Using USB power banks with Aerodrums 2

[StefanOE]

Hi, I tried this combination of powerbank and cable:
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0D8KH4LNB?ref ... asin_title
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0DF6C52Y5?ref ... asin_title

With that the Aerodrums 2 unit started but there were strange pulsed noises inside the unit. So I quickly ended the test.

Is there something wrong with my combination and could someone give a recommendation for a better set?

[Maayan]

Any news on the matter? Would be great to be able to use a USB standard charger with the Aerodrums 2 for better portability

[Mitch Deighton]

Hi,

These arrived yesterday..and Im very pleased with them!...everything works perfect!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/135584971212 ... media=COPY

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/226491059094 ... media=COPY

Its amazing that Aerodrums 2 can be used 'off-grid'

Cheers!

[StefanOE]

Thank you Mitch!

[Mitch Deighton]

Hi all..here’s a quick video of Aerodrums 2 ‘off-grid’ using a power bank I purchased on eBay…

https://youtu.be/ZULpHy1vAKM?si=3UnEu6wZugSlSvPK

[Go4Sail]

Hi

It will be important to read the specification of the power bank which is used. Not every device (even with 45W Power Output or more) is able to deliver 20 V (AD2 Power Supply has ~ 18 V/16W). This might lead to unstable voltage and/or high current if the CPU will trigger this...
What are your experiences?

Greetings

Henrik

[andrepolvo]

I have this power bank here:

https://encurtador.com.br/tdkX

Do you think it's sufficient to power the AE2 perfectly?
I couldn't find out how many Volts (V) it has.
The image below shows how many Watts (W) each input and output has.
Would anyone know how to tell me?

[Go4Sail]

I ordered this one:

https://amzn.eu/d/3RmBokg

Down on the page in Amazon you will find the specs for each port and 20V is on the list. The overall power is more than sufficient.
But at the end our little AD2 CPU must communicate with this Power Bank
Hope it helps.

[Go4Sail]

Looks like this Belkin PB comes with 5V / 2.4A-??A / 12W - ??W. If i read the specs of the AD2 Power Supply right it
requires 18 V at a maximum of 16W. This may lead to a high current if your Power Bank is triggered to 16 W at 5 V.

[Sipaliwini]

Hello, this is Yann, I am sorry I hadn't seen this thread before.

Let me try and recap our findings on power banks so far:

In the company we've used Anker Nano power banks in combination with USB-C to 5.5 x 2.5 mm (barrel) 20V adaptor cables that use the Power Delivery (PD) voltage negotiation to request 20V from the bank. This has mostly been fine, but sometimes a unit wouldn't boot, or another lost power inexplicably. We've not gotten to the bottom of why this happened. We've also observed that with some USB-C -> Barrel PD adaptors, sometimes if we didn't get a boot by plugging the barrel jack last, we would get a boot if we plugged it first (and the USB-C end into the bank second).

We were worried about this for the UK Drum Show (because we had an off-grid flying station there), so we also got a USB-A to barrel cable that does 5v to 18v voltage step up itself (so without relying on the Power Delivery voltage negotiation feature of the power bank. The Aerodrums 2 device can take input voltage between 18V and 20V, that's why these USB-C -> Barrel PD cables designed for laptops that take in 19.5V are fine). We've not used this much yet, but it's always worked and I can see why it would be more robust than the USB-C / PD route. Unfortunately I can't recommend a product because the MyVolts model we found ("ripcord") is centre negative so requires a polarity inverter adaptor at the barrel end.

There is one constant which is that the bank must be able to support at least 10W of output (12W would be safer really).
So if using a non PD voltage step up cable, the USB-A socket must be rated at least 2A.

If using PD, it should never be an issue really because the base PD standard (1.0) sets 15W as the Minimum output.

BUT like with all consumer electronics, you need to be weary of bad ones, specifically:
-the bank may not implement the PD standard properly and so not consistently supply the 10W minimum
-in particular it may not have a reliable circuit to detect its cells don't have enough charge to sustain the output, meaning that instead of cleanly cutting power off, it under supplies current which can cause damage
-it might also have buggy voltage negotiation, that could be an explanation for the failed boots and shut downs we've seen
-if using a non PD voltage step up cable, the bank might rate a USB-A socket 2A but really not be able to consistently supply that much current

So right now we can't recommend a USB power bank that's been rock solid via USB-C / PD. But we advise you to err towards very reputable brands and to keep an eye for reports of bad power delivery behaviour in reviews.

Out of two Aerodrums 2 breaking so far, there was one where the power bank might have been the culprit. We are currently investigating the second one and it makes a cyclical internal sound when powered. We have not ruled an issue with how power was supplied to it.