AC/DC lower voltages…
HEy guys,
just thought I’d share a project of mine.
When in search of a perfect power supply to accommodate all my AC/DC voltage needs on stage I found the industry to be lacking and the few custom shops offering something that would satisfy to be outrageously overpriced. ($1000-2000 was one quote!!! lol)
So, I built my own, with the help of dear old solder gun.
The need:
must supply 9V/12V/5.5V DC and 9V AC at various Amperage in a convenient 19" 2U rack for up to 14 devices on their own fuses to safely eliminate wall warts.
My choice of supplies was a Furman Fuse panel (used for security cameras) for a case, a 2 Way, 3A Step Down DC-DC Regulator LM2596 3.3/5/9, a Toroidal coil 9V (2), and a 24v DC power supply, I also used a 3way power switch from an old juke box and and the input socket from and old computer power supply as well as an RCA jack (for the 9V AC outputs).
budget (tried to keep it under $100).
Here is a picture of the inside.
and this is the beast from the front:
The other cool thing about using this furman fuse panel as a casing is the pop-out fuses (Type 70) that let you know exactly what device pulled too much current from the front of the panel.
and the back:
The 9V AC RCa jacks are just to the right outside of the last picture I mounted them with brass hardware found in the fuse panel.
Anyway time permitting I’d like to post a tutorial on this project for anyone wanting to find their own affordable power supply and eliminate their rats nest of wall warted power strips…
The other advantage to using a supply like this is you are only pulling 120V from the wall once for all all your devices rather than 14 different wall warts all converting 120V AC, less heat more efficient, environmentally friendly, and less electric bill!
if I’ve already shared this here please forgive as the mem taint what she used to be…
dontcare 
Hi jerm:
What a great project…
There shouldn’t be any floating ripple around that ends up in the signal path from that box…
The idea that your pedals are all being driven from the same (common) power source should be a great improvement over the noise floor of the signal path…
Bill…
Quote: (woxnerw @ Jul. 29 2011, 3:51 AM)
Hi jerm:
What a great project..
There shouldn't be any floating ripple around that ends up in the signal path from that box.. The idea that your pedals are all being driven from the same (common) power source should be a great improvement over the noise floor of the signal path..
Bill..
really? I hadn't thought of that!
my only worry is midi loop, as I'm not sure how the circuitry would react, although each output is individually fused, I guess you could have midi loop problems regardless of where the power is coming from.
the reason this concerns me is the power supplies ground was common, so was the Toroidal and the step down converter, ground is the chassis as well so they all share it, granted I am using a power conditioner BEFORE the box, several midi devices sharing the same ground.....
anywho so far so good...thanks for poppin in Bill
this whole rack unit cost me about $80 to make and it replaced 14 wall warts (who's cost and energy use was much higher)
dontcare
Just curious, but what pedals are running off of 3.3v & 5v?
Ibanez, Zoom, Boss, Digitech, Morley = 9v
MXR = 18v
T.C. Electronics = 12v
BTW a Spot One or Godlyke 3-5A digital switching power supply is $35. The Spot One will run 9 pedals.
Duff
Quote: (duffman @ Jul. 29 2011, 10:23 AM)
Just curious, but what pedals are running off of 3.3v & 5v?
Ibanez, Zoom, Boss, Digitech, Morley = 9v
MXR = 18v
T.C. Electronics = 12v
Duff
I don't have anything running at 3.3v (that is just one of the voltages the step down converter can make, it also makes 15V, but puts out 2 different voltages at 3A each along with a side chain of 12V 1A, the Toroidal puts out 9V AC at 3A per side(X2), so that's 4 different voltages at a total of 10A that can be drawn.
One of my Midi base pedals (footar) runs off 5.5V as well as some experimental Xbee midi/stuff.
Quote:
BTW a Spot One or Godlyke 3-5A digital switching power supply is $35. The Spot One will run 9 pedals.
I could not find that model on Godlykes page, the highest model they have listed is the PA-9D which powers up to 11 devices (9v DC ONLY) up to 2A,(spot one was even lower 1700ma) my 9V DC needs alone were above that, it's also a wall wart and according to the manual it is not recommended to plug it into the same outlet strip as an amp (hum/ground noise issues), I would need two SpoT ONe's just to fill my 9V DC needs leaving me needing a 12V DC,5.5V DC and 9V AC sources.
I have a lot of voltage sensitive and highly expensive gear here(at least to me it was) it doesn't seem practical to have them be supplied by a single switching supply (even just for 9V DC) without them individually being protected from spikes and surges (hence the fuses for each device), that way if any one device starts drawing too much current it blows the fuse rather than overloading the power supply and shutting down and possibly short circuiting everything being supplied.
plus! I had an empty space in one of my racks!!! that is now filled...tee hee
dontcare
correction, the total draw the device can put out is 12Amp, Godlykes PA-9D puts out 2Amp max and you got to leave yourself some head room.
Here are all the lower voltage devices I have running off of this puppy:
Axiom 25 (12V DC)
Footar (5.5V DC)
Xbee wireless MIDI interface (in my avatar, 5.5V DC)
JLCooper Fader MAster (9V DC)
Roland GI-10 (9V DC)
2 Digitech GNX’4’s (9V 2A AC [x2])
Pignose Amp (9V DC)
Midi buddy MP-128 (12V DC)
Roland JV1010 (9V DC)
Whirlwind A/B selector (9V DC)
Ibanez WD7 (9V DC)
I still have two fuses and output terminals unused on the 5.5V side which I hook up to the occasional MIDI CPU board to experiment with analog triggers and such in logic…
dontcare
Dont get me wrong. Nice design. Should be very efficient with the torodial. Since you had the parts and the time, it made a really nice project that exactly fit your wants & needs. I just dont do much of that anymore. I try to find off the shelf stuff that I can modify.
Top shelf runs to effects loop, bottom to amp front end. Under shelf is a filtered, breaker protected, power strip with O/I switch, 1 Godlyke and an 18v - 3.5 amp digi-switching supply, that was supposed to be used for charging batteries. A simple voltage divider after my 18v needs taps off my 12v. I rarely run more then 3 pedals at a time so these provide more then enough A’s.
Nice work Jeremy, Steve.
My boy robbed me of all things pedal so now I’m all things s/w.
Quote: (duffman @ Jul. 30 2011, 6:25 AM)
Dont get me wrong. Nice design. Should be very efficient with the torodial. Since you had the parts and the time, it made a really nice project that exactly fit your wants & needs. I just dont do much of that anymore. I try to find off the shelf stuff that I can modify.
Top shelf runs to effects loop, bottom to amp front end. Under shelf is a filtered, breaker protected, power strip with O/I switch, 1 Godlyke and an 18v - 3.5 amp digi-switching supply, that was supposed to be used for charging batteries. A simple voltage divider after my 18v needs taps off my 12v. I rarely run more then 3 pedals at a time so these provide more then enough A's.
yeah, that's a nice pedal board set up,
there was an outfit out of Cali a few years back that used to make those pretty affordable too, as a matter of fact that is where I got the idea to use RCA jacks for the 9v AC outputs.
The Toroidal is just for 9V AC (for the GNX4's), it can put out 18V 6amp AC in series or two 9V 3A feeds in parallel, I did that because I have had two Digitech(h-pro) adapters go and one of them took a GNX4 with it...
I had not thought of that voltage divider, I could use that in situations where I only need one device on 15V and all my terminals are already assigned to other voltages....hmmm maybe on the next one 'cause I am making a second unit without the Toroidal just for my rack FX DC needs, a lot of stuff in there that could use some more efficient electric lovin'.
dontcare
Quote: (TonyR @ Jul. 30 2011, 8:42 AM)
Nice work Jeremy, Steve.
My boy robbed me of all things pedal so now I'm all things s/w.
datz a shame,
a man who works hard deserves his hardware.
dontcare