Battarypack Electribe EMX

supermel74 · Post by **supermel74** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 3:32 am

Ok so I'm not an electrician and I'm not willing to risk ruining my gear trying to become one. Is there a small battery pack that I can connect directly to an older electribe model(EM-1) without having to solder or cut and splice wires? I would like a pack that is small and already has the proper plug end on it and supplies the proper voltage. Does this exist? Will that Tekkeon device do it without any other accessories needed? If so, how long will the charge last? Thanks.

n3ldan · Post by **n3ldan** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 10:25 pm

I've been meaning to get my ER-1 mkII on battery power for quite some time. The official korg wallwart I have says 9v 600ma output, so if I took 6 1.5v 2200mAh batteries and put them in serial I would have a 9v 2200mAh battery pack, which could run my electribe for (2200mAh/600ma) 3.6 hours. Of course, the voltage drop of the batteries and the fact that electribes don't like to be below 7v will shorten the amount of time you can actually use that energy.

If you're lazy and have money to burn:
http://www.powerstream.com/PST-MP3500.htm

That will solve all your problems. I don't know about the EMX but the ER-1 consumes less than 600ma@9v, which is 5.4 watts. In theory this can power it for at least 8.14 hours. It is a regulated power source so it won't sag like a battery pack will.
Unfortunately is costs $172. That's more than I paid for my electribe.
That said it is a very useful battery pack and if you've got the money it's as close to plug and play as you'll get. There may be an appropriate barrel plug included, I don't know.

For those of you with some initiative, you can build a 9.6v battery pack out of 3 3.3v cells or a 9v pack out of 6 1.5v batteries. You can then buy or build a "buck/boost converter", which, as far as I know(and I'm no EE), will keep the voltage output at 9v while the batteries voltage sags below that level.

Whatever you do, please do not buy an inverter, you will be wasting lots of energy. The inverter converts it's stored DC voltage into AC, then the korg adapter you plug in converts that AC back to DC. Those conversions are not 100% efficient, they waste energy! You can get 12v to 9v DC/DC converters, which you could use with a car, boat, or motorcycle battery. I do not know the capacity of those batteries but they will last a long time.

If anyone with more knowledge about battery power/portable electronics than I cares to contribute I'm sure we'd all appreciate it.

Borg · Post by **Borg** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 3:41 am

Hm... I tried out your calculation there for how many hours you could power your ER-1mkII. Since the ESX-1 have runs on 9V@3000mA, which is 27W (correct me if I'm wrong), the hours cut down pretty fast.
So I searched around for a batterypack with the highest amount of mAh and found this one @ 5200mAh: http://www.bixnet.com/mumiexbapaki1.html.
By taking 5200mAh through 3000mAh, I got 1.7 hours. I think it's fair enough for a outdoor jam.

But then again, how do you connect the battery to the machine? Do I have to by a whole new adapter? Sure, they ain't thaat expensive, but it feels like wasting 50 bucks.
Somebody spoke of getting a midi-cable. But I don't think that's possible, cause I sure haven't seen any 4-pin midi plugs.

So. What'd ya recon?

(btw, I ain't no pro at this whole watt and watt hours thing, either.)

n3ldan · Post by **n3ldan** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 4:10 am

jeez, 3A, what a hog. I suppose it does have those valves...
of course, that's just that absolute maximum draw; I feel like I heard they only really use 700ma but I can't remember where I heard it so take it with a grain of salt. Either way, I doubt it draws much current once the valves are hot.

I believe a car battery is around 45,000mAh, so I suppose that with a proper adapter (which can be purchased, but cost about $100) would be the longest running. That would run my electribe for at least 4 days straight with everything cranked.

That would run yours at least 15 hours, for under $200.

Personally I would also attach a t-amp and some nice bookshelves and maybe a powered sub; it would drain the battery but having speakers is so nice.

As far as the power cable goes, I doubt you will have to buy a new adapter just for the plug. I would guess that it's similar to the cable for my alesis quadraverb, which looks like a 4-pin midi cable. I believe it is called a DIN-4 (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:DIN-4_Diagram.svg).
I'm not aware of anyplace that sells them, but I have not looked much.

supermel74 · Post by **supermel74** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 4:42 am

Come on guys, the whole point is portability and now we're talking about car batteries

I guess that works if you're playing a rave in the desert but probably not so good for taking on the subway for your commute

zalo · Post by **zalo** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 7:41 am

supermel74 wrote:Come on guys, the whole point is portability and now we're talking about car batteries I guess that works if you're playing a rave in the desert but probably not so good for taking on the subway for your commute

the xtribes are too bulky i feel to carry around with me to work and what not, now my em1 wouldnt be to bad to take on the subway

and that would be a rather simple battery pack since they do not draw as much power and the plug is so much easier to make

Borg · Post by **Borg** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 5:43 pm

n3ldan: Is there someway you can measure the used mA-amount?
Yeah, a car battery (or multiple) would be perfect for a outdoor jam with some friends, but as supermel said not for commuting.

But if you're gonna use a car battery, how do I connect to the ESX-1? What adapter are you talking about? Can't I just connect a power strip to the battery?

Oh, great!

Thanks. Could I use a S-VHS (S-Video) cable? Apparently it's a "mini DIN-4". Don't know the difference.

Borg · Post by **Borg** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:46 pm

Bumb-di-bump!

4NDRW · Post by **4NDRW** » Thu May 01, 2008 12:10 am

does anyone know if the electribe mx/sx power supply is the same as the Korg Karma power supply?

it looks about the size of a midi cable, but 4pins
and runs 9Volts 3000mA AC
as in the output is low voltage AC

which kinda fucks up the battery thing.

i'd imagine you'd need
an inverter or electronic oscillator or something
connected to your DC battery

or.....

as i'm sure the actual circuit inside the unit would be DC
maybe there's some AC->DC conversion going on inside the unit
because you wouldn't run circuit boards off AC would you?
maybe you could bypass this power conversion...
and run a dc voltage straight to the circuit?

wouldn't want to blow up your 'tribe though

4NDRW · Post by **4NDRW** » Thu May 01, 2008 12:14 am

Borg wrote: n3ldan:

Oh, great! Thanks. Could I use a S-VHS (S-Video) cable? Apparently it's a "mini DIN-4". Don't know the difference.

the s-video cable is tiny
i dont think it would be of any use
you might have S-video inputs on your TV or outputs on your DVD player or some laptops if you're unsure as to how big it is.
its about the size of a PS/2 keyboard or mouse socket which most computers have 2 of.

if its anything like the Karma powersupply (sounds like it)
you'd be better off mangling an old midi cable or doing something like that
though i've never had reason to try

Borg · Post by **Borg** » Thu May 01, 2008 12:30 am

Alright. So there's just mini DIN-4's, no normal sized ones?

But a midi-cable is a five pin...

4NDRW · Post by **4NDRW** » Thu May 01, 2008 2:33 am

Borg wrote:Alright. So there's just mini DIN-4's, no normal sized ones?

But a midi-cable is a five pin...

someone was suggesting chopping off one of the pins
and seeing if you can bend it into position

but i dont know if anyone has actually tried it yet.

though as someone else mentioned
the electribe sx/ms run on 9v AC (alternating current)

all batteries are DC (direct current)

so do some more research before you plug a dc source into your 'tribe and fry it.

the earlier electribes just use a standard dc power input.
and it was an earlier electribe in that yoututbe video

Borg · Post by **Borg** » Thu May 01, 2008 11:09 am

Alright.

Yeah, but aren't there ac/dc-inverters?

4NDRW · Post by **4NDRW** » Fri May 02, 2008 2:13 pm

there must be
but i know most inverters you buy are 12v DC -> 240v AC or 110v AC or whatever your local power supply is

but there must be something you can do for 9V

i'll have a poke around on the net and see what i can find

4NDRW · Post by **4NDRW** » Fri May 02, 2008 2:21 pm

i dunno, just been googling a little bit..

i few sites talk about somesort of Elwire lighting that requires 9V AC and talk about inverters for battery operation...

maybe something like this?
http://www.neontrim.com/catalog/product ... ucts_id=52
or http://www.coolight.com/category-s/28.htm

but you'd want to make sure the frequency is right
i'm assuming the esx/mx like something around 50/60Hz
where as i think these were like 2000Hz
so these in particular are probably no good

but means there must be a solution out there!