USB to 9 volt adaptor

[gazgoldstar]

Hello everyone. I recently found out about this Irish company called Myvolts who are making power supply solutions. They currently have a Kickstarter project for their Ripcord. This is essentially a USB to 9 volt adaptor so that you can power your pedals from a phone charger or portable battery. It think this looks dead cool and I have backed it but the Kickstarter doesn't seem to be going that well hence me posting it here. They cost about £12. Here is the link:https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/48955335/ripcord-the-plug-n-play-anywhere-usb-power-cable?ref=discovery

[chriswareham]

USB is 5 volts. How are they going to prevent their charger potentially destroying standards compliant devices?

Edited May 24, 2016 by chriswareham

[KiOgon]

How many pedals do you expect to run from a phone charger? As Chris says USB is 5V & if you practically double it up to 9V it's going to have as much power available as a doormouses fart, probably less!

Good luck with that

[dannybuoy]

I haven't even read the link but can't see any problems with it damaging anything. I assume it's a male USB plug going to a charge pump, going to a pedal style 9v DC barrel - if so there would be no risk of plugging a USB device into the 9V supply.

Sounds a bit pointless when you could just buy a 9V supply for the same money though?

[paul h]

Looks interesting.

They seem to have done enough testing and trials to know that it works.

It wouldn't necessarily be of interest to me but for for a more technologically minded musician who uses a tablet or a laptop in a live situation I can see it being really valuable.

[MrDaveTheBass]

[quote name='KiOgon' timestamp='1464087283' post='3056396']
it's going to have as much power available as a doormouses fart, probably less!
[/quote]

Mouse-fart powered pedal boards - I'd definitely invest in a Kickstarter campaign for one of those! (Might have to iron-out a few animal welfare issues first though)

[Bigwan]

They have a kickstarter campaign for a charge pump? Now I've heard everything...

[tonyquipment]

Nice idea but 5v to 9v? How many stepper uppers will you need?

It will just blow it off the wall won't it ?

Now u can probably charge phones from the 9v stepping down but the other way around is just ...entertaining to watch.

[TimR]

Very clever idea. You can use one of those powerbank USBs to power your gear instead of messing about with 9v rechargeable batteries and chargers etc.

Would be nice if a lot of electronic equipment started to go down the 5v supply route though. Although 5 volt batteries aren't that common. Yet.

[TimR]

[quote name='tonyquipment' timestamp='1464089186' post='3056422']
Nice idea but 5v to 9v? How many stepper uppers will you need?

It will just blow it off the wall won't it ?

Now u can probably charge phones from the 9v stepping down but the other way around is just ...entertaining to watch.
[/quote]

You just need a DC-DC step up. eBay is full of them at c£2.

Edited May 24, 2016 by TimR

[Gottastopbuyinggear]

As TimR has pointed out, this isn't about running your pedals from a phone charger, it's about running them from a USB power pack.

I've just bought one of these - £10 from Amazon: [url="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B011LO5KOO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1"]https://www.amazon.c...0?ie=UTF8&psc=1[/url], and another £20 for a 16750 mAH USB power pack: [url="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00OJXVDAU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1."]https://www.amazon.c...?ie=UTF8&psc=1.[/url]

That's about three times the capacity of the Pedaltrain Volto for about a third of the price. As a relatively light user of pedals I'm expecting this to last quite a few rehearsals before I need to recharge it.

Edited May 24, 2016 by Gottastopbuyinggear

[gazgoldstar]

I learned about Myvolts after I reviewed a five way Usb to 9volt cable for Sonic State. It powers all of my 9 volt Korg Volcas from a phone battery with no problem whatsoever. The Volcas use a different DC pin so I haven't tried it with my bass pedals. I was impressed though so I reckon this would be a cool solution. I am contemplating building a pedal board with some big USB battery built in so I recharge the whole board. With one USB jack. Each cable can provide 1000 mah from a single USB socket so I reckon you could daisy chain five pedals off one.

[dannybuoy]

[quote name='tonyquipment' timestamp='1464089186' post='3056422']
Nice idea but 5v to 9v? How many stepper uppers will you need?

It will just blow it off the wall won't it ?

Now u can probably charge phones from the 9v stepping down but the other way around is just ...entertaining to watch.
[/quote]

I've got a 9v - 18v converter tip from Diago; this uses the same principle. Lots of pedals (EHX Glove for example) have the same circuit internally these days to get the increased headroom of 18v from a 9v supply.

[dannybuoy]

They need to state how many mA this thing can handle, I don't see that listed anywhere. Seeing as they show it hooked up to synths and micro amps, it must be quite a bit and more than enough for a large pedalboard...

[tonyquipment]

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1464097425' post='3056520']


I've got a 9v - 18v converter tip from Diago; this uses the same principle. Lots of pedals (EHX Glove for example) have the same circuit internally these days to get the increased headroom of 18v from a 9v supply.
[/quote]

Still gotta consider how many milliamps it will pump out .. It may not be enough to service the draw of the 9 volter

[KevB]

Think I'll stick with my old power brick for the time being.

[TimR]

[quote name='tonyquipment' timestamp='1464100191' post='3056545']


Still gotta consider how many milliamps it will pump out .. It may not be enough to service the draw of the 9 volter
[/quote]

The USB specs say it should be able to draw 5A if connected to a charging port.

[TimR]

The more I think about this, the more I can't see any point in having 9v batteries or supplies anymore. With high power 5v sources about 9v is pretty redundant.

[elephantgrey]

I would rather have a 9v to USB power adapter. I wouldn't mind being able to power a midi keyboard/gameboy(for chip times)/my phone from my board's power supply.