[Russtafarian]

I'm looking for a twelve pole switch or switching mechanism with at least 5 amps of current capability.  I am going to use it to switch six 12v SLAs. 

I'm going to wire the switch so that one contact will parallel the six SLAs for charging.  The other contact will put three each in series for two 36VDC power sources.  These will then be wired for +/- 36VDC rails to power two UcD180 amp modules.

Thanks for your help.

Russ

[StevenACNJ]

Talk to Gordy.

He is the battery supply UCD expert! 

[dwk]

Interesting - I just posted a question to diyaudio along the lines of battery power UcD, although I was wondering about +-12 rather than 36. I'm not sure it's going to work, but might be worth trying.

I haven't really thought about switching for series/parallel for charging, but I'd be worried about sparking and inrush current. I get sparking even on my 12V setup when connecting the battery.  I'd also worry a bit about running 6 in parallel - current imbalance might start to be a problem. The Solar guys seem to get uneasy with more than 3 in parallel, but then they're using much higher currents.

You might look into seeing whether there are chargers that use isolated outputs, which would allow stacking so you didn't have to rewire into parallel.

[Daryl]

Hmmm...

Why not just use a power supply?

UCD modules have excellent characteristics as well as a differential input which makes easy work of eliminating power source noise.

Most equipment is equiped with only single ended inputs which make primary/secondary isolation of the power transformer your only defense against ground noise between componets (even if you increase the effectiveness of the power supplies filter your still stuck with whatever amount of isolation your power transformer affords you).

Most people just use a simple power supply for the UCD's because of their excellent characteristics but you could further filter your power supply if you wanted (even at a later date).

You could go so far as to mount your transformer and rectifiers in a separate case and mount your filter capacitors in the amplifier chassis leaving room for insane numbers of capacitors if you wish to go crazy at a later date.

You could use the batteries if it's fun for you but in no way is battery power necessary for top performance (competent design is and is something you often don't get in very expensive gear).

If you were to use batteries I would recomend you leave them in series always and build a regulated +/- 41v constant voltage supply to  charge/maintain your batteries.

This only requires a 3PDT switch (or relay) which connects the batteries to either the amplifier or the supply (when the amplifier is turned on the power supply is disconnected).

Also an outomatic shutoff at <31v for each rail would be adviseable to avoid polarity reversal of individual cells due to uneven capacity which is inevitable.

Daryl

[Russtafarian]

If you were to use batteries I would recomend you leave them in series always and build a regulated +/- 41v constant voltage supply to  charge/maintain your batteries.

This only requires a 3PDT switch (or relay) which connects the batteries to either the amplifier or the supply (when the amplifier is turned on the power supply is disconnected).

Also an outomatic shutoff at <31v for each rail would be adviseable to avoid polarity reversal of individual cells due to uneven capacity which is inevitable.

That's a really good idea.  Can you refer me to a schematic or other resources for building a charger like that?  Thank you.