9v power supply

[LITTLEWING]

Is there any harmful difference in pedal power supplies? They're all 9 volts but seem to have all varying amps ratings, 1 amp, 100 milliamps, 1700 milliamps etc.

Would any harm come to a 9v pedal with the wrong Amps rating as long as it's still 9v?

[fleabag]

Pedals only draw the milli-amps that they need.  Just make sure any power supply can supply the minimum. It wont matter if the the power supply has a bigger milli-amp rating than the pedal needs.  If your pedals are 9v, ( either centre neg or centre pos ) then that is the voltage  and polarity that the power supply must be rated at.

Edited May 27, 2019 by fleabag

[paul_5]

One word of caution, always make sure that you’re supplying MORE current than you need to a pedal/board; if you try to draw more current than a psu can deliver then the psu will go pop. 

Never give a pedal more voltage than it’s rated for, as this will cause the pedal to go pop. 

[itu]

You may think, that those mAs are like wattage of your amp. You need to have some extra wattage as a headroom (amperes) to drive the speaker (pedals). Only thing that is different, is that the pedals limit the current intake by themselves so you don't have to adjust anything.

If your pedals need more power that your PSU can offer, something will behave in a strange way. Even a PSU failure is an option.

A bit more amperes than needed is always better. If some pedal has strange power needs (different voltage, polarity...), you may have to invest in a power brick with isolated outputs. Sometimes a simple power will work fine, sometimes you may have issues with noises and such, and a more sophisticated PSU is needed.

[LITTLEWING]

Thanks chaps.