just curious.... can anyone tell me the difference between Pipes AIO PA/charger and Tims's??? are they both AIO or is that only Pipes?? i was looking at Tims new website and got the impression his is either for the home or for the car and not both.
perhaps someone in here can clear up my confusion please
Sure, I can probably do that, but first someone will have to tell me what AIO is.....
The basic piece, the
regulator, is the
same electrically in both cases. It reduces the 12 VDC that would ordinarily charge the Solo down to the working range for PA mode. Start with 12 Volts from somewhere (the included power supply for home, or car cord for auto/RV/boat use) and plug that into the Solo and you're charging. You need to use the adapter Pipes supplies for that, or Tim supplies a cable like the one on the Solo charger that serves the same function (changes the connector size to fit). If you stick the Pipes PA between those two (supply and adapter), you get PA instead of charging since the voltage got changed in the PA.
The differences (aside from physical construction of the PA circuit) are mostly in what's included. Tim provides a power splitter which you can add to the system to give you two cords, one which charges, one for PA. This means you can
charge one Solo while running your other one (a feature some might like). It also means once installed no real changes are needed to switch modes, just pick the cable that provides that function. He also includes a set of extender cables so you can put stuff on the floor under the desk and stuff like that. Same for the car cord version. A more flexible and for some useful system. That's his 'full system' at the bottom. DTS also packages that in subsets for those looking for less (and less money). He tried to make, for instance, a car charger (only) version so guys who don't want to PA ever but want to charge in the car (or have a backup in case their factory charger dies....) have a place to go. Likewise, the guy with a blown factory charger. These of course could be upgraded later with a PA regulator, splitter, more cables, whatever.
Cera fans will no doubt recognize this conundrum?
Different packaging on the basic regulator block as well as packaging the system differently (with more options laid out). And Pipes is on one side of the border (the cheaper for Canadians) and Tim has the shipping cost advantage here 'stateside' I think?
Both offerings deliver the service cheaper than the Arizer versions (I think?) and
both offer PA mode in the auto/RV/boat configuration, one of the four basic modes Arizer doesn't cover.
Lots of choices in the market, love it! Still don't know what AIO is?
OF
