Using a Powerbank with RPI Player

[Pepperamip]

I'm not sure if this has been covered before but I thought I give my impression of using a battery power bank with an RPI player.

My particular player is the Allo Digione HAT in conjunction with the latest RPI. Not sure if this makes it more juicy than just the Rpi alone but thought I'd mention it anyway. I run volumio and i play music equally from Tidal (via BubbleUpnp) as I do FLACs from a portable HDD plugged directly into the Rpi.

The power bank I'm using is the Anker 20100 which is also it's capacity mAH or 72.36 Wh. This outputs 5v - 4.8A to 2 x USB sockets.

I haven't been using it this for long, initially I had a cheap wall wart but it just didn't sound right to me. There was too much interference for want of a better word. Moving to the Anker gave an instant and maked improvement. Much lower noise floor and let's just say it sounded better.

My main reason for this post however is that the power bank is lasting far longer than I expected. I listen in blocks of between 2 to 4 hrs. The Anker has 4 battery level lights and I am losing a light every couple of sessions. Let's say each light is lasting between 4 - 6 hours it looks like i should be getting anywhere from 16 - 24 hours listening on a full charge which suits me just fine. I charge the Anker overnight and it's fully charged by morning.

Has anyone tried a Powerbank type battery with their Rpi player? I was about to purchase another linear psu but i don't think I will now well at least while I can put up with plugging-in/unplugging/recharging it

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[struth]

Yup I use them one my 12v phono amp and my rpi. Work well although I have one power bank that doesn't sound so good. Think it might be the electronics inside it causing the issue so worth being selective

[Pepperamip]

Yup I use them one my 12v phono amp and my rpi. Work well although I have one power bank that doesn't sound so good. Think it might be the electronics inside it causing the issue so worth being selectiveIs that one of your older ones Grant? I wonder if they give up the ghost after a few years (like mobile phone batteries tend to)

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[struth]

It was like that from new. It works fine but just didn't sound right with the rpi. It powers other things and supplies enough current. So only thing I can't think is its electronics as it has a touch pad on it. My big anker does various voltages and is fine with everything as is rhe 5v amuto 20k one on the rpi. Currently not using them in the rpi s as Ive got both rpis on 24/7 to see how they handle it. Both have not missed a beat

[Alp]

I have powered my RPI3 from my Anker battery for quite some time (it was better than my Ankaka) using the USB output but recently I bought a 12V->5V stepdown transformer for £5 from e-bay. Due to not having the right cables I reverted to the Ankaka. Surprisingly, the sound is much more dynamic and "more real". I am guessing the LiIon batteries have a step-up/step-down converter internally (to get 5V from multiples of 3.6V) which is simply not very good and the external one is much better.

One word of caution though. Before I got my Dorado I had been powering my SEG from a 12V LiFePO4 battery I use to power my monoblocs. I tried the step-down converter with the LiFePO4 and the RPI3+ but got a lot of noise fed into the monoblocks, even with the SEG switched off - so its worth avoiding if you have other devices attached to the same battery.

[Pepperamip]

Is the ankaka an SLA battery? I've got SLA powering my mini-1 and it does a great job of that. Seen other people mention about these on AoS. I would happily buy another SLA if it gave even better results and meant less time between charging..

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[julesd68]

I've just installed an Amazon bought powerbank with my pi and gave it a workout this morning.

First impressions are very good and I'm not missing anything that the SLA battery I had been lent provided.
The dynamics are pretty crushing actually so no issues there!

[Tim]

Now I'm getting really confused Julian, new speakers and a Raspberry Pi? All good stuff though, adding more strings to the bow is always a good thing I reckon.

[julesd68]

Now I'm getting really confused Julian, new speakers and a Raspberry Pi? All good stuff though, adding more strings to the bow is always a good thing I reckon.

I know Tim - quite a change for me, but time to embrace the benefits that quality streaming can bring! :)

[Alp]

Is the ankaka an SLA battery? I've got SLA powering my mini-1 and it does a great job of that. Seen other people mention about these on AoS. I would happily buy another SLA if it gave even better results and meant less time between charging..

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

The Ankaka is a LiIon battery that was popular on AOS a few years back to power the Beresford DACs. It is similar to the Anker. I moved-on to feeding the DAC from one of my 12V Tracer LiFePO4 (Lithium Iron) batteries before the Dorado. I then tried both the Ankaka and Anker with the RPI. Both are good but without the stepdown the Anker was better. I now use the Tracers exclusively to power my monoblocs.

[Sherwood]

I can attest to the benefits of going completely off grid. As I mentioned on an earlier post I lived for while in northern Vietnam close to the Chinese border. The town was in a province experiencing rapid economic growth and the electricity providers could not keep up with demand. Load shedding was frequent, and it was common for the power to go out completely at weekends when engineering work was going on to increase capacity. Fortunately, i had brought out a good Tripath amp with me, as well as a single driver full range speaker (the predecessor to this in fact https://omegaloudspeakers.com/products/super-3xrs?variant=32185046156). I also had a very good Cowon mp3 player on which I had a load of files in FLAC format.
In order to preserve my sanity, I bought myself a couple of SLA motorcycle batteries (very cheap in Vietnam as everyone rides a moped) and a trickle charger t keep both batteries topped up.

Not only did this allow me to listen to music when the power went down: the SQ was better than on the mains supply. Far better indeed. I haven't got around to comparing an SLA with a lithium ion of similar capacity but I would guess that the SQ would be similar.