[MickelJam]

Anyone using a portable power station to power their desktop rigs?

I live in an old pre war New York City apartment building with questionable wiring. I also have a very limited number outlets, so my audio equipment is sharing a surge protector with my tv, ps5, Apple TV, and a sound bar. The other plug of the same outlet runs my Fios modem and cable, a switch, router, and a Roon core, so plenty of noise.

I was initially looking at power conditioners, but that wouldn’t help with the lack of outlets. That lead me to looking at running the audio off of battery power.

My setup is pretty simple, just two components. A Burson Conductor 3XR(3A Super Charger) and an iFi Stream (15v Sbooster) and that’s it.

Are there potential pitfalls going with the battery? I can’t imagine it being much worse than what I’m currently dealing with. I don’t think unplugging the battery when listening to music and plugging it back in would be to much of an inconvenience. Also would be a pretty cool appliance to have around for other use cases.

Sorry if this has been brought up before. I know some people are using them, but couldn’t find much info.

 

[msing539]

What kind of battery were you thinking?

And which power conditioners were you looking at?

 

[MickelJam]

I was looking at a Anker 535 with 512Wh. There are a few of these power stations with similar specs available. One of the reviews on Amazon claimed the Anker runs silent when discharging.

Seems like I could get four or so hours off a charge with the 500Wh

For conditioners I was leaning towards the iFi power station, but I also saw a used Niagara 1000 for a decent price.

 

[msing539]

I've never tested something like the Anker--I have a Cyberpower Pure Sine Wave UPS which they claim is silent, but it introduces very audible noise into my chain. Both on wall power or battery only. As such, I run a line conditioner after it... not ideal, but no cost effective alternative that I've found yet for my power issues.

If I were you, I'd opt for a line conditioner but who knows... the battery might work.

 

[MickelJam]

Thanks for the advice.

The AC outlets on the Anker are also supposedly pure sine wave. Think I’ll give the battery a try, worst case scenario it heads back to Amazon. We’ll see

 

[dcguy73]

I use a EcoFlow River power station to fuel my streamer and ethernet switch. It's about 458 kWh, which lasts about 5 hours with my equipment. Using higher-wattage components with the EcoFlow runs down the battery much faster. It's a pain to have the battery run down during a listening session and have my components switch off suddenly, so I would urge you to go higher capacity if you can afford it, as that gives you (generally) more outlets and more time before the battery runs down. Also, I purchased it in 2018, so the lithium battery doesn't last as long as it used to.

Anker is a decent company, but I'd stick with the big names in battery power supplies like EcoFlow and Yeti for the best quality and customer service.

Also, the EcoFlow is completely silent when running except when it's recharging, and then the internal fan is audible.

 

[MickelJam]

I was contemplating going with a larger capacity. 500Wh should give me around 4 or 5 hours. Although, that would assume the battery operates at 100% efficiency which it probably doesn’t.

I’ll take a look at the EcoFlows

I use a EcoFlow River power station to fuel my streamer and ethernet switch. It's about 458 kWh, which lasts about 5 hours with my equipment. Using higher-wattage components with the EcoFlow runs down the battery much faster. It's a pain to have the battery run down during a listening session and have my components switch off suddenly, so I would urge you to go higher capacity if you can afford it, as that gives you (generally) more outlets and more time before the battery runs down. Also, I purchased it in 2018, so the lithium battery doesn't last as long as it used to.

Anker is a decent company, but I'd stick with the big names in battery power supplies like EcoFlow and Yeti for the best quality and customer service.

Also, the EcoFlow is completely silent when running except when it's recharging, and then the internal fan is audible.

 

[dcguy73]

I was contemplating going with a larger capacity. 500Wh should give me around 4 or 5 hours. Although, that would assume the battery operates at 100% efficiency which it probably doesn’t.

I’ll take a look at the EcoFlows

Also, if you’re going to run your whole system off a portable battery station that puts out a sine wave, there’s no need to get a power conditioner. Battery power isn’t prone to the noise and issues that AC power lines have.

 

[MickelJam]

Also, if you’re going to run your whole system off a portable battery station that puts out a sine wave, there’s no need to get a power conditioner. Battery power isn’t prone to the noise and issues that AC power lines have.

Does your eco flow make any noise while discharging? Does the fan kick on?

I was looking at the ecoflow and it’s actually a bit cheaper than the equivalent Anker.

 

[dcguy73]

Does your eco flow make any noise while discharging? Does the fan kick on?

I was looking at the ecoflow and it’s actually a bit cheaper than the equivalent Anker.

The fan only comes on when it's recharging, otherwise it's silent.

 

[dcguy73]

Interesting to see how the technology has changed since I bought my EcoFlow device. LiPo batteries are the way to go now! The EcoFlow Delta 2 and the Anker 757 look like good choices.

 

[MickelJam]

LiFePo batteries definitely seem like a major improvement in the technology. They all seem to be rated for 3,000 charge cycles. If it works out I’ll have it for 10 years.

 

[gregorio]

I live in an old pre war New York City apartment building with questionable wiring. I also have a very limited number outlets, so my audio equipment is sharing a surge protector with my tv, ps5, Apple TV, and a sound bar. The other plug of the same outlet runs my Fios modem and cable, a switch, router, and a Roon core, so plenty of noise.

Not plenty of noise, in fact very low noise. Now a fridge, AC, washing machine would create plenty of noise because they have a higher power draw but modems, switches, routers, etc., have very little. Electronics have PSUs that do an excellent job of dealing with and cleaning up variations/fluctuations in voltage.

So if your “questionable wiring” is causing enough of a problem to result in audible issues with your audio equipment, either your audio equipment has very poor PSUs or it’s time to address your “questionable wiring” which could cause far more serious issues than just your audio system not functioning optimally.

G

 

[iFi audio]

For conditioners I was leaning towards the iFi power station, but I also saw a used Niagara 1000 for a decent price.

Ours isn't a conditioner. Rather, it's an active power bar with one interesting utility

Other than this, thanks for taking it into account and enjoy your AQ Niagara!

 

[dcguy73]

My little EcoFlow River conked out after 5 years. I took the plunge and purchased an EcoFlow Delta 2 Max LiFePo power station last night from EcoFlow's website during their Prime Day sale ($200 off + 8% off coupon code). It's the best price I've seen on this particular unit. I think this is a better investment than any more power conditioning equipment.

It's a chonky device, weighing in at 50 pounds. As it comes with 2048 Wh of capacity, it's probably overkill for my intended use. I plan to run everything in my hifi system but the amps off its battery power. In addition to six AC outlets, it has two 12-volt 3A DC outlets to power my endpoint and router. It has enough juice to be a backup generator during blackouts, as well.

I'll report back after I receive it from FedEx and slot it into my system.