Silvercrest 5000mAh power bank at Lidls

[Paul S]

I wonder if this might make a decent replacement for my Pedaltrain Nano Volto, which I find struggles to keep enough oomph for a whole gig? It is rated at 5000mAh as compared to 2000mAh for the Volto, if that makes a difference? And it is £6.99

[url="http://www.lidl.co.uk/en/our-offers-2491.htm?action=showDetail&id=37546"]http://www.lidl.co.uk/en/our-offers-2491.htm?action=showDetail&id=37546[/url]

Anyone know enough to say if they are compatible and or more powerful?

[stoo]

If its USB, it'll be 5V.... Won't you need 9V?

[HowieBass]

Are you intending to use the Silvercrest unit to feed power to the Volto? It could work if the Volto can output power whilst it's receiving charge.

[Paul S]

Being a complete technophobe I didn't really understand what was going on. So it is 5V on its own, which is fairly useless for replacing the Volto. Charging the Volto - if it is possible it is starting to get complicated.

Oh well, I thought it seemed to good to be true - and it was!

Thanks!

[Paul S]

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1474974612' post='3141911']
Are you intending to use the Silvercrest unit to feed power to the Volto? It could work if the Volto can output power whilst it's receiving charge.
[/quote]

Reading into this a bit more it looks completely feasible and not at all complicated. Thanks for the idea!!

[BassApprentice]

My dad used a power bank (I'll ask specifically which one when I am home) to power his pedal board. It worked BUT he did say that it produced a lot of interference that he couldn't work out why, just a heads up.

I'll ask him more and get back to you later with a better description.

[Dood]

I use something like this with eight Eneloop high capacity rechargeable AA batteries in. Being rechargeables, they are 1.2V batteries, giving me a 9.6V output. Great for pedals. Some of these enclosures need rewiring for the correct polarity but it's a 5 minute job.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8-AA-12V-Battery-Holder-Case-Enclosed-Box-With-On-Off-Switch-/262096603493?hash=item3d062cc965:g:rBMAAOSwx-9WxT1T

You can find them cheaper than this for sure. I think I paid about £2 for mine - it has a power on off switch too, which means you can leave all of your pedals attached to each other then use the master power switch to turn all off at the same time.

You could even use one of these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hot-Selling-12V-Battery-Clip-Slot-Storage-Holder-Box-Case-For-8pcs-AA-Batteries-/281845780265?hash=item419f514f29:g:GBwAAOSw5ZBWNvda

Interestingly, I haven't recharged my batteries in weeks and it is still going strong!!

[Paul S]

That is an interesting idea! Never considered that.

[cheddatom]

dood - is it any less noisy than a decent PSU?

[Dood]

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1475051404' post='3142542']
dood - is it any less noisy than a decent PSU?
[/quote]

Well, I guess being batteries only, it should be dead silent in comparison as it is never connected to anything that can create noise. Yes, a really good quality power supply shouldn't be allowing any 'noise' through anyway, but we do know that some pedals don't seem to want to play ball together with certain types of PSU.

In laziness, I like this method as it's one less lead to have trailing. (Which given the placement of power sockets in some venues and rehearsal rooms makes for a little less hassle!)

[cheddatom]

It's tempting. How many amps do you get out of that setup? I have a few digital pedals

[Phil Starr]

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1474994659' post='3142159']
I use something like this with eight Eneloop high capacity rechargeable AA batteries in. Being rechargeables, they are 1.2V batteries, giving me a 9.6V output. Great for pedals. Some of these enclosures need rewiring for the correct polarity but it's a 5 minute job.

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8-AA-12V-Battery-Holder-Case-Enclosed-Box-With-On-Off-Switch-/262096603493?hash=item3d062cc965:g:rBMAAOSwx-9WxT1T"]http://www.ebay.co.u...BMAAOSwx-9WxT1T[/url]

You can find them cheaper than this for sure. I think I paid about £2 for mine - it has a power on off switch too, which means you can leave all of your pedals attached to each other then use the master power switch to turn all off at the same time.

You could even use one of these:

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hot-Selling-12V-Battery-Clip-Slot-Storage-Holder-Box-Case-For-8pcs-AA-Batteries-/281845780265?hash=item419f514f29:g:GBwAAOSw5ZBWNvda"]http://www.ebay.co.u...BwAAOSw5ZBWNvda[/url]

Interestingly, I haven't recharged my batteries in weeks and it is still going strong!!
[/quote]

Get the first one, not the second one. I use one of those in my old Roberts Radio in place of a 9V battery and over the years it has distorted a lot and the batteries fall out fairly easily, I wouldn't use one on stage or for anything moveable. If you like Lidl then they sell hi capacity rechargeables from time to time and they hold their charge well. I've found no difference between them and the branded rechargeables.

Edited September 28, 2016 by Phil Starr

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1474994659' post='3142159']
I use something like this with eight Eneloop high capacity rechargeable AA batteries in. Being rechargeables, they are 1.2V batteries, giving me a 9.6V output. Great for pedals. Some of these enclosures need rewiring for the correct polarity but it's a 5 minute job.

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8-AA-12V-Battery-Holder-Case-Enclosed-Box-With-On-Off-Switch-/262096603493?hash=item3d062cc965:g:rBMAAOSwx-9WxT1T"]http://www.ebay.co.u...BMAAOSwx-9WxT1T[/url]

[/quote]

I've done the same in the past too. In fact, I've had a couple because some of the digital fx (and even those small delays) pedals can be quite demanding. You could run them in parallel - but I just split the two packs between different sets of pedals. Just got into the habit of charging them after every gig - even though it wasn't strictly necessary.

Great for the studio too - when you want to get things as quiet as possible.

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1475053189' post='3142570']
It's tempting. How many amps do you get out of that setup? I have a few digital pedals
[/quote]
It's not so much the amps - it's the mAh for all your pedals that you want to add up. So you'll get 2450mAh (2450mA for one hour effectively - so if you want to draw say, 4900mA, you'll get half an hours usage) if you use XX eneloops or 1900mAh if you use the standard eneloops.

Here's an interesting list - [url="http://www.harmonycentral.com/forum/forum/guitar/acapella-29/1687263-"]http://www.harmonyce...lla-29/1687263-[/url]

Although with some of the beefier digital pedals you are going to be looking at mAh ratings into probably a few hundred now.

What ever you do, if you load the underside of your pedal board with batteries, you have options for changing them over between sets etc... or just putting them all in parallel for a mega battery pack.

Edited September 30, 2016 by EBS_freak

[Dood]

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1475053189' post='3142570']
It's tempting. How many amps do you get out of that setup? I have a few digital pedals
[/quote]

Genuinely, I've not charged my pack for weeks and I've certainly had the equivalent of three gigs out of it powering 4 pedals. - It does of course depend on the current draw from the pedals as to how much life you get. It can vary greatly!

[Paul S]

Small update - I bought one of the Lidl things today on the basis that even if it didn't work as I would like it with the Volto it would be useful to have kicking around for phone charging etc. So I charged it up and connected it up to the charge socket of the Volto. When I test the Volto on its own I usually get around 2.5-3hrs max from it - that is with a Line 6 Relay unit, Zoom MS-60B, Boss LS-2 and a tuner all switched on, which I wouldn't normally do! But I wouldn't trust it at a gig from set up to the end. Joining this up to it I got nearly 5 hrs, so it is absolutely doing the job I need. So thank you Howiebass!