3. Battery pack idle off with headphones plugged in

Battery pack idle off with headphones plugged in


  • Hey there I have an unusual problem. I am using a portable power bank capable of supporting 20v output. It works great except for when I plug headphones into the Spark the power bank idles and turns off after 40 seconds. It does No matter what I am doing (playing guitar or listening to music)

    Without headphones it will stay on and keep my Spark idle all day. As soon as I plug in headphones it powers off after 40 or so seconds.

    Any suggestions?

    Here is a link to the power bank
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074PQBRJV/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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  • @marvel_247 This seems like a problem to address with the battery's manufacturer. When the heaphones are plugged in the power transformer which drives the speakers (most likely the biggest power draw in the amp) is bypassed so the amp isn't drawing much power and the draw obviously falls below what the battery pack recognizes.

    The listing of specs for your battery says specifically: "Low shutdown current for DC-OUT port: 100mA" So if the power draw drops below that level the battery will shut off.

    The PowerAdd Pilot Pro battery which I bought for powering the Spark doesn't have any low shutdown current ability -- just overpower shutdown, so you might consider returning your battery pack and buying the PowerAdd Pilot Pro. I just tested it to see if I was correct, and after 2 minutes with headphones plugged in, and almost zero power draw because I wasn't playing guitar or listening to mp3 files, the PowerAdd Pilot Pro was still providing power to the amp.

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  • DHBailey’s response sounds about right, I notice the pack has some USB ports - so maybe plugging in a phone or something might keep the load above the 100mA level?

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  • @dhbailey perfect thanks

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  • This Power Bank works fine with my Spark Amp!

    XT-20000QC3-PA2-AO Power Bank
    Important: Special model "without automatic shutdown"
    Product details: The continuous operation of devices on the DC output 12-24V 0.1 to 50 watts
    From the Manual:
    Many power banks turn off the DC output (circular plug) when a mobile device is fully charged. Most of the time this shutdown is at a load below 4-5 watts. Our models XT-16000QC3 and XT-20000QC3 also have this automatic shutdown. In the special model sold here, this shutdown was disabled. Thus, you can also power small devices, LED lights, devices with standby mode and many other applications.

    Measurements:
    I could measure the power consumption of the Spark Amp with my Powerbank in Watts.

    Headphones: 1.7 to 2.5 Watts
    Speaker: 1.9 to 3,5 Watts

    So both are less than 4 Watts!
    From my experience, in practice, the other Powerbank shuts down below about 2.5 Watts!
    So with speakers it works some time, but eventually shut down...

    This Power Bank I tried before and did not work!
    XT-20000QC3-PA Power Bank:

    Product details:
    The continuous operation of devices on the DC output is possible from a power consumption of 4 watts.

    Thank you to Intecro GmbH for easy switching the Powerbanks!

    Links are for German or Europe purchasers.

    This one is for US purchasers!

    I hope that will help other Spark users!
    Cheers!

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