The highly regarded Speaker Manufacturer released the VAF Octavio 1 Speaker dock a number of years ago. If you haven't heard of it before well its about time you did! (no pun intended).
VAF Research have been creating and building amazing quality systems in Australia for over 3 decades.
A few years ago I was searching for a quality portable audio system to be the soundtrack for when we go to the beach (on christmas) or for our monthly firetwirling meets in a local park. I came accross the VAF Octavio. I have always wanted to own VAF speakers but could never afford the high (but reasonable) price that this quality equipment sells for. The Octavio was released at $799AUD so was still unfortunately out of reach.
For an excellent review on this item (as I haven't received mine yet) please have a read of the ZuneScene article http://www.zunescene.com/VAF/
Last week I found one on ebay(USA) selling for $125 + $35 postage. After some research and reading a mass of reviews I discovered even though it is somewhat portable (10kg) there was still no internal battery. Never the less I could not pass this for this price and snapped it up.
Time to make this portable - Battery time! (hammer time anyone?)
Upon further inspection the Octavio is powered by an unregulated 24v 3.75amp AC powerpack (wallwart).
This will make powering the device for any extended period of time at full power extremely hard.
Having said this most users would never use the Octavio at its near 100db quality output for an extended period of time, but personally I have a hankering for loud volumes specially when I am playing with fire and somewhat intoxicated. As shown below in this video. This is a very old video from 2008 so be nice :P
At full power draw finding a portable power source capable of 24v 3.75amps for even just a 3 hour session would require me to have a minimum 11.25amps of usable storage.
Types of batteries I considered.
I looked into Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) which come normally in 6v or 12v iterations. SLA's are sealed so much better than standard car batteries as they don't leak gaseous by-products nor do they obviously leak any acid or chemicals. Unfortunately they can be somewhat heavy (1x 12v 10amp hour battery weighs on average 5kg, 2 would be needed for 24v @ 10amps in parallel) for a total of 10kg battery weight Plus the 10kg of the Octavio. Definitely not something I would want to contend with on a hot summer day!!
Lastly the cheapest price I found delivered on ebay was $42.50ea plus $26 for a 1amp slow charger and only charge one battery at a time. This total of $111 made this not an option.
These are commonly used for electric remote control (RC) toys, they are much more compact than the SLA and weigh half as much. NiMH batteries unlike the old NiCAD batteries they do not suffer from memory effect and are best run completely flat.
The usual 12v RC toy battery capacity is 4.2Amps so 4 of these would be required in a dual series parallel combination coming to a total of 24v 8.4amps. The positive each battery is only 450grams for a total weight of around 2kg. Price each the cheapest was $40 delivered + price of a quality sensing charger and only be able to charge one battery pack at a time. Total price of approx $200!
I decided to looking into higher quality batteries. Theres are commonly used in RC planes and helicopters due to being much lighter and offer a higher current to weight ratio.
Lipo's are really Lion batteries but not in a hard shell, they are the newer iteration of Lion batteries. After much investigation the price of the Lipo's was still fairly expensive and didn't offer the higher amperage hours that the Lion's that I found. Lipo's can support a huge current draw sometimes 10 times the amount but this is not required (as the Octavio is max 3.75amps).
I found 12v 4.8amp Lithium Ion batteries for $23each x4 = $92 delivered each with their own accompanying power pack charger. With a weight of 572grams per battery this would be a total of 1.2kg max. Next I came sourced 12v 9.8amp batteries for $36ea x4 = $72 also with a power charger each.
The solution has been found! I will be purchasing 2x 12v 9.8amp batteries total for $72 delivered no more to spend. Wire these in parallel and we will have 24v 9.8amps of reserve. Not quite the 11amps I was looking for but with moderate levels it will last a good number of hours.
Time to power this baby in the car! 12volt style.
The inherent issue of powering this on a long road trip in a car posses a number of issues. Firstly where will you put this thing due to its size and weight while travelling! It'll go in the middle rear seat of the car. Move over passengers. The hardest part is actually powering this beats. Due to requiring 24volts and the car power system is 12v (14.4 while car is running thanks to the alternator). A DC to DC (direct current) converter will be required. Sometimes called a Boost amplifier as it steps the voltage up from 12v to 24v DC.
The issue lies here. Many DC-DC converters can create plenty of noise in the DC signal. Just a side effect of the different technologies required to do this (car amplifiers all have step up transformers within them). But to find a suitable one will be the key.
Back to searching ebay. There are a number of items available from Hong Kong and locally.
Requirements:
- Fairly Cheap (I don't want to spend more than $50)
- Durable and will last a very long time
- Be capable of easily providing the required 3.75amps at 24volts (prefer 4amps so that the load will be a little bit easier not max'ed out). So 100watts.
- As little noise as possible.
Now to decide, An all in one pre-packaged device or a kind of kit/wired in model?
I will first say unfortunately for nearly all the items from Asia they do not provide indepth specifications of power output, only voltage and amperage, not the ripple amount (in mv or vrms).
The plus side this device is capable of max 4.5amps at 25volts. Also has a usb charger socket (5v) for charging your mp3 player while driving also!
DIY/wired in systems.
Two units were in contention in the DIY/wired catergory. One reputable well known company and another Asian Kit. I will start with the direct Asian import.
- Module Properties: non-isolated step-up module (BOOST)
- Input voltage :10-32V
- Output voltage: 12-35V (adjustable)
- Output Current: 10A (MAX)
- Input Current: 16A (MAX) (Please enhance heat dissipation if more than 10A)
- Output power: natural cooling 100W (MAX), enhance heat dissipation 150W (MAX)
- Conversion efficiency: 94% (measured at Input 16V, output 19V 2.5A)
- Output Ripple: 2% (MAX) 20M-bandwidth
- Operating Temperature: Industrial (-40°c to +85°c) (ambient temperature exceeds 40°c, lower power use, or to enhance heat dissipation)
- Full load temperature rise: 45°c
- No-load current: 25mA typical
- Voltage regulation: ± 0.5%
- Dynamic response speed: 5% 200uS
- Short circuit protection: None (Please Install fuses and protection circuits at Input port.)
- Input Reverse Polarity Protection: None (Please Series diode at the input port.)
After a number of emails to the seller I have been advised this unit will not require any further cooling if used at 100watt output. What I didn't like about this item was the lack of input/output isolation also the quality control issues or sub par build quality is un-known. We don't want a voltage spike from the alternator or coils in the car blowing up the VAF speaker now do we. The voltage regulation is great and as is the conversion efficiency.
The only downfall for this is the requirement of having to buy a cigarette lighter attachment, cabling to and from the device and a suitable plug for the Octavio. Also possibly making a case to protect this unit.
Next I found Acon Inc who only produce DC to DC Converters! Someone on ebay was selling this baby.
MH150S3024 (TS chassis mount) Link to view indepth PDF specs here.
Firstly this unit is built into an all in one package! no having to build a case for it. Unlike the past options all the technical electrical and physical specifications are provided for us to look over. This version is the Chassis mount which is a shame because the MC Encapsulated version would of been perfect. But beggars can't be choosers.
Main positives:
- Variable input voltage of between 10V-32V
- Output voltage will always be between 23.76V-24.24V
- Max Current 6.25Amps
- Short circuit protection and full input/output isolation
Price on this second hand I found was $50USD. Yes much more expensive but for piece of mind definitely worth it! (Who wants to blow up something worth Current New price of $499 & $799RRP).
I am still pondering my next move but I am highly looking at the ACON Inc unit.
Current Conclusion:
As I am still waiting on the delivery of my VAF I will continue to "watch" these items of interest on ebay.
I am extremely excited to receive the VAF Octavio 1. Purchasing of the first lot of 12v Lithium-Ion 9.8amp batteries completed soon. In the future I might possibly purchase a second identical pair to take with me for long burn sessions or for bbq's on the beach. As for the car adapter I haven't exactly decided on my next step but I am very intrigued with the ACON DC-DC converter.
Pricing:
VAF Octavio 1 $155USD (sourced ebay.com) New $499 currently, RRP $799
Battery pack 24v 9.8Amp Lithium-Ion $72USD
Total Price for an amazing somewhat portable (weight) system?
Only $227USD now this is unbelievable!
A more indepth review, photos and updates will be up within the next few weeks so don't forget to check back!
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