Powerbank + Birdcord vs. Powerbank with AC

The price would be similar (if you only use one device type/Birdcord voltage).
An AC powerbank will be much heavier, but on the other hand you could power almost any device…

Any thoughts or experiences around this?

Something to think about: airlines typically limit the capacity of batteries they permit on board.

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Interesting, had no idea! Would suck to have to leave it at the airport

Exactly!

Maybe there’s an AC powerbank that’s under the average limit. Seems an obvious market factor.

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The airline limit seems to be 100W and a lithium content of less than 2 grams per battery.

It looks like the most common results for AC batteries on Amazon is within that limit, couldn’t verify the lithium content but they probably thought of that… :slight_smile:

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I’m definitely not an expert on this area.
But I own a battery with AC output, and I power up my A4 one day with it to play outside.
Everything was working fine, but still the sound was not exactly the same, a bit more metallic. I have not great hear but it was a enough different to think something was weird.

Maybe, and I say really maybe, depending on what is power source the quality of the 220/110V with perfect sine might have consequences.

A AC battery can produce suitable signal for LED or supplying power to your max book. But for some other equipment, it’s close to the limit in term of signal quality.

So would recommend staying with a DC battery with a converter if you have the choice. Or a really high end AC battery not an Amazon « best choice ».

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Went down this path a few months ago. Became too much for me with all the variables. Ended up just getting an AC battery. Now I don’t have to worry about connections and special chords. Just plug in and go.

What hardware did you want to connect?

Yeah I can relate. Did it work well with the instruments?

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I’d like to connect the Syntakt (12v) and tr-8s (5.7v) for starters, so would need two birdcords for that.
Who knows what the future brings, but I imagine that would cover a lot of ground

Huh! That’s interesting, didn’t know the stability of power could be worse on an AC battery!

I use an ac outlet battery pack.
Raptic Titan Air.
Looks like it is discontinued but it’s never given me any issues, powering two Elektrons at a time. Have air traveled with it and no issues there either.

Came in handy last summer during a black out in August too. Powered our fan for 6 hours.

Some are better than others. Do your research.
Bird chords, rip chords, this battery, that battery. All have bad anecdotes.

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Here is a video example of a DC12V to 220V AC converter.
Not a great one, but you will see what can happen. 4min20 in the video.

Deus ex silicium 12V DC 220V AC

Wow, two elektrons and a fan for 6h is not bad! Thanks for the input.

You’re right, there seems to be the occasional bad experience/review on most power banks.

Hehe ouch, not quite sure what I watched! But I’m working on my French but it’s not quite there :smiley:

Use the CC button on YouTube it allow a quite useful English translation, not perfect… but « ok ».

Yes, what I mean by this video that if you can find a battery which output 12V directly. Use it instead of a :
DC battery to AC 110/220V to DC 12V
You lost power in each translation and signal is bad.

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Yeah. It works great. All said and done, it probably cost less too.

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Which battery did you end up buying?

how heavy is it?

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