I do outdoor ambient / slow jam dj events, using all battery powered gear.
Here is my FB page: Terminal Beach
My system is a bit lacking in the low end, and after a futile search online
for any suitable commercially available products, I thought it worthwhile
to look into to building my own.
I need something reasonably loud that last at least 5hrs and is powered by rechargeable batteries ( likely x number of 18650 Li-ions )
Have a pretty entry level understanding of audio / electronic
As to subs have you looked at the Bose Soundlink Mini? I find the bass on
that quite strong, my wife can be using it in one bathroom on one side of the
house and I can hear and feel the bass through multiple walls and floors. I
do find it a bit flat personally but YMMV.
That could easily be run off external battery packs, not exactly low cost
though.
You can certainly build yourself something quite powerful for your pop-up battery powered DJing. If you can wheel your equipment to your spots, I’d suggest getting some old fashion lead acid batteries to power your kit.
For the sub, pretty simple. You’ll want a crossover somewhere in the system, and then push those frequencies to an amp, then to a big speaker and cabinet. You can custom build as little or as much as you want.
If it were me, I’d use a lead acid battery, a car amplifier that already runs on 12 volts, and stick in some drivers (the actual speaker) either reclaimed from scrap or somewhere else i can get em cheap. I’d likely re-purpose an old home theatre speaker or something for the cabinet, or build from scratch with ply or MDF.
Well this is a good place to start, however i need something lighter and more compact. Could a series of the li ion 3.7V s I mentioned above not be configured in groups to achieve the 12V ?
Re: the cabinet. From my very limited understanding on the subject is the purpose of the cabinet
not largely to dissipate the sound coming from the back of the cones? I would be placing the sub in a central location , so controlling the direction of the sound would not really be much of an issue. That said could I not build some more lightweight open type of structure with which to house the cone etc ?
Depending on how much current you want to draw, you could get by with LiPos or a battery made out of 18650 cells.
A 3-cell-in-series (“3S”) Lithium polymer or -ion battery will be about 11.1V nominal, 4-cell (“4S”) about 14.8V – you can buy these ready-made from HobbyKing, AliExpress etc. They’re popular with RC hobbyists like me.
One big thing to keep in mind is that Lithium batteries are temperamental and can be dangerous if mishandled; you need to monitor their voltage during discharge, and charge them with a fairly specialized device (a “balance” charger) for maximum safety and longevity.
