Following some esotheric crazy guys advices on other forums, I decided to try to power my RPI and my DAC with powerbanks instead of basic power supplies. Maybe I am crazy as well because I liked the sound it gave me. But that is not the question here.
My question is related to the fact that I would like to automate the recharge of the powerbank. For e.g. when I dont listen to my system or even while I am listening in order to make sure the system dont stop suddently.
For that I bought a connected plug that I am able to control with my smartphone and program in order to siwtch on or off the powerbank recharge. The issue is that each time the plug switches on or off, it shuts down the rpi and the dac to enter in ârecharge modeâ. Worst case is of course when I am listening to music and everythings shutsdownâŚ
I tried different powerbanks. First model could only work in two modes âsupply energyâ or ârecharge modeâ. so even when it was suppose to recharge it did not while rpi and dac were connected. The other model was supposed to be âdouble chargeâ capable meaning able to charge itself at the same time as supplying power, but it did not work very well. I will not go in more boring details.
At the end of the day, I am just looking for a power bank that always ensure rpi and dac are ON and be able to switch between ârecharge modeâ and ânon recharge modeâ.
I dont know if my request is clear or not. Feel free to ask any question , comment or even better: ADVICE!
Thanks a lot
N.B.
My Rpi and my Dac need 5v, my rpi is happy with 2 to 3A and my Dac only needs 1A.
There was a post on head-fi(related to Chord Mojo in a speaker system) to use a simple timer - no miracle solution but seem like a very practical one. Depending on your listening habits youâd need to find a power bank that lasts as long as your listening hours and on timer recharges at night.
If I was going for it, Iâd put a timer for every other hour and see if I notice any change in SQ
thanks for your answer, would you mind precising what you mean by âtimerâ?
On my side, I have a connected switch on which a timer is running. This switch activates the electrical current to recharge the battery in a given period of time (adjusted to listenning habits). but this does not work fine, each time the switch is turned on :
either it turns DAC and RPI off simulatenously with out turning them on afterwhile
or it does not recharge the battery as far as devices are pulling on the batteryâŚ
Any of the solutions youâve discussed above, defeat the main advantage/s of using the powerbank. The main advantage/s you want are complete electrical de-coupling / disconnection from mains RF and mains ground / leakage current loopsâŚ
As long as your powerbank is connected to mains power while listening (whether it is charging or not), you are defeating these key advantages and may as well use the stock PSU that came with your DAC (which might actually perform better than with having a powerbank charger connected to the chain/loopâŚ).
The advantages of using powerbanks having nothing to do with being âlow noiseâ at all. In fact, they may have noiser outputs than the stock SMPSâs that came with your gear. The advantages of using powerbanks come with physical disconnection from mains power and potential associated issues (mains RF and ground / leakage current loops).
My advice is actually use the stock PSUâs that came with your gear for general listening and when you want to do critical listening, run the DAC + RPi from the powerbanks, with their chargers physically unplugged from AC power. In this case, you will actually get the benefits of using the powerbanks.
Please correct me if I am wrong, but I thought I was decoupled from main. As explained, I use an intelligent switch (a timed interrupter). when interrupter is in OFF position, it means to be physically disconnected from the main. Am I right?
Of course I keep it in OFF position when I listen to music as far as I can (and ON when I am not listening in order to recharge the power bank).
Not really. I think the point was that battery power, which if you look at it actually delivers a pretty uneven power delivery is only isolated when it isnât plugged in. You are still potentially involved in ground loops etc.
Perfect. If I were you, Iâd jump on Head-Fi forum and ask Rob Watts with all the details you shared above (about this interruptor especially) and youâll have the best answer from the best source.
Can you share some info on this interruptor? The devil is in the details of that thingâŚ
Understood - hopefully someone else can help with that when they come across this thread.
Itâs just that as I was reading (since I also use powerbanks with DACs and streamers in some setups) I couldnât help but comment that you may be defeating the entire advantage of using powerbanks, by keeping them permanently connected to a charger.
Hopefully you can get some more info, for clarification.
if any one is interested by same use case, I found one solution.
A zendure X6 battery can supply one or several RPI at the same time and it can be plugged or unplugged from the main with out any impact on the RPI ongoing process.
