ~$100 on a brand spanking new one.  I've sold used tires, tire chains, car stereos and meeting a guy tonight to sell a 20 year old Kicker solobaric sub I've had stored for $30.  Its beer and pizza money for me for not much more than posting a CL ad and meeting someplace.    Some get no response, some do.  Much like here on the Trading Post.

[Atlplasma]

You might want to check out the Tortuga Audio circle. I'm using one of Morten's LDR volume controls with 12 volt power and really enjoying it. You also could buy a used Gary Dodd preamp that will work with DC.

[barrows]

SLA is not really a good choice for powering computers/digital processors, as these circuits need a very low output impedance power supply for best performance.  Same is true for DACs and even analog electronics to a point.  I get really good results powering my Server (Linux) with a LiFePO4 battery and separate regulation, but the LiFePO4 batteries offer very low output impedance, unlike SLA.
What might work well for powering a PC/Server, would be your SLA, followed by a bank of Super Capacitors.  This way, the Super Capacitors would handle the high speed power spikes, and the battery would just keep the Super Capacitors charged.

[glynnw]

I, too, am using a Tortuga volume comtrol as a passive pre.  I cooked an earlier board by using a mislabeled wall wart, so I am sticking with using Morten's new power supply just to be sure it all works OK.

I like the bank of caps idea, but really more than I want to get into at this time.