I have built a diy boombox with the Arylic Up2stream 2.1 Plate Amp. I’d like my boombox to be wireless/portable, and have also purchased the Dayton Audio LBB-5Sv2 5 x 18650 Lithium Battery Charger Board/Module 21V with Charge Protection. I have connected the battery board to the plate amp by soldering wires from the Molex micro-fit output on the battery board to the +/- solder pads on the plate amp. I can power the amp by plugging a power source into the VDC jack on the battery board, but I cannot power the amp using batteries. I’ve checked the batteries, and all are balanced and charged. What am I doing wrong? Thanks in advance for your help.
Have you tried powering with the batteries through the DC connector? It appears to me what you have done should work, but I’m thinking that there could be a switch in the DC power in socket? Anyway try powering with the batteries through the socket and see if that works, if not we’ll rethink.
Thanks for your response! I read through the user manual that came with the battery board, and there was rather specific guidance about what to do if the batteries aren’t powering a device (remove a battery, then replace the battery, then plug in the power supply…). It got me wondering if things needed to be connected in a specific sequence. Sure enough, that appears to be the case. I have to connect all wiring harnesses to the battery board (except the connection to the amp), insert batteries, plug in the power supply, then connect the amp to the battery board. This seems to work! What will be annoying is if I have to do this once I’ve closed up my boombox. Luckily the back is held in place via threaded inserts, but still… what if I don’t have the power supply brick with me when I have to do this? Thanks again for your help!
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You only have to “initialize” the battery board with the power supply when batteries are first installed. After that, if you DO NOT remove a battery or FULLY DRAIN the batteries, you should not have to “initialize” again.
Having said that, if there is a small amount of current drain through the amp board (there is with the Up2Stream AMP), you will eventually fully drain the batteries. This generally happens when you don’t use the system for an extended period of time.
One way to extend the “storage time” is to put a switch between the battery output board and the DC input on the amplifier board to serve as a power switch. This stops ALL current drain on the batteries except for the very small amount needed by the battery board itself (about 65 micro-amps) and the self-discharge of the battery itself (about 5% - 10% per month).
In the end, if you add a power switch, you won’t have to worry about re-initializing the battery board unless you are not going to use the system (and not charge the batteries) for a very extended period of time (up to 6 months or so). Per the instructions, if you are going to put the system into “storage” for a long time, you should remove the batteries from the board. When you go to use it again, you will want to charge the batteries anyway.