More power supply Qs.

Spyke

Came across a strange occurrence over the weekend - well, it was strange for me.

I run three pedals in the following order: OS2 - CH1 - DD3
The OS2 and CH1 have been running off 9V 500mA wall warts and the DD3 off a 9V battery. The DD3 sucks juice like the space shuttle so the R45 9V battery doesn't last too long. I tried using the 500mA wall warts but all I got was noise - a horrendous one at that.

Seeing as my knowledge of electronics and the like is functional at best, I though it may be the 500mA that was insufficient. I recently bought a 1000mA wall wart to see if it would help. No luck - same noise. Then I did something dangerous (or so I thought) - I switched it to 7.5V - It improved. I then got very brave/stupid and switched it to 6V (IIRC) and then 4.5V - it's at this point that it sounded great. Switching to 3V made the LED dim significantly and seemed to affect the sound more than usual.

I tried this with the OS2 and CH1 too and found the CH1 sound to improve at 7.5V/500mA, which is where it now sits. No real change from the OS2 at other voltages (on the 500mA PS).

Why does my DD3 now work at that voltage and is it hazardous to the longevity of the unit?

Specs to help:

OS2
Current Draw 12 mA (DC 9 V)

CH1
Current Draw 22 mA (DC 9 V)

DD3
Current Draw 45 to 65 mA (DC 9 V)

As supplied by Roland/Boss.

AlanRatcliffe

You're talking about switching voltages, so I'm going to guess you have one of those "Ellies Electronics" (or similar) multi-voltage power supplies? Bad idea (unless you like the idea of large voltages running through your pedals when it dies?). The voltage selections on those PSUs seem to be arbitrary - more "somewhere in the range of" rather than exactly the voltage it says on the switch. Usually very dirty and noisy power they give too. In short I would never dare use one on any electronic device I valued. I'm sure you'll hear of horror stories from others and from guys who are into the whole electronics side of it.

Most analog pedals can handle lower voltages (especially overdrives, which really aren't fussy), and some like the tones from underpowered pedals, so that could be part of it. Also, chances are that the PSU is supplying a higher voltage than it should anyway. Digital pedals are fussy about power. But IINM, they usually have some kind of built-in voltage regulator to make sure they see the right voltage, which makes them a bit more tolerant.

Part of the noise you get could also be ground loops if you are daisy-chaining more than one pedal to the same supply.

Spyke

Alan Ratcliffe wrote You're talking about switching voltages, so I'm going to guess you have one of those "Ellies Electronics" (or similar) multi-voltage power supplies? Bad idea (unless you like the idea of large voltages running through your pedals when it dies?). The voltage selections on those PSUs seem to be arbitrary - more "somewhere in the range of" rather than exactly the voltage it says on the switch. Usually very dirty and noisy power they give too. In short I would never dare use one on any electronic device I valued. I'm sure you'll hear of horror stories from others and from guys who are into the whole electronics side of it.

Most analog pedals can handle lower voltages (especially overdrives, which really aren't fussy), and some like the tones from underpowered pedals, so that could be part of it. Also, chances are that the PSU is supplying a higher voltage than it should anyway. Digital pedals are fussy about power. But IINM, they usually have some kind of built-in voltage regulator to make sure they see the right voltage, which makes them a bit more tolerant.

Part of the noise you get could also be ground loops if you are daisy-chaining more than one pedal to the same supply.

Thanks Alan, makes sense. I'm going to put the noise down to an incorrect voltage as I run each pedal off a separate PS. As you mentioned, the OS2 couldn't be bothered while the CH1 and DD3 like lower voltages.