Outdoor speaker takes 8 D batteries: getting expensive

GulfCoastToad

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Aug 16, 2011
Messages
154
My wife is a personal trainer who leads boot camps outdoors. She uses an outdoor speaker we got at Brookstone to play music from her iPod. It's loud, sounds great, and lasts a while before going dead.

The problem is that replacing the batteries is getting expensive, now that she uses it 15 hours a week. She is too far from power for an extension cord to be reasonable. So far, I have just been using grocery store Energizers and Duracells. Is there a better way?
 

abbotsmike

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jul 20, 2011
Messages
42
Location
West London, UK
My wife is a personal trainer who leads boot camps outdoors. She uses an outdoor speaker we got at Brookstone to play music from her iPod. It's loud, sounds great, and lasts a while before going dead.

The problem is that replacing the batteries is getting expensive, now that she uses it 15 hours a week. She is too far from power for an extension cord to be reasonable. So far, I have just been using grocery store Energizers and Duracells. Is there a better way?

Rechargeable D cells and an 8 bay charger such as the maha C808m? Possibly Tenergy cells would be worth a look from what I've read on here.
 

GulfCoastToad

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Aug 16, 2011
Messages
154
I will look into those items. It's essentially gonna boil down to cost. At some point, it's going to make more sense for me to buy a new speaker, powered by an on-board rechargeable battery.
 

ncbill

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jan 13, 2009
Messages
47
One of those 12VDC jump packs with an adapter cord from the jump pack's cig lighter outlet to the power inlet (assuming there is one) on the speaker.

She can recharge the jump pack from the car's cig lighter outlet going/coming if she needs to do so.
 

GulfCoastToad

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Aug 16, 2011
Messages
154
Ok, new question. I've just read that Sanyo Eneloops can be used with a D cell spacer. Would this work for my application? How do I tell if this will provide enough juice? I know very little about batteries.
 

ToyTank

Enlightened
Joined
Sep 12, 2011
Messages
306
Location
Your Momma's house...
The problem with eneloops here is you'll need the adapters and then you have D cells that are only 2000mAH instead of 10000mAH. I assume the unit uses 12V(8x1.5V cells)so another option would be to Rig a 12V source(car battery, 12V solar panel, li-ion, nimh, or sla 12V cordless packs, etc.

Edit: Yeah your on the 12V idea:)
 
Last edited:

americanpiegamer188

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Mar 10, 2011
Messages
70
Here is what you can do.

Dealextreme SKU 7031. These are 2x AA to D adaptors. A regular D battery has a capacity of 10ah. An AA eneloop is 2ah. For every adapter you use, you will have a capacity of 4ah. These adapters run in parallel so you do not have to worry about voltage.

A total of 16aa eneloops ->> 8D's ->>> 32ah ->>> 9.6 volts

Dealing with that many AA's could be an issue for you, though.
 

ncbill

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jan 13, 2009
Messages
47
If the portable speaker has a DC input jack (I assume 12VDC) she can get the a DC power cord (cig lighter to whatever plug size fits that input jack) from Radio Shack (if it requires AC just get an inexpensive inverter that plugs directly into the cig lighter outlet)

Since that Northern Tools jump pack also has two 12VDC outlets she can also get a USB adapter (12V to 5V USB port) for the other cig lighter port and use that to keep her iPod charged.

Plus it can recharge via the car's cig lighter outlet while she's traveling between gigs.

That one doesn't provide AC power, as far as I can tell.
 

GulfCoastToad

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Aug 16, 2011
Messages
154
I looked last night and the bottom of the speaker says 9V DC. Does that change these recommendations? Here's a pic.
a6cd0eda-6b44-f9e2.jpg
 

Lynx_Arc

Flashaholic
Joined
Oct 1, 2004
Messages
11,212
Location
Tulsa,OK
9vdc would probably require a convertor from 12vdc as I am not sure it would run off 2 lithium ion batteries in series for a max of 8.4v.
 

ncbill

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jan 13, 2009
Messages
47
You want the Velleman CARS2000 adapter - rated high-power (2A) like your AC adapter.

(cheaper ones are only rated to 0.8A)

Around $20 online plus shipping.

It is an adjustable voltage adapter - just set the dial to 9V, select the right tip (comes with several) and verify the polarity (not clear in your photo, but most are center positive)

And as I said before if you pick a jump pack with two outlets also pick up a 12v to USB outlet adapter so she has the option to recharge her iPod at the same time.
 
Last edited:
Top