Play 1 Battery Pack

The last third party proposition for an add on base for the Play:1 was a miserable failure, making about half of what was needed on Kickstarter.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/darlite/darlite-the-limitless-sonos-experience

My assumption about the lack of Sonos battery bases is that there is some technological barrier that's unique to Sonos that's prevented these battery bases from being produced, that third parties have looked into it and have decided that the obstacle is too difficult to overcome. Nothing else makes sense.
That doesn't make sense to me. All that is needed is a power supply with a rechargeable battery in a base that mates with the power socket on the 1 unit. All electrical and mechanical stuff - I don't see any place where any proprietary firmware information is needed to be obtained from Sonos - the specification for what is the nature of the power to be fed into the play 1 for it to work is part of the published spec.
Which isn't to say that this is a trivial effort. But if some one saw profit it in, they would pursue it. Sonos involvement not needed.

Also; my quick look at Amazon shows me close to 60K reviews for Echo and about 500 or so for battery bases across different makes of bases.
The market for just battery bases for the play 1 must be smaller in proportion to the play 1 unit sales as compared to Echo sales.
Now if there was a base that a 1 unit would sit in, wired to the mains such that the unit can be just picked up and carried to somewhere else in the home to run from the charged battery for a few hours before returning to its usual position, I would myself pick up one to use with one of my 4 units. That would suffice to move one unit around quickly and flexibly; more would not be useful.
But I can see no reason other than a commercial one for there being no such product. Just not enough takers - what else can be the reason?

Kumar: "Now if there was a base that a 1 unit would sit in, wired to the mains such that the unit can be just picked up and carried to somewhere else in the home to run from the charged battery for a few hours before returning to its usual position, I would myself pick up one to use with one of my 4 units. That would suffice to move one unit around quickly and flexibly; more would not be useful." That's exactly what I've been describing in my previous 4 posts. Like you, I'd buy one in a flash. And so would many current and future Sonos users. If you are correct and there is no technological issue then I am stumped because flexibility is where the market is headed and ignoring this is a very bad decision.

jgatie: Your example is not what I am talking about: a simple battery base with no other features to make it more expensive and complicated.

jgatie: Your example is not what I am talking about: a simple battery base with no other features to make it more expensive and complicated.

I knew what you are talking about. I was just comparing it to another 3rd party proposal for a "base" type add-on for the Play:1, one that presumably would have broader appeal because it covers a multitude of wants/needs that have been requested for years by a loud and dedicated few. Yet, when the wallet becomes involved, the idea fizzles.

The only point I was trying to make is that a loud and dedicated few does not automatically equal 3rd party success.

I think I read somewhere, that sonos are looking into weather proof speakers for the outside garden, as the garden is seen as another "room" theses days.

Yes, new CEO quoted from an interview in the Verge:

In the home, there are multiple rooms and multiple kind of use cases — around, for instance, the television or other screens. There's the outdoor room, there's the bedroom, the bathroom. There are different uses that are there that I think get underestimated.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/14/14596904/sonos-ceo-alexa-smart-home-outdoor-speakers-patrick-spence-interview

flexibility is where the market is headed and ignoring this is a very bad decision.

That flexibility is what my Bluetooth feature suggestion was directed towards. Once Sonos can run from a battery, the next requirement would be for it to work where there is no WiFi. And preferably also take some knocks in its stride.
Just the flexibility of having it work without a mains socket, although still tethered to the home WiFi has not been found to yield enough of a market by anyone capable of creating a solution for it, a solution that needs no endorsement by Sonos, just as Flexson stands for play units don't need one. The only way for me to be wrong in saying this would be if such a product existed.

I have solved this problem for myself via external speakers wired to an indoor Sonos front end for the patio and an obsolete but functional iPod touch dedicated to a capable bluetooth speaker for the road. The speaker is smaller and lighter than a 1, does 12 hours between charges, is weather proof, and works brilliantly with the iPod, away from home. Could Sonos address this market? Sure. Should they, in preference to other challenges at this time, like voice control? Debatable.

I think there is a technical reason why it's as feasible for a battery for a PLAY:1 as there is for say and echo. That is that power line in to an echo (or dot) is DC power. The power cord has a transformer at the plug connection to convert from AC to DC power. I'm not an expert, but every battery I know of provides DC power. So therefore replacing a plug with a battery is rather straightforward because they both provide DC.

The PLAY:1 is AC powered. There may be a transformer in the unit itself to convert to DC, but the point is, any power supply for the unit must be AC. So any battery pack for a PLAY:1 would need to be a DC battery, with a conversion to AC to power the unit (and possibly converted back to DC in the unit itself). I haven't done much research on this, but battery packages that provide AC power seem to be rather expensive, and building one that only works with one specific device that isn't it sold in very high volume doesn't make a ton of sense.

I could see where Sonos makes a future product that is DC, with an external transformer like the Echo does. Then again, perhaps Sonos doesn't want to do that if they feel the exterior transformer isn't visually pleasing.

melvimbe: That makes a lot of sense. The conversion from DC to AC and back to DC could be the obstacle I was assuming. The Echo batteries are very simple and cheap--you can get a few for less than $50. A battery base that costs almost as much as the speaker could reduce demand considerably. Thanks for your insight.

battery packages that provide AC power seem to be rather expensive, and building one that only works with one specific device that isn't it sold in very high volume doesn't make a ton of sense.

I could see where Sonos makes a future product that is DC, with an external transformer like the Echo does. Then again, perhaps Sonos doesn't want to do that if they feel the exterior transformer isn't visually pleasing.
Yes, this explanation nails it; as described in the quote, the barrier seems to be techno commercial related to costs v potential payoff via market share/size. Nothing to do with Sonos, except their decision to not make one themselves.

It is of course a consequence of the Sonos design choice to NOT have a transformer hanging off the wall as the Echo has, but to build one into the unit body.

The Darlite idea earlier referred may be of interest: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/darlite/darlite-the-limitless-sonos-experience

It is interesting to see how much the product looks like the battery base being discussed. But it includes a lot of features that would need either hacking or access to Sonos internal protocols/firmware, but it still does not include a battery, possibly because of cost/size reasons. The features promised look quite intriguing to me, and I would have picked up the one unit needed if it ever reached the market. But as the site indicates, it seems that the funding attempt was called off for lack of interest, so that is one indicator to the market interest in such products.