can i underpower a digital pedlol by 3mA?

General Gear Discussion - effects, synths, etc.

Moderator: Ghost Hip

Post Reply
User avatar
alexsga
experienced
experienced
Posts: 825
Joined: Sat May 15, 2010 3:21 pm

can i underpower a digital pedlol by 3mA?

Post by alexsga »

i have a 250mA spot on my psu that i want to use on a digital pedal that draws 253mA :hello:
User avatar
tremolo3
IAMILF
IAMILF
Posts: 2764
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2014 1:09 am
Location: Oaxaca, MX
Contact:

Re: can i underpower a digital pedlol by 3mA?

Post by tremolo3 »

It's safe.
John wrote:"guys play quiet, listen to my small costly device."
PumpkinPieces wrote:Fer shoogaze
tuffteef wrote:all you need is a big muff and feelings
User avatar
alexsga
experienced
experienced
Posts: 825
Joined: Sat May 15, 2010 3:21 pm

Re: can i underpower a digital pedlol by 3mA?

Post by alexsga »

tremolo3 wrote:It's safe.
:thumb: thanks


2nd power question: can i power a 12v pedal by attaching a voodooLab currentdoubler Y cable to both a 12v and a 12.3v psu slot? ugh :facepalm:
User avatar
tremolo3
IAMILF
IAMILF
Posts: 2764
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2014 1:09 am
Location: Oaxaca, MX
Contact:

Re: can i underpower a digital pedlol by 3mA?

Post by tremolo3 »

Not sure if I understand what you're trying to do, but current doubler Y cable will only sum both ports' current. ie: 2x 250mA = 1x 500mA.
If both ports are 12V, the voltage will remain 12V as the cable it's a current doubler, not a voltage doubler.

If you're worried about that .3 mismatch between a 12V and a 12.3V, I wouldn't be that worried to fry a pedal as long as those are unregulated outputs.

My advice is: contact your PSU's brand support :lol:
John wrote:"guys play quiet, listen to my small costly device."
PumpkinPieces wrote:Fer shoogaze
tuffteef wrote:all you need is a big muff and feelings
User avatar
crochambeau
IAMILF
IAMILF
Posts: 2218
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 12:49 pm
Location: Cascadia
Contact:

Re: can i underpower a digital pedlol by 3mA?

Post by crochambeau »

Unless it's over-engineered, running your PSU at or above rated current will shorten its lifespan. 1% is not drastic, so in all probability it's okay - unless the ratings are from the marketing department..

I would not double up on power supplies feeding a circuit, especially if they are in any way dissimilar. You want one controller (I'm talking about the "brain" of the switchmode, or the reference path of the linear) "overseeing" all the work, once you put another one in there all hell can break loose. I would suspect that a "current doubling" cable is to sum from two legs of a single supply (I can think of a few topologies in which even this is ill-advised).

TL;DR, you're probably fine with what you've got. 253 mA is probably a maximum surge rating that will only be approached once in a very long while. If it's steady state pull (ie: analog equipment) I would recommend doubling the size (measured in current capability) of your PSU as soon as possible.

If your digital pedal does funky shit, it could mean it's starved for current.
User avatar
Jwar
Cosmic of BILF
Cosmic of BILF
Posts: 18239
Joined: Thu Dec 02, 2010 7:18 pm
Location: The edge of existence

Re: can i underpower a digital pedlol by 3mA?

Post by Jwar »

Look on Voolabs site too. I did stuff like that but I had to read up on it. Most of my shit was 18v though. Not sure about 12v. What pedal is that?
"I do not have the ability to think rationally 90% of the time and I also change my mind at the drop of a hat".

-JWAR :)
User avatar
Bartimaeus
experienced
experienced
Posts: 629
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2012 11:32 pm
Location: Well that isn't very punk, is it?

Re: can i underpower a digital pedlol by 3mA?

Post by Bartimaeus »

I wouldn't worry about 3mA difference, that's a pretty small amount. most likely you won't actually be under-powering your pedal, you'll just be making your power supply work a little harder.

I know for some power supplies, the labels are just recommendations, and in you'll be fine as long as your total current draw from all pedals isn't higher than the sum of all the outputs. the 1 spot pro power supplies are like this. there's a max of 1900mA, and you can plug a 400mA pedal into the 200mA outputs, so long as your other pedals don't draw more than 1500mA.

I don't know if the voodoo lab pp2+ shares current between outputs like the 1 spot pro, but I do run my 300mA strymon timeline with one of the two 250mA outputs on my pp2+. I haven't had any problems in the past couple years, but maybe I can't be trusted haha
Post Reply