The place to share knowledge about upgrades, mods, customisations and all other cool DIY projects for MPCs and other music equipment.
By mQueue Sun May 27, 2012 3:47 pm
Sooty_G wrote:i only have one question at this point: what is the real world battery performance going to be? how long will you be able to go on one battery?


The MPC1000 max draw is 19 watts and it runs on 12v. 19/12 = 1.58 amps or 1580 milliamps an hour. The rating on the battery I posted is 8800mah.

8800/1580 = 5.57 hours.

Honestly I believe the rating on the battery is shooting high, but time will tell. Also I think without a 2.5" hard drive and not using the individual outs will draw less than 19 watts.
By mQueue Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:30 pm
I received a couple battery packs, did some battery life testing. The battery pack I'm using has a crappy discharge curve, it only puts out 12v for about 30 min. This can be smoothed out with a DC-DC regulator http://www.ebay.com/itm/300717693452?_t ... 3923wt_802 (or you could use a better battery)

MPC1000 at idle (one battery pack):

fully charged - 12.3v
.5 hrs - 11.9v
1 hr - 11.7v
1.5 hrs - 11.5v
3 hrs - 11v
4 hrs - 10.5v
4.5 hrs - 10.4v
5+ hrs is possible but needs better voltage regulation

Here's a shot after 4 hrs of idle:
http://www.use.com/c43bf2fd7675925dc3cd

I'll have to do more battery life testing with audio running in and out of it, but having a steady 12v is necessary to ensure the D/A circuitry isn't damaged.

Here's a shot of a couple battery packs in the MPC, there's plenty of room:
http://www.use.com/61f66edd448fd1192f98#photo=2

They can even be stacked:
http://www.use.com/61f66edd448fd1192f98#photo=1

Also...I still haven't quite figured out how charging and using the MPC at the same time will work, it doesn't look like battery packs would support that. It's on the list of things to figure out.
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By inflict3 Mon Jun 04, 2012 6:08 pm
nice work!!
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By kneebone77 Mon Jun 04, 2012 8:02 pm
Yes Yes! Good Job, keep those updates coming.
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By mr_debauch Tue Jun 05, 2012 4:32 am
mQueue wrote:
Also...I still haven't quite figured out how charging and using the MPC at the same time will work, it doesn't look like battery packs would support that. It's on the list of things to figure out.


maybe there is a charger component you could buy? who knows...

but also, it might not be that terrible to have an alternate port for a charging adapter and a switch to change from the battery to AC.. shut down, switch over to ac... plug in the battery charger while the machine can still run from the wall .. yeah it's archaic but better than nothing if finding some sort of charger component is not available.
By mQueue Tue Jun 05, 2012 11:25 am
mr_debauch wrote:
mQueue wrote:
Also...I still haven't quite figured out how charging and using the MPC at the same time will work, it doesn't look like battery packs would support that. It's on the list of things to figure out.


maybe there is a charger component you could buy? who knows...
.


The battery manufacturer actually let me know that charging while using the battery is possible, I'll be trying it out soon.
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By inflict3 Tue Jun 05, 2012 3:17 pm
mQueue wrote:
mr_debauch wrote:
mQueue wrote:
Also...I still haven't quite figured out how charging and using the MPC at the same time will work, it doesn't look like battery packs would support that. It's on the list of things to figure out.


maybe there is a charger component you could buy? who knows...
.


The battery manufacturer actually let me know that charging while using the battery is possible, I'll be trying it out soon.


Image
By foodeater Sun Jun 10, 2012 6:12 am
Does this cut down on the weight of the MPC at all?

Sort of a bummer about loosing the HD because I replaced mine with a CF card. :lol:

Is there an option to turn off the LCD backlight in JJOS somewhere? This'd probably save some power and if you're using it outside or something it should be readable still.
By mQueue Sun Jun 10, 2012 1:52 pm
foodeater wrote:Does this cut down on the weight of the MPC at all?

Sort of a bummer about loosing the HD because I replaced mine with a CF card. :lol:

Is there an option to turn off the LCD backlight in JJOS somewhere? This'd probably save some power and if you're using it outside or something it should be readable still.


The MPC is a little lighter, it really depends on the size of the battery you use. I've been running off of one of the batteries I posted previously, but can probably fit 3 or 4 in the MPC.

Turning off the LCD backlight would save power, tho I don't know if it's implemented in JJOS.
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By le rat Mon Jun 11, 2012 4:39 am
A quick noob question indirectly related with this : for instance would it be possible to use only one battery, put it in the HD location and use it as a back-up power system?
By mQueue Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:15 pm
le rat wrote:A quick noob question indirectly related with this : for instance would it be possible to use only one battery, put it in the HD location and use it as a back-up power system?


Running a battery alongside the OEM power supply would difficult but not impossible. Using the battery as backup power would be much easier if you did the power supply conversion and ran the MPC off of an external power supply when plugged in.
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By davehate Wed Jun 20, 2012 6:16 am
very cool idea...but WARNING!!!

i use lipos(5000mah and up) for my rc cars and rc boats...ive had those **** literally explode on me numerous times..ive also seen many explode ..

alot of the times its during charging or if the cell was pushed to hard..now i have no clue if this would even translate to an mpc but i figure its worth shouting out...

and if you do work out this out...sign me up!!!
By rafa771 Fri Jul 13, 2012 6:10 pm
Any new developments with this? News on integrating the regulator? Powering while charging? Enquiring minds want to know...
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By Tag One The Fader Fiend Sat Jul 14, 2012 3:10 pm
rafa771 wrote:Any new developments with this? News on integrating the regulator? Powering while charging? Enquiring minds want to know...


+1 on that

davehate wrote:very cool idea...but WARNING!!!

i use lipos(5000mah and up) for my rc cars and rc boats...ive had those **** literally explode on me numerous times..ive also seen many explode ..

alot of the times its during charging or if the cell was pushed to hard..now i have no clue if this would even translate to an mpc but i figure its worth shouting out...


Good old battery acid that stuff will rot your pcb's quicker than a swarm of locusts in a corn field, especially as if it leaks or explodes as there is not much there to contain the battery acid. Would really hate to be carrying my 1k around all day on a camping trip to only find the battery has leaked while hiking and I had nothing suitable on me to clean it with. Couldn't we wire it all up internally, attach the connector some how to the front panel and use the battery externally when out on the go? Or am I having some weird thinking time again? :?
By mQueue Tue Jul 17, 2012 4:20 pm
Have been working on some other stuff, though I have been using the 1000 with the battery, pretty cool actually.

It's been nice for drumming in the car with an aux input to the radio (esp if you got a system :) ).

As far as the battery explosion/leakage goes; if you want to play it safe there are sealed batteries, you would have to find one that fits. Using an external battery is definitely a viable option.

I have not yet integrated the regulator, I have one but have been too lazy to hook it up, the 1000 seems to be working fine without it, I just only use it on a good charge.

I feel my part of this is near done; it looks like all of this can be done for <$50 plus the cost of whatever batteries you'd like. I've been promising to type up an in depth document to have all the info in one place, I will still do that, but the proof of concept is here, I don't feel there's too much more left for me to do and have some other oddball ideas to work out, this one is free for you guys to run with.