DJ Tech DJ Boombox
- Thread starter BoomboxLover48
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Transistorized
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Well I seem to be having a streak of bad luck. Ordered mine from Rockandsoul.com on Dec 1st. They're in NY which is only an 8hr drive one way. They shipped it through USPS and they took their marry good time getting it here (7 DAYS).
Anyway I opened everything up and took the box out. I turned it on and tuned it to a radio station. I has very happy with the sound and all was going well up to that point. I noticed the battery indicator had only 1 green, 1 yellow and 1 red on. The top green light wasn't lit. I figured well I should go ahead and let it charge while I'm listening to it.
Well I get out the charger plug it in and......nothing. No blinking charge light or anything. I noticed the light on the charge brick wasn't even coming on. :annoyed:
I called rockandsoul. They took my number and said they would call the manufacturer to see if they would send me a replacement power supply.
The original power supply states it is 18V and 2.6A. Well my Bumpboxx power supply is 15V 3A. I figured only 3V less and 400mA more shouldn't hurt anything. Making sure the polarity was the same and now my battery was dead so in an act of desperation I plugged that in.
Charge light is blinking and finally the top green indicator light has come on so it's taking a charge. We'll see how this goes. Not sure why they need a 18V charger to top off a 12V lead acid battery anyway. I figure since the voltage is less it shouldn't hurt anything and by being only just slightly more Amps the unit will only pull what it needs. My experience in the past has shown me that you can go over higher than required on the Amperage of the power supply you just don't want to go over on the Voltage. That's when you fry things.
I'll keep you all posted on how the company responds to replacing my defective power brick. I've been playing it for a few hours now plugged in and no smoke or funny business so I guess it'll have to do for now.
It didn't take long out of the box for only the yellow light to indicate a low charge. Was thinking it would've come fully charged. Can anyone tell me how long it takes to fully charge? Not sure my bumpboxx charger will charge it as fast or fully since it's only 15V instead of 18V like the original.
Anyway I opened everything up and took the box out. I turned it on and tuned it to a radio station. I has very happy with the sound and all was going well up to that point. I noticed the battery indicator had only 1 green, 1 yellow and 1 red on. The top green light wasn't lit. I figured well I should go ahead and let it charge while I'm listening to it.
Well I get out the charger plug it in and......nothing. No blinking charge light or anything. I noticed the light on the charge brick wasn't even coming on. :annoyed:
I called rockandsoul. They took my number and said they would call the manufacturer to see if they would send me a replacement power supply.
The original power supply states it is 18V and 2.6A. Well my Bumpboxx power supply is 15V 3A. I figured only 3V less and 400mA more shouldn't hurt anything. Making sure the polarity was the same and now my battery was dead so in an act of desperation I plugged that in.
Charge light is blinking and finally the top green indicator light has come on so it's taking a charge. We'll see how this goes. Not sure why they need a 18V charger to top off a 12V lead acid battery anyway. I figure since the voltage is less it shouldn't hurt anything and by being only just slightly more Amps the unit will only pull what it needs. My experience in the past has shown me that you can go over higher than required on the Amperage of the power supply you just don't want to go over on the Voltage. That's when you fry things.
I'll keep you all posted on how the company responds to replacing my defective power brick. I've been playing it for a few hours now plugged in and no smoke or funny business so I guess it'll have to do for now.
It didn't take long out of the box for only the yellow light to indicate a low charge. Was thinking it would've come fully charged. Can anyone tell me how long it takes to fully charge? Not sure my bumpboxx charger will charge it as fast or fully since it's only 15V instead of 18V like the original.
Transistorized
Member (SA)
15V must not be enough to get the battery all the way up. If I'm listening to it the charge light constantly blinks and it never goes steady even after hours. Only when I flip the master switch on the back does it eventually go solid. At that point when I power it up it only has 1 green light. 30 minutes later at 40% volume its flat.
I guess I'll have to wait another 2 weeks to get my charger so I can charge it up and listen to it unless I can use my trickle charger for the car to top it off and then stick it back in the radio
I guess I'll have to wait another 2 weeks to get my charger so I can charge it up and listen to it unless I can use my trickle charger for the car to top it off and then stick it back in the radio
Transistorized
Member (SA)
Yeah. The top green light never has lit on battery power. After 30 minutes the yellow and red start flashing. I have requested a replacement at no charge to me through rockandsoul
mellymelsr
Member (SA)
The DJ Tech uses a very cheap battery. After a week of use I noticed a severe dropoff in usage time. For this reason I chose to upgrade my battery. Best decision I could have made. I easily get over 12 hours of usage on the upgrade. Being an SLA I recharge after every use.
Is there circuitry between the charging input jack and the SLA battery? In other words, is the brains of the charging operation in the charger itself or inside the box?
Transistorized
Member (SA)
The charging circuitry is inside the box. It appears to have a voltage regulator and such. The battery in my box only appears to ever reach a top voltage of 12.41 using the only working charger I have which is for the bumpboxx. Since the voltage of the bumpboxx charger is only 15V instead of the required 18V of the non working charger, I can only assume the circuitry is not fully charging the battery as a result, the battery is defective or both.jimmyjimmy19702010 said:
I can always get a 18V charger locally around here but most of them are higher Amperage. I know this is okay when powering a device however, I am not sure about charging systems. Most laptop power supplies are 18V but are 3.5Amps and up. I am worried about damaging my unit.
I'll wait a day or so to hear back from them. They really just need to get me one that does as advertised. It says it will play for 5 hrs. Mine doesn't. It plays for 30 minutes and does not charge. It is defective.
**EDIT**
Ok I Really want this to work without having to deal with the hassle of returning it and being without for another 2 weeks. So far I have not heard back from rock & Soul since yesterday. No biggie. I'm sure they have other things to do and are probably waiting on the manufacturer to instruct them.
Anyway, after going to a few electronic specialists around my area they all tell me the same thing. As long as your voltage is correct, you can go with a higher Amperage power adaptor. Looking at the actual box one technician told me that the higher amperage power supply may make the voltage regulator run a little hotter but he felt the heat sink seemed more than adequate.
So I said what the heck. Purchased a universal power brick with a voltage selector. Set the voltage to 18V (which actually reads 18.23 at the tip with my volt meter). This power brick is capable of supplying 3.5A peak at 18V. The box only needs/requires 2.6
I've kept things open to monitor the status. So far everything is nice and cool. Battery voltage started at 12.11 prior to charging. It's been about 20 minutes now and it is now higher than it ever got with my 15V power supply. It is now at 12.45. That's looking promising. I'll keep y'all posted.
I also went ahead and purchased the Duracell 12V 5ah battery just in case this battery is a dud. Fingers crossed. I'll be happy if the original battery plays at lest 4 hours at 40% for a while. Just to know the box and charger combo is working. After that if I want more time I'll throw in the Duracell.
We'll see. I'll follow back up with you guys on the progress or lack thereof.
SLO
Member (SA)
Great job Eric, and yes the new battery leaves zero wiggle room. Nice and snug. I used Melvins idea of some good velcro tape to secure the battery. The upgrade made a HUGE difference. It just wont die Lol, well worth the investment.caution said:Here's some pics from my battery upgrade. I used double-stick foam tape to attach it.
It filled up the entire space with no room to spare! Love it!
Transistorized
Member (SA)
Update.
Ok I used the universal charger I purchased and the original battery got up to 12.47 and just teetered there for a while. I turned on the box after an hour of charging and just like before the top green light would never illuminate once wall adaptor was removed. Anticipating that result I had already stopped by Batteries Plus and purchased the Duracell 5ah battery and stuck that in. I'm still not sure how well it will charge the battery. I've not had to charge it yet!
After one hour my battery indicator looks like this:
I am very happy about that.
This just shows how bad the original batteries in these things are 
.
Once this thing drops down to the second green light I will attempt to charge and see if the box will bring it back up. If so I'll call it good. I'm still going to try and get a good working charger that goes with the box so I don't have to use this universal one.
My opinion on this box is 3 out of 5 stars.
Pros:
It sounds good.
It plays and RECORDs in stereo (surprised me with stereo MP3 recordings).
It is very portable and built like a tank.
Has a battery status indicator and a charging indicator.
Treble and Bass knobs have a centering lock.
All functions including Bluetooth work well and the Radio picks up VERY well.
When Recording onto SD Card or USB you can adjust the sound level (Neat Feature)
Cons:
Battery. Add the cost of a replacement battery in with your purchase price. You will definitely need to get one (cost is around 30 bucks) and ditch the crappy one that they shouldn't have used in the first place.
**This won't apply for some but my charger adaptor didn't work and I had to go out and purchase a universal adaptor at the cost of another 30 bucks. This may not happen to you. I'm just saying that the potential is higher than average that you may get a defective unit here and there.**
The handle will come loose if you don't Loctite the screws. Also you have to be careful with the handle. It will slam forward and bang into the sliders on the front and/or mark the rear of the box. They need a handle stop on the side of the box to prevent this.
That's it for now. As long as this thing charges up after I use it and will run for hours I'll be happy. My opinion is they need to make the box perform like they do after modifications. Let's face it. The selling point of this is the portability. Having a crappy battery that barely runs for 30 minutes is like buying a power tool at a flea market with bad batteries. It's kinda useless. The battery is very important. Maybe a few of you got one where the battery actually held up for a few hours. Again, I'm just speaking of my personal experience. My luck sucks....lol
Ok I used the universal charger I purchased and the original battery got up to 12.47 and just teetered there for a while. I turned on the box after an hour of charging and just like before the top green light would never illuminate once wall adaptor was removed. Anticipating that result I had already stopped by Batteries Plus and purchased the Duracell 5ah battery and stuck that in. I'm still not sure how well it will charge the battery. I've not had to charge it yet!
After one hour my battery indicator looks like this:
I am very happy about that.
This just shows how bad the original batteries in these things are .Once this thing drops down to the second green light I will attempt to charge and see if the box will bring it back up. If so I'll call it good. I'm still going to try and get a good working charger that goes with the box so I don't have to use this universal one.
My opinion on this box is 3 out of 5 stars.
Pros:
It sounds good.
It plays and RECORDs in stereo (surprised me with stereo MP3 recordings).
It is very portable and built like a tank.
Has a battery status indicator and a charging indicator.
Treble and Bass knobs have a centering lock.
All functions including Bluetooth work well and the Radio picks up VERY well.
When Recording onto SD Card or USB you can adjust the sound level (Neat Feature)
Cons:
Battery. Add the cost of a replacement battery in with your purchase price. You will definitely need to get one (cost is around 30 bucks) and ditch the crappy one that they shouldn't have used in the first place.
**This won't apply for some but my charger adaptor didn't work and I had to go out and purchase a universal adaptor at the cost of another 30 bucks. This may not happen to you. I'm just saying that the potential is higher than average that you may get a defective unit here and there.**
The handle will come loose if you don't Loctite the screws. Also you have to be careful with the handle. It will slam forward and bang into the sliders on the front and/or mark the rear of the box. They need a handle stop on the side of the box to prevent this.
That's it for now. As long as this thing charges up after I use it and will run for hours I'll be happy. My opinion is they need to make the box perform like they do after modifications. Let's face it. The selling point of this is the portability. Having a crappy battery that barely runs for 30 minutes is like buying a power tool at a flea market with bad batteries. It's kinda useless. The battery is very important. Maybe a few of you got one where the battery actually held up for a few hours. Again, I'm just speaking of my personal experience. My luck sucks....lol
SLO
Member (SA)
I hear you man, it kinda sucks to spend money on a brand new product, and then spend MORE to get it working the way it should in the 1st place. Im glad you went ahead and upgraded the batrery, I think you'll be happy with it 
Hopefully Rock N Soul will get you a new charger soon too. The DJT is a good grab n go box that looks and sounds nice. Great portable size. Good luck with the charger bro.
Hopefully Rock N Soul will get you a new charger soon too. The DJT is a good grab n go box that looks and sounds nice. Great portable size. Good luck with the charger bro.I use 7.2 aH SLA batteries in my DIY builds and always use the same automatic charger. The recommended charging amperage is 600mAH according to the charger manufacturer for this size battery. This charger brings the battery voltage up to 13.90 volts and maintains it at that voltage. Off the charger, the battery voltage settles down to around 13.10 volts - (what's considered a fully charged SLA battery (give or take).
There is obviously some reason why this box needs such a high 18volts to charge the battery.!? All I know is if the battery voltage doesn't get up to over 13 volts after charging, then the battery is not 100% full.
I'm not sure if any other DJ box owners have checked the final battery voltage after charging but if your replacement power supply (when it arrives) doesn't bring that battery voltage up to these numbers, then there may be an issue with the internal charging circuitry. (Hereby referring to the brick as a power supply and not a charger as the 'brains' of the charging process is contained inside the box).
View attachment 31475View attachment 31476
There is obviously some reason why this box needs such a high 18volts to charge the battery.!? All I know is if the battery voltage doesn't get up to over 13 volts after charging, then the battery is not 100% full.
I'm not sure if any other DJ box owners have checked the final battery voltage after charging but if your replacement power supply (when it arrives) doesn't bring that battery voltage up to these numbers, then there may be an issue with the internal charging circuitry. (Hereby referring to the brick as a power supply and not a charger as the 'brains' of the charging process is contained inside the box).
View attachment 31475View attachment 31476
Transistorized
Member (SA)
Thanks SLO. Not much later from your post I received an email. They are going to send me a replacement charger. Yay!SLO said:I hear you man, it kinda sucks to spend money on a brand new product, and then spend MORE to get it working the way it should in the 1st place. Im glad you went ahead and upgraded the batrery, I think you'll be happy with it
Hey Jimmy. That raises a few good questions. When I first put my battery in my box it was (off the shelf) at 12.77V and it ran it with both green lights lit for an hour. After that the top light started to blink. Now its all the way off unless the volume is all the way down. With my 18V 3.5A power brick my box only tops off the battery at at 12.47. That's peak. At that voltage the top green light is pretty much off. I am going to use it until the lower green light goes off to see if it is charging the box at ALL. Time will tell. After all I got a box with a bad battery and a bad power supply. No reason to assume the charging circuit might not be faulty as well. The internal regulator shuts off the charge at 12.47 on mine. The only good thing is I'm guessing 12.47V might be at least 75% charged on this 5ah battery. If that's the case it should still run for at least 5 hours (I'd hope)jimmyjimmy19702010 said:Is use 7.2 aH SLA batteries in my DIY builds and always use the same automatic charger. The recommended charging amperage is 600mAH according to the charger manufacturer for this size battery. This charger brings the battery voltage up to 13.90 volts and maintains it at that voltage. Off the charger, the battery voltage settles down to around 13.10 volts - (what's considered a fully charged SLA battery (give or take).
There is obviously some reason why this box needs such a high 18volts to charge the battery.!? All I know is if the battery voltage doesn't get up to over 13 volts after charging, then the battery is not 100% full.
I'm not sure if any other DJ box owners have checked the final battery voltage after charging but if your replacement power supply (when it arrives) doesn't bring that battery voltage up to these numbers, then there may be an issue with the internal charging circuitry. (Hereby referring to the brick as a power supply and not a charger as the 'brains' of the charging process is contained inside the box).
IMG_3195.JPG
IMG_3196.JPG
Can a few of you other DJT boom box purchasers check your batteries when the charge light goes solid and let us know what your final voltage is?
Transistorized
Member (SA)
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