Will 14V Blow up 9V Pedals?

[JMFahey]

only the ones made for pedals are close to correct.

Well, that *must* mean something

Meaning: many pedals are fussy about what they eat.

That said, if you dare, you can open those overjuiced wall warts and add a 9V regulator inside, which will be *happy* receiving 14V (they *need* at least 3V higher than rated output) .
Relatively easy to wire, just 3 comonents: the regulator and 2 small capacitors, no need for a PCB , but may need a small heatsink, think a thumbnail sized piece of aluminum, you can glue them so they don't dance around.
[img:461:207]http://www.sxemi-bg.com/categories/supply/gif/006.gif[/img]


here they added a small resistor to help dissipate some power but with most pedals it shouldn't be necessary , unless it's a guitar case sized pedalboard with a ton pedals in it.
[img:522:175]http://www.proyectoelectronico.com/cb/i ... ulador.png[/img]

[R.G.]

That said, if you dare, you can open those overjuiced wall warts and

Technically, this is correct. From a personal longevity viewpoint, it's a disaster.

The problem is the word "open". Wall warts are a safety cage that keeps the AC mains demons safely bottled up inside. Cracking them open usually exposes the safety issues of the internal construction. That's why they're usually welded closed.

Someone who doesn't know that you can add a simple regulator to a too-big DC power supply is extremely unlikely to know how to deal with the dangers of AC mains wiring inside a cracked-open wall wart. Even if the obvious issues of electrocution are avoided, there is still the danger of the modified wart bursting into flames.

Guys like you (JM) and I are used to dealing with the dangers in AC mains wiring. But we have an obligation to warn beginners that they can get dead messing about with this stuff by simply not knowing what they do not know.

At the readers on the thread: if you have to regulate a too-big and/or too-noisy wall wart down, don't crack open the wart to do it. Put it in an external box of some kind and plug the wart's DC into that. Unless you already know how to deal with the issues of AC mains wiring safety in a double-insulated environment, you could electrocute yourself, a family member or friend, or start a fire and burn the place down.

[telentubes]

R.G.
I'll be at NAMM on Thursday. I'll stop in at Truetone.
tnt

[The New Steve H]

Someone who doesn't know that you can add a simple regulator to a too-big DC power supply is extremely unlikely to know how to deal with the dangers of AC mains wiring inside a cracked-open wall wart. Even if the obvious issues of electrocution are avoided, there is still the danger of the modified wart bursting into flames.

Believe it or not, I do know what a regulator is. I wasn't going to go on Ebay and spend money for one and wait a week for it, and then perform surgery on a sealed plastic box, just to save a free wall wart. After all, I can get a wart made just for pedals for what? Seven bucks? Probably less.

I have a drawer with about 500 random diodes in it, and I need to throw them out or do something with them, so I decided to use diodes instead.

Dealing with scary 120V AC is not really over my head. Cover the wire so it doesn't touch anything. I got it.

I've built a bunch of amps from scratch, and I wired my garage for 220 machinery, and I'm still alive, so don't worry about me killing myself with a phone charger. I'm more likely to regret making toast in the bathtub every morning. But I can't make myself stop.

[JazzGuitarGimp]

Someone who doesn't know that you can add a simple regulator to a too-big DC power supply is extremely unlikely to know how to deal with the dangers of AC mains wiring inside a cracked-open wall wart. Even if the obvious issues of electrocution are avoided, there is still the danger of the modified wart bursting into flames.

Believe it or not, I do know what a regulator is. I wasn't going to go on Ebay and spend money for one and wait a week for it, and then perform surgery on a sealed plastic box, just to save a free wall wart. After all, I can get a wart made just for pedals for what? Seven bucks? Probably less.

I have a drawer with about 500 random diodes in it, and I need to throw them out or do something with them, so I decided to use diodes instead.

Dealing with scary 120V AC is not really over my head. Cover the wire so it doesn't touch anything. I got it.

I've built a bunch of amps from scratch, and I wired my garage for 220 machinery, and I'm still alive, so don't worry about me killing myself with a phone charger. I'm more likely to regret making toast in the bathtub every morning. But I can't make myself stop.

Well said.

[The New Steve H]

I can completely understand why people think I'm not all that bright. But, with effort, it is possible to underestimate me.

[JMFahey]

That said, if you dare, you can open those overjuiced wall warts and

Technically, this is correct. From a personal longevity viewpoint, it's a disaster.

The problem is the word "open". Wall warts are a safety cage that keeps the AC mains demons safely bottled up inside. Cracking them open usually exposes the safety issues of the internal construction. That's why they're usually welded closed.

Cool
Point taken

I can completely understand why people think I'm not all that bright. But, with effort, it is possible to underestimate me.

Oh, please , it's not personal, at all.

Can't be anyway because as you correctly say, we don't know you ..... or anybody else who might get here and read this post, not even being a Forum member, just brought by mighty Google.
Precisely because of that, the *safe* assumption is to be overly cautious, always.
Take care

[JazzGuitarGimp]

I can completely understand why people think I'm not all that bright. But, with effort, it is possible to underestimate me.

I think we all talk down to a felliw forum member from time to time. I know I've done it. Truth be told, we _really_ don't know one-another, and so we don't know what someone's abilities are - the best we can hope for is to make an educated guess, based on what someone says on the forum. I suppose this forum could easily suffer a fate worse than us caring for one-another's well-being.

[cbass]

Someone who doesn't know that you can add a simple regulator to a too-big DC power supply is extremely unlikely to know how to deal with the dangers of AC mains wiring inside a cracked-open wall wart. Even if the obvious issues of electrocution are avoided, there is still the danger of the modified wart bursting into flames.

Believe it or not, I do know what a regulator is. I wasn't going to go on Ebay and spend money for one and wait a week for it, and then perform surgery on a sealed plastic box, just to save a free wall wart. After all, I can get a wart made just for pedals for what? Seven bucks? Probably less.

I have a drawer with about 500 random diodes in it, and I need to throw them out or do something with them, so I decided to use diodes instead.

Dealing with scary 120V AC is not really over my head. Cover the wire so it doesn't touch anything. I got it.

I've built a bunch of amps from scratch, and I wired my garage for 220 machinery, and I'm still alive, so don't worry about me killing myself with a phone charger. I'm more likely to regret making toast in the bathtub every morning. But I can't make myself stop.

. I don't think when he said someone he was referring to you specifically.

[R.G.]

Believe it or not, I do know what a regulator is. I wasn't going to go on Ebay and spend money for one and wait a week for it, and then perform surgery on a sealed plastic box, just to save a free wall wart. After all, I can get a wart made just for pedals for what? Seven bucks? Probably less.

I have a drawer with about 500 random diodes in it, and I need to throw them out or do something with them, so I decided to use diodes instead.

Dealing with scary 120V AC is not really over my head. Cover the wire so it doesn't touch anything. I got it.

I've built a bunch of amps from scratch, and I wired my garage for 220 machinery, and I'm still alive, so don't worry about me killing myself with a phone charger. I'm more likely to regret making toast in the bathtub every morning. But I can't make myself stop.

I didn't mean to offend you, and I apologize for having done so unintentionally.

There is no way for me to know the skill level of someone on a forum except to guess about it from what their posts say. There are people who are skilled with AC mains voltage wiring but not electronics, just as there are people skilled with electronics but not AC wiring (including here the vast majority of EEs).

I deal on a regular basis with people who learned that "solder" has an "l" in it just last week and want to go rewiring their amps with a torch and plumber's solder. The amp and pedal forums are full of these, so I have to shoot low, because I do feel an obligation to help these folks live through their first few encounters with electricity, as I mentioned to JM.

So I apologize for stepping on your toes. You're now in my group of people that I don't have to caution about the dangers of AC power, although I will mention that so that untrained third-party readers don't go off and get themselves killed, but these comments will not be aimed at you.

By the way, I wired my brother in law's garage from scratch. We paid a licensed electrician to come inspect it before button it up. He found no problems and wrote up a statement to that effect. That's because if a building burns and the insurance company can find any evidence of wiring not done by a licensed electrician, the vast majority of companies will categorically deny the claim until the owner proves it was inspected and found to be wired to code. So my BIL paid the $75 for the guy to come look.

[The New Steve H]

Wow, I didn't mean to make it sound like I'm upset.

Sorry, R.G. I am really grateful for your generous help, and I hope you keep seeing fit to provide it. I was just afraid you had a serious misconception about my knowledge. I'm more like a C amp student than an F amp student. Definitely in need of advice, but not likely to kill myself right away.

[R.G.]

No problem. I *did* have a misconception of your skill level, and you've now given me more info. That always helps. No offense intended, and none taken. We're good.