| Author |
 Topic  |
|
ricdoug
`Olu`olu
USA
513 Posts |
 Posted - 12/10/2009 : 8:04:25 PM
|
I gotta' admit I'm skeptical as to how this works, but if it even runs 2 to 3 hours at that power on penlite batteries I'd still be beyond impressed. A frind of mine in Arizona just got one and she's gigging with it this weekend in Arizona. This technology could have a whole new place in mountain, park and wilderness gigs/festivals. here's the info I have on it:
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product?sku=583400
|
It's easier to ask for forgiveness, than permission! |
Edited by - ricdoug on 09/29/2011 09:18:00 AM |
|
|
Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
|
|
cpatch
Ahonui
USA
2187 Posts |
Posted - 12/11/2009 : 08:58:56 AM
|
| Roland is actually claiming up to 10 hours continuous use with NiMH (rechargeable) batteries in full power mode, 15 in ECO mode. |
Craig
My goal is to be able to play as well as people think I can. |
 |
|
|
Lawrence
Ha`aha`a
USA
1597 Posts |
Posted - 12/11/2009 : 12:41:26 PM
|
I have been waiting for several years for Manufacturers to take advantage of switching amplifier technology (class-D) for light weight P.A. gear, but they have been slow to adopt. YamahaRoland calls this thing a "digital amplifier" which class-D is not (it is linear pulse width modulation), but I have seen other MFG misuse the name digital and apply it to a class-D amplifier. So I suspect this thing probably IS class-D which is up to 95% power-efficient (as opposed to 10%-30% from class AB, which is what is in most current designs). That means about THREE times the battery life for the same power output. And in fact there are several class-D chips of about 30W output readily available to designers at this point in time.
So this is promising. What I want is about 100-200W class-D with good specs with a switching power supply also included. This kind of design would not weigh much more than the speaker and cabinet, yet put out lots of bark. But 30W ain't bad for small spaces and kanikapilas.
|
Mahope Kākou...
...El Lorenzo de Ondas Sonoras |
Edited by - Lawrence on 12/11/2009 3:45:34 PM |
|
|
|
rendesvous1840
Ha`aha`a
USA
1055 Posts |
Posted - 12/11/2009 : 2:03:43 PM
|
Does Roland belong to Yamaha?
Unko Paul |
"A master banjo player isn't the person who can pick the most notes.It's the person who can touch the most hearts." Patrick Costello |
|
|
|
Lawrence
Ha`aha`a
USA
1597 Posts |
Posted - 12/11/2009 : 3:44:20 PM
|
Oops... Wherever I said Yamaha replace with Roland, slip o the tongue!
|
Mahope Kākou...
...El Lorenzo de Ondas Sonoras |
|
|
|
ricdoug
`Olu`olu
USA
513 Posts |
Posted - 12/21/2009 : 5:49:28 PM
|
Here's the product brochure:
http://cms.rolandus.com/assets/media/pdf/ba-330_brochure.pdf
An interesting feature is the "Stereo Link" that allows two BA330's to be used together for a 12 channel battery powered P.A. system at both ends of the stage. Ric |
It's easier to ask for forgiveness, than permission! |
Edited by - ricdoug on 09/29/2011 09:19:17 AM |
|
|
|
ricdoug
`Olu`olu
USA
513 Posts |
|
|
ricdoug
`Olu`olu
USA
513 Posts |
Posted - 01/14/2010 : 8:46:31 PM
|
| I ordered and received this P.A. 2 weeks ago. I gave the employees a box of 24 AA alkaline batteries at Giacoletti Music and asked them to test it under a variety of circumstances (my work has kept me very busy for the past month). They just killed the first set of 8 AA alkaline batteries after two weeks of medium usage. The reports are that it's loud and clean and the batteries seem to last forever. So, I brought it home, but did not unload it from my car as I was headed to the Wednesday night jam at the Moonlight Ukulele Strummers in Encinitas. I quickly learned the sad news that uncle Frank Leong was sick and bad health for the past two weeks. God bless our braddah and I wish/pray for his speedy recovery. Gerry Rayhill talked to me about the battery life of my Carvin S400D and I told him it was about 2 and a half hours at full power on a full charge. Gerry told me he needed more than that for him and Dr. Keith Marzullo to play their set at the http://runrocknroll.competitor.com . I immediately loaned Gerry my Roland BA330, along with 16 new AA batteries (enough for two battery reloads on the BA330) to use for the gig. I'm hoping Keith will report here after the gig on the Roland BA330's performnce after the gig. I still can't figure out how Roland gets that much power and running time out of 8 AA alkaline batteries. Ric |
It's easier to ask for forgiveness, than permission! |
|
|
|
ricdoug
`Olu`olu
USA
513 Posts |
Posted - 01/15/2010 : 9:38:08 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by Lawrence
I have been waiting for several years for Manufacturers to take advantage of switching amplifier technology (class-D) for light weight P.A. gear
I just got back from the NAMM show a few hours ago, Lawerence. Check out Carvin's new P.A. line. Class D all the way and some of the lightest P.A. gear I've ever encountered! Clean as a whistle, too. Ric |
It's easier to ask for forgiveness, than permission! |
|
|
|
ricdoug
`Olu`olu
USA
513 Posts |
Posted - 01/15/2010 : 10:12:44 PM
|
This is the Roland Battery Band:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJRKP7R0ZBk
In a noisy room of about 200 yacking people, you could hear them loud and clear. The vocals were on steroids. She had two BA330's cascaded for the mains. This made a very effective 60 watt P.A. system that sounded more like a 200 watt system, due to the efficiency of the speakers. The gentleman on the left was using a handheld Keyboard to play the bass through a Roland KC110 30 watt battery powered keyboard amp http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.php?ProductId=1057&ParentId=418 . The keyboardist also played through a Roland KC110 30 watt battery powered keyboard amp http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.php?ProductId=1057&ParentId=418 as well ast hee accordianist who also played through a Roland KC110 30 watt battery powered keyboard amp http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.php?ProductId=1057&ParentId=418 . The guitarist was playing through a Roland Cube Street, of which I own 3. The drummer was playing through a BA330. Ladies and gentlemen, this was loud and clean. I talked to the band after their set and they change the NiMH AA batteries after every 10 hours of playing. This technology is mysterious. My BA330 P.A. arrived at Giacoletti Music in Carlsbad before Christmas. I gave them two packs of 24 AA alkaline batteries to run the amp through many situations. After 2 weeks, the batteries finally died. I picked up the BA330 and the remaining 40 batteries. When I took it home, I ran an I-Pod into it for about 5 hours at a pretty loud volume. The battery meter still showed about half of the battery life remained. Another musician, Gerry Rahill asked me about how long the batteries lasted on my Carvin S4100D battery powered P.A. running at full power, as he also has access to another one. When I told him about 2 to 2 and a half hours, he said that would not be long enough for his application. I immediatley loaned Gerry my BA330 and 16 alkaline batteries so that he and Dr. Keith Marzullo could use it for the http://san-diego.competitor.com/register/ http://san-diego.competitor.com/uncategorized/rock-n-roll-relay-is-back/ . Ric |
It's easier to ask for forgiveness, than permission! |
Edited by - ricdoug on 09/29/2011 09:23:57 AM |
|
|
|
Mark
Ha`aha`a
USA
1628 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2010 : 2:51:29 PM
|
Ric -
I appreciate your thorough testing of this gear.
A question for ya: Have you done battery life tests with rechargeables?
I hesitate to use anything that will not run on mullti-use batteries... contrary to what some say, standard batteries are rarely (if ever) recycled... even if the store tells you they have a recycling program.
I checked-- the batteries still go into the land fill. And that is a very bad thing.
Some manufacturers warn against using rechargeable batteries. Lawrence can probably tell us why-- but I won't buy gear that makes me throw stuff away just to use it.
So-- if you get a change, check out how long it'll run.
BTW: The Eneloop technology http://www.eneloop.info/ is terrific... but the buggers cost a little more up front. IF you can find them. (Hint: try online.)
|
|
|
|
ricdoug
`Olu`olu
USA
513 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2010 : 8:40:26 PM
|
The Roland Battery Band:
"I talked to the band after their set and they change the NiMH AA batteries after every 10 hours of playing. This technology is mysterious"
I will try NiMH rechargeables myself after I get the P.A. back in a couple of weeks. The Eneloop technology is interesting. They retain constant voltage till the very end of their life cycle, which is important to me to retain quality performance through the entire cycle of performing. They also retain a charge for long periods of dormant time. I've been using Ray-O-Vac batteries NiMH that claim similar characteristics in my camera, radios and comm gear with superb results. All my current stage gear, as Mikalele will attest to, is carried in the trunk of my PZEV Ford Focus and I still average 29 MPG with that load - Carvin S400D with Carvin 810 extension cabinet, 3 Roland Cube Street, 2 Roland Microcube RX, 1 Roland Microcube Bass RX, 2 Roland Microcubes, 2 Speaker Stands, 4 Microphone Stands, 6 folding triangle camping stool chairs and microphones along with cables and D.I. boxes and other associated cabling and hardware. The guitars, bass, loaner ukes, loaner songbooks and toolkit go in the backseat and I still have room for a passenger. Just recently I replaced the 2 motorcycle sized lead acid batteries in my Carvin S400D after about a year and half of heavy use. Do you know of a good deep cycle and/or green replacement battery for a Qualitech Q-Power QP12-7 (12V-7Ah) maintenance free rechargeable battery? The deep cycles are what kills the current batteries life cycle. I'll ask my local Batteries Plus store, if no one here knows. Ric |
It's easier to ask for forgiveness, than permission! |
|
|
|
Lawrence
Ha`aha`a
USA
1597 Posts |
Posted - 01/18/2010 : 09:24:48 AM
|
quote:
Some manufacturers warn against using rechargeable batteries. Lawrence can probably tell us why-- but I won't buy gear that makes me throw stuff away just to use it.
Simple answer - laziness!
Some designers design their electronics to work with the voltage available from Alkaline battery cells (1.5-1.6V under light loads). NiMH and NiCD cells generate 1.2-1.3 volts under light loads and when fresh. So what is 0.2 to 0.3 volts between friends? Enough to make a poorly designed circuit not work. This is especially true for circuits designed to operate off a single-cell where only 1.5v is available. It takes about 0.75V to operate a standard bi-polar transistor and most circuits have a couple of these in series, so 1.5v just barely makes it. FET transistors can potentially be used at lower voltages but ones that operate linearly (linearity is required for audio) at such low voltages are rare. Of course modern electronics use integrated circuits but these are made with the same two kinds of transistors inside.
But the bottom line is still - poor design. You should be able to use a NiMH anywhere an Alkaline will work if the design was done correctly. I would personally not want to design an audio circuit to work on less than 3 volts if I had a choice, and more is better.
But of course the other issue is that Alkalines store almost twice the energy of NiMH so they will last much longer without changing batteries, and in some cases that is a critical issue.
|
Mahope Kākou...
...El Lorenzo de Ondas Sonoras |
Edited by - Lawrence on 01/18/2010 09:28:09 AM |
|
|
|
ricdoug
`Olu`olu
USA
513 Posts |
Posted - 01/18/2010 : 09:50:22 AM
|
From page 6 of the owners manual:
http://lib.roland.co.jp/support/en/manuals/res/15190259/BA-330_egfispd02.pdf
Battery life (varies according to conditions of use)
Alkaline
MAX about 8 hours
ECO about 12 hours
Nickel-metal hydride
MAX about 10 hours
ECO about 15 hours
It sounds like this system was designed to work optimum on NiMH rechargeable batteries. What it did not specify the mAH of the batteries. Personally I'm happy if it gets half the claimed run time claimed. A couple spare sets of batteries will keep it running for a long time. Ric |
It's easier to ask for forgiveness, than permission! |
|
|
|
Lawrence
Ha`aha`a
USA
1597 Posts |
Posted - 01/18/2010 : 10:28:17 AM
|
Yes that is a bit strange, most MFG's would state a longer operating time for Alkalines than NiMH. Present Aklalines (like the Duracell MN1500 AA battery for instance) have a capacity of 2850mAh, whereas the usual NiMH has a capacity of around 1800mAh. This is is a ratio of about 1.6 in capacity. However, everything keeps evolving and the batteries you mention above quote 2000mAh.
Alkalines also fall off gradually in voltage where NiCD and NiMH stay pretty steady and then fall off rapidly at the end. This characteristic may make a difference with the Roland deelywogger.
I do like the battery cartridge idea, especially if they make another one that takes "C" cells. That way if you take it down to the beach to play Hawaiian Music and the batteries run low, you can just walk over to the kiosk nearby where the nice wahine sells "C" cells by the sea shore.
|
Mahope Kākou...
...El Lorenzo de Ondas Sonoras |
Edited by - Lawrence on 01/18/2010 10:35:19 AM |
|
|
|
Topic |
|
30 watt PA runs on 8 AA batteries for 8 hours!!!..
