DIY power supply anyone?

[janmaat]

Tired of buzzing cheap power supplies, electrocution risk with multi sockets, and batteries alike.

A friend said he had converted a PC power supply unit to power all his effects for years (he's a violinist),
very stable voltage etc.

Has anyone build a DIY power supply? Or are there good reasons not to?

[cheddatom]

It's probably not that safe. If you get a decent one you won't get noise and it'll power all your pedals. I use a Godlyke Powerall, but that only goes to 3Amps (I think). There are others which can go further.

I think someone was selling a burkey flatliner on here recently, it was a good deal!

[flyfisher]

I don't really understand the 'electrocution risk' with multi-sockets. Messy, yes, but not really a safety issue.

I think the answer, sort of, is contained within the original post: "[i]tired of buzzing cheap power supplies[/i]" and "[i]PC power supply unit[/i]". A PC PSU is quite sophisticated (and over-specified for effects pedals really) and so performs well, whereas 'wall warts' tend to be quite cheap and nasty.

First, you need to know the range of voltages needed for your pedals (hopefully all the same) then the total current required, then add some more current for future expansion, round it up to the next nearest whole amp and look for a suitable power supply from electronic component supliers such as RS Components, CPC-Farnell, Maplin etc.

You'll probably need to make up some DC cables to connect to your pedals but that's easily done. If you can't solder, use one or more of those screw-connector strips and house it in a small plastic box (from the above suppliers).

I keep nagging our guitarist to tidy up his motley collection of pedals, wall-warts and mains blocks, all velcro'd to bit of manky chipboard. I'll probably end up doing it for him someday, but I wouldn't start with a PC power supply.

[absolutpepper]

For me, after a while of toying with a mix of wall warts, 9v batteries, multiblocs, etc I ended up just saving a bit and plumping for a custom designed one. Since then i've never looked back and I think a stable, secure and safe power supply is as important as a good tuner on a pedalboard (ie very important). Never understood folks who pay a fortune for pedals and then run them without a proper supply.

[cheddatom]

You shouldn't have to go custom though? Diago, Godlyke, Burkey etc should cover all bases

[slave]

I ended up building my own one.
lots of isolations, multiple voltages, including a "sag" circuit.
Let me first say this.
[b]
What a pain in the arse![/b]

Sourcing a suitable multiple tap - non-common ground transformer (thats not switchmode, cos I wanted to stay away from those noisy bastards!) that'll be big enough (but not physically big) was a task in itself, and then etching the PCB with all the filtering and rectifying and having to make lots of them for each isolation.... pfft.
Since I now have it, and it works flawlessly, It'll stay.
[size=3]But if I had my time again I'd just buy one. The difference in the cost of building one VS buying one isn't as much as you'd think when you work out all those little leads to go with it.....[/size]

[flyfisher]

[quote name='slave' post='1124565' date='Feb 12 2011, 01:02 AM']But if I had my time again I'd just buy one. The difference in the cost of building one VS buying one isn't as much as you'd think when you work out all those little leads to go with it.....[/quote]

+1
Many years ago, I used to make all sorts of electronic stuff, including etching my own PCBs. But, these days, the prices for most things are so low that it's hardly worth all the bother of making stuff anymore. It's a great shame really and contributes to our 'throw away' society. It also means there are fewer people familiar with such things and therefore fewer people who can actually repair stuff, so more stuff gets thrown away. Which is a great shame as repairing stuff is where we can still save a lot of money - and equipment.