Power Supply for Sonos

August 5, 2016 2:31 PM

I currently have a Sonos Play:1 and would like it to be a bit more mobile. I was thinking that utilizing some sort of portable power supply would be the best solution, but wasn't sure what I would need.

Essentially, I'm looking for something that would allow me to never need to disconnect/unplug the Sonos as I move it from room to room. So, when the Sonos is in its original location, the portable power supply would sit latent between the wall outlet and the Sonos (but would be charging) and then when I moved the Sonos, I would just unplug the portable power supply from the wall (and the Sonos would not be disconnected as it would run off the portable power supply). Does anyone had any suggestions for products that would fit this need?

posted by arm426 to Technology (3 answers total)

A small UPS will do this for you, but it's hard to estimate how long it would run the Sonos Play:1 for. Do note that UPSes tend to beep when they're disconnected from power.

I think many people using Sonos have several components scattered throughout their house. If you're carrying the Play:1 from room to room it might be easier/cheaper to buy a bluetooth speaker with an internal battery.
posted by gregr at 2:45 PM on August 5, 2016

You want a small UPS (uninterruptible power supply) or a power pack. They tend to be heavy and bulky unless you get the Lithium Ion versions, which are expensive. Make sure you get one that you can disable the alarm on!

The Play 1 draws a maximum of 1A, so I'd assume something like 0.25A / 30W in normal use, so a small sized UPS should be fine for a day.

That said, I'd also recommend something specifically built for this purpose, like a Jambox or similar.
posted by ssg at 2:49 PM on August 5, 2016

While I agree that Sonos isn't really designed to be carried around the house, I will say that the Sonos app is much nicer than playing via Bluetooth, if you want a variety of audio sources. So a bluetooth speaker isn't a direct replacement. However, one thing I'd think about is how big is the price difference between an adequate UPS and simply getting another Play 1 for a secondary location. I haven't priced UPSes recently, but last time I looked, even the small ones would approach the $200 price of a Play 1. Also, I'm not sure that UPS batteries are designed to be charged and drained so often, so I'd worry about longevity. Especially when you take that into account, it might make more sense to just expand your Sonos system and take advantage of the nice features that gives you.
posted by primethyme at 5:00 PM on August 5, 2016