This Elektron Digitakt is perfect apart from one thing: you still have to plug it into a mains power outlet, even though it only runs on 12V.
So in this post I’ll show you how I ‘batteryfied’ my Digitakt to make it into the fully portable machine I always wanted it to be. Now I can take it everywhere: the woods, beach, trains and planes, with several hours of play time.
Digitakt is almost portable, almost perfect
My favourite thing about the Elektron Digitakt is its immediacy; just grab it and start playing, without having to wait for things to load, without having to find lost cables, without losing inspiration.
Open it up
It’s almost like the designers at Elektron intentionally left room inside here for a decent sized battery pack. In fact there’s plenty of space to add more things in here (midi host for the OP-1 maybe). The unit opens easily with 6 Allen key screws on the front face.
Lithium cells and a BMS
I chose 21700 lithium cells. The cells have a capacity of 5000mAh each and charge up to 4.2V, with a nominal voltage of around 3.7V. I bought them from Nkon.nl: LG INR21700-M50T Lithium Cell
As for the BMS (battery management system) I bought this one on Amazon: 40A lithium BMS PCB – note that this is rated a lot higher than it needs to be but the larger form factor and ease of wiring made it my preferred option.
Connect batteries in series
Connecting in series gives you the summed voltage for each cell (12.6V), however the capacity will be that of one cell (4800mAh). I used nickel battery strip and a soldering iron powerful enough to make good joints here (at least 65W). You have to be quick as possible making these joints to minimise potential damage the battery cell.
Connect the BMS
The wiring is conveniently shown on the back of the BMS PCB. The silkscreen shows single cells but these can also be cells in parallel. In this case though, I’m using just 3 cells.
And some wires
Some BMS boards have separate connections for charge and power. This one uses the same connections for both, which means there’s just a couple of flying wires (- and +).
Wrap it in heat shrink tubing
I used some battery shrink wrap and heated it with a hot air gun
Wire it into the Digitakt
I connected the battery before the Digitakt’s power switch so the battery will charge with the Digitakt switch turned off
Fix the battery down
I used some very strong double sided adhesive foam to stick the battery pack down. It’s held up well so far and seems to hold the battery down no problem, even with some very forceful jolts
Freedom!
How long does it last?
The power rating on the Digitakt says 1A. With a 5Ah battery pack (above) that means a minimum (since the 1A rating is the absolute maximum and most the time it won’t be anywhere near that)5 hours of battery time assuming the battery pack is fully charged.
But to fully charge this battery pack there needs to be a 12.6V supply, whereas the normal Elektron PSU is just 12V. So at the moment, I’m only charging it to 12V. The DT manages to run for a good few hours before turning off because the voltage gets too low.
Why don’t these machines come with batteries built in?
Does anyone know why they don’t make these devices fully portable, since it’s already pretty much there.
I imagine it would mean the Digitakt would have a much shorter service life, in a machine that is pretty much built to last a lifetime. And from Elektron’s perspective, having to deal with replacing thousands of batteries does sound like a bit of a headache for a company that clearly just wants to make really cool music machines. Plus maybe there are additional regulations that go with having a product with a battery, possibly?
Have you tried this? or maybe you’ve done some other mods to the Digitakt? let us know in the comments…