[BrandonB]

Hey Danny just watched the video of you and Jay talking about your equipment being off the grid.  Which components would you recommend getting off the grid if you are not able to get them all off?  Is there a way of getting equipment off that is not designed to run off batteries? 

[BrandonB]

Maybe a this could be a tech talk video?

[S Clark]

The best of the off the grid gear was made by the late Gary Dodd.  Stay alert and pick one of his Battery Preamps used.  I've had luck using hifishark.com 

[Speedskater]

Maybe Off Topic but:
Some US solar panel installations are a known source of noise/interference.
 as are some inverters and UPS's.

[S Clark]

In this case we are talking about battery power, usually old fashioned sealed lead acid.   

[Rusty Jefferson]

In this case we are talking about battery power, usually old fashioned sealed lead acid.

Is his system running off batteries alone then, no inverter/charger involved?  Is there a discussion thread about here somewhere?

[tremrej65]

Is his system running off batteries alone then, no inverter/charger involved?  Is there a discussion thread about here somewhere?

Here's a video describing his offgrid system pretty well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sEvxjdLW-o

[FullRangeMan]

Which components would you recommend getting off the grid if you are not able to get them all off?

Obviously big power amps are not suited to use batteries, unless Class D.

[BrandonB]

I watched the video and of Danny and Jay and would just like to go into more depth.  What exactly is a battery bus? 

[Rusty Jefferson]

Here's a video describing his offgrid system pretty well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sEvxjdLW-o

Thanks for the link.

The most realistic system I've spent time with is all battery powered. Transport, dac, amplifier. I'd heard it AC powered many times and was impressed, but battery powered is just simply amazing.

[KTS]

The best of the off the grid gear was made by the late Gary Dodd.  Stay alert and pick one of his Battery Preamps used.  I've had luck using hifishark.com

Are there schematics, boards or files for ordering the boards on Gary Dodd’s designs? It would be nice to try and build if they were publicly available. I have heard he was an exceptional designer and a groundbreaking designer of battery designated components.

[newzooreview]

Obviously big power amps are not suited to use batteries, unless Class D.

Class D amps are efficient, but a 200W Class D amp still draws 222 watts at maximum output (if 90% efficient).

They are not free-energy devices.

[tull skull]

Unfortunately I don't think there is much available regarding Gary's designs. Not only that but he also potted his novel circuits so that is another problem.
To tell you the truth, unfairly and undeservedly, Gary wasn't well known outside of Audiocircle and Danny's friendship.

[KTS]

Unfortunately I don't think there is much available regarding Gary's designs. Not only that but he also potted his novel circuits so that is another problem.
To tell you the truth, unfairly and undeservedly, Gary wasn't well known outside of Audiocircle and Danny's friendship.

Well that is a bummer, I have wanted to hear his designs.

[Hobbsmeerkat]

Charlie Cocci has some of Gary's circuits, as does Danny, but I'm not sure of the extent of what schematics they have.
There are plans to launch a battery-powered tube pre-amp in the future and we're already working to produce a tube headphone amp, both of which are based on Gary's designs.

What exactly is a battery bus? 

A "battery bus" is the wiring that connects a bunch of smaller batteries together so they act as a "single" battery.
In the case of some early designs it had 4 batteries with 2 battery busses where one bus would charge as the other is being used.



Some models also had all 4 smaller batteries wired together in series-parallel for improved dynamics, (1x 20AH v 2x 10AH)
Tater models removed the smaller battery in favor of a smaller chassis, and a single external 12V 110AH AGM battery, which are kept charged by small Ctek 0.8A trickle chargers.

[jtwrace]

Charlie Cocci has some of Gary's circuits, as does Danny, but I'm not sure of the extent of what schematics they have.

"Tran" has the schematics. 

[brj]

That is one form of bus, in a more traditional electrical sense, but, more likely, it was a reference to the P.I. Audio BatteryBUSS formerly made by Dave Elledge before he retired.  I spotted at least one in the video linked above.  They weren't as well known as Dave's UberBUSS and DigiBUSS, but were quite effective.  Standard units would provide 5V and 12VDC outputs from a 12V battery input.  Details here:

https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=111257.msg1152248

I use one to drive all of the "small" items in my system, including the small industrial computer I use as an HQPlayer NAA (in place of the direct-attached Mac I used to use), the optical Ethernet converter in front of my subwoofer management unit, the logic circuits for my otherwise passive autoformer based pre-amp, the IR blaster I use to control the system, etc..  Basically it lets me get rid of all of the small SMPSes that would otherwise risk dumping switching noise on my audio power circuit.  The only devices left to plug into the audio circuit are thus "big" devices with properly designed power supplies.

I've had it for quite a while, always powered via 100Ah batteries.  I initially used PowerSonic units based on Dave's recommendation.  The first one lasted about 9 years.  The second one died after less than 2 years for reasons unknown, with no useful response from PowerSonic.  Both were charged via the same CTEK 7002 that you can also see in video linked above.  I decided I'd try a LiFePO4 battery this time, as they allow many more charge cycles than AGM SLA types, and so far it's working well.  (The much lighter weight is nice as well.)

[tull skull]

That is great news Hobbs!

[NoahH]

@brandonb - I have one of the bigger 4 battery Dodd preamps that I am thinking about selling. Oing me if you are interested