Questions about Busking on battery power

General discussion and tech talk about the industry standard Pedal Power line of power supplies.
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Firstinversion
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jul 06, 2021 10:09 pm

Questions about Busking on battery power

Post by Firstinversion »

I am interested in building my first pedalboard, and would like to buy from Voodoo Lab, if possible. At least 50% of my gigging is busking without AC power. I use a Fishman Loudbox Mini Charge PA, which gives me good power and sound for at least 4 hours. I saw one other post about using Voodoo Lab power supplies for battery-powered busking rigs. I understand that Voodoo Labs does not sell a battery. I would like to know what factors I should consider if I go this direction. I am considering buying the Dingbat medium pedalboard with Pedal Power 3 power supply. Here are my questions:
* Am I correct that the PP3 comes with a DC adapter, or does the DC adapter mentioned only apply to powering pedals? Can the unit's DC power be plugged into a 3rd party rechargeable battery as a power supply for pedals?
* Or, would I need to supply battery power through the PP3's AC plug?
* Are there significant downsides to running the PP3 and attached pedals from a battery? Are there line stability issues to consider?
* My expected milliamp draw from 8 pedals is around 735ma. Most of that will come from my Boss RC500 which uses 330ma. Do I need to consider the power needs of the PP3 itself? I looked at the manual but did not see power usage for the PP3 itself. Related to this, should I plan to double the available milliamps provided to 1470ma?
* Is anyone on the forum doing this? Have you found any reliable brands/types of batteries? I'm hoping to get 4 hours out of a charge without having to lug a boat-sized lead-acid battery.

Thanks!

Rez
Posts: 684
Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2011 10:31 am

Re: Questions about Busking on battery power

Post by Rez »

A USA/domestic model Pedal Power 3 (or 3 Plus) requires 120VAC power. So, if there is no AC power, it wont be usable.

But... if your battery can supply regulated 12VDC, perhaps it could be used to power Pedal Power X4 or Pedal Power X8 (without the need to also use their 12V power adapters... which also require AC power).

Also, the overall power consumption of the supply and effect pedals will likely be significant but also significantly less than power consumption of the amplification!

Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Ben Resnick
Voodoo Lab - Tech Support

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