not the usualquestion, please advice on off grid speaker for installation in forest

[jan from somewhere elsewhere]

Hello experts,

i need an advice for battery operated speakers, resistant to the weather and the outdoors, which can be loaded with a memory card or usb stick to play a soundfile in loop, without needing anything else. Sound is a voice, a tale, little musical effects. Quality is appreciated, but budget is limited. We are a nature protection NGO.

thanks

Jan

[zenguitar]

Welcome to the SOS forums Jan.

It might help to give an idea of the length of time they will be required to work. The requirements for a day or two will be very different to those for a permanent installation.

Andy

[Wonks]

Would there be the possibility of having an associated solar panel to help with battery life? Might not be much good in the depths of winter but spring to autumn it may well help significantly.

[ef37a]

A bunch of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/PyleHome-PHSP4 ... %3D&sr=8-8
will be weatherproof and highly efficient thus keeping battery life high. You would need to look for "Class D" amplifiers as well.

I assume you mean to have speaker, amplifier and battery together but how will you get a signal to each speaker?

I did something very similar on a large rifle range many years ago. No mains juice so a transistor 'bridge mode' amp powered from a lorry battery* The amp fed a 100 volt line transformer and I guess some 300mtrs of 5amp cable distributed audio to about 6 horns. You will get very little bass from horns but weatherproof speakers that reach only down to 100Hz are going to be very expensive.
So, can you 'commandeer' a small building and rig it with amp and batteries and send audio through the trees on very cheap cable. You could probably find scrap CAT5 solid cable for free.

*No solar kit then but we had a super little ex WD generator that produced 15V at up to 12 amps iirc.

Dave.

[Aled Hughes]

Amhow will you get a signal to each speaker?

They’re looking for a self-contained solution that will read a USB stick/memory card.

Are we looking at hours or days of playback here?
I’m sure there are plenty if options if you just need a couple if hours. There are also bluetooth receivers that you can plug in to a battery powered speaker.

[ef37a]

Amhow will you get a signal to each speaker?

They’re looking for a self-contained solution that will read a USB stick/memory card.

Are we looking at hours or days of playback here?
I’m sure there are plenty if options if you just need a couple if hours. There are also bluetooth receivers that you can plug in to a battery powered speaker.

Well, if the idea is still in gestation maybe another method might help? The USB stick could still be in a distribution 'blockhouse'. Whatever the playback system it will need protection from the elements. Easier to protect one amp/player/battery than several. How does the audio data get told when to play?

Dave.

[Aled Hughes]

Amhow will you get a signal to each speaker?

They’re looking for a self-contained solution that will read a USB stick/memory card.

Are we looking at hours or days of playback here?
I’m sure there are plenty if options if you just need a couple if hours. There are also bluetooth receivers that you can plug in to a battery powered speaker.

Well, if the idea is still in gestation maybe another method might help? The USB stick could still be in a distribution 'blockhouse'. Whatever the playback system it will need protection from the elements. Easier to protect one amp/player/battery than several. How does the audio data get told when to play?

Dave.

Good point regarding protecting one unit rather than several - I was under the impression they only needed one in the first place, otherwise they would need to play back in sync.

The file is a continuous loop from what I understand. Though I’m not sure if it would need to loop indefinately.

[ef37a]

Yes Aled, we don't really have anything like enough information.

There MIGHT be an active speaker with battery that one can plug a stick into but I doubt it is water and squirrel proof!

Dave.

[Aled Hughes]

Yes Aled, we don't really have anything like enough information.

There MIGHT be an active speaker with battery that one can plug a stick into but I doubt it is water and squirrel proof!

Dave.

Quite! I’ve had a quick look and there are plenty of Bluetooth options but I couldn’t find any with USB/SD card playback. I wouldn’t like to trust a Bluetooth connection for this…

[ef37a]

Yes Aled, we don't really have anything like enough information.

There MIGHT be an active speaker with battery that one can plug a stick into but I doubt it is water and squirrel proof!

Dave.

Quite! I’ve had a quick look and there are plenty of Bluetooth options but I couldn’t find any with USB/SD card playback. I wouldn’t like to trust a Bluetooth connection for this…

Ha! If the OP wants to PM me I would be happy to give such advice I can on a system such as I built for the range. I even have a mains/12V 20W Philips PA amp here. Low Z and 70/100V line. Free to collect. (V old so not "D")

Dave.

[Sam Spoons]

A cheap car stereo (with USB option) and a couple if those speakers running off a car battery might be a way to do it on the cheap, a bit of solar to top it up would add considerable to the cost but it could then run more or less indefinitely.

[ef37a]

A cheap car stereo (with USB option) and a couple if those speakers running off a car battery might be a way to do it on the cheap, a bit of solar to top it up would add considerable to the cost but it could then run more or less indefinitely.

Good call Sam. The speakers could be 100mtrs away from the radio easily, even 5A cable would not introduce too much loss (hi fi buffs look away!)

The solar charging could be easier and cheaper than you might think Sam? I have two 12V security lights running on a car battery and they keep going on two cheap 'dashboard' panels. If the music duty cycle is very low I think a panel or two (you can connect them in parallel) would power it indefinitely.

Dave.

[Mike Stranks]

... elephant in the room:

"Weatherproof"

I've come across plenty of weatherproof passive speakers in my time... was looking at some in action just last week... but not with the various features that the OP has indicated he wants.

Methinks the solution is to find the speaker(s) and then work out the powering and audio implications...

For the OP: where are you based?

[Wonks]

Looking at the OP's profile info, they are yet to return back to SOS after posting their question.