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Isolated Rechargeable Power for a Pedalboard

2K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  tonewoody 
#1 ·
I've been looking to make my pedalboard power supply 'wall-wart-less' just cause it's difficult to hunt for inputs during jams or band practice at my bandmate's home with everyone wired up. It would also make moving the board so much easier! So I've been looking for a rechargeable power supply like the pedal train volto (Volto 3). But I'd like to isolate each of the pedals' power as well. I found this Joyo JMP - 05 (JOYO JP-05 Guitar Effect Pedal Power Supply 8 Outputs 9v 12v 18v USB & Rechargeable) which pretty much seems like my only option for getting what I need with one thing that's not super expensive.

Lemme know if you have any alternatives that you've been using to do this. Or would I be better getting something like the volto to power an isolated power brick and stick both under my board? My budget is around 150-165ish so I dunno if that's possible within that budget...
 
#2 ·
I've used a Volto to power multiple pedals without isolation and never had a problem. Probably the worst case scenario was running 3 or 4 analog pedals out of one output and an L6 M5 out of the other. Because the M5 draws 500 mA, the battery didn't last the whole night without turning it off between sets. But considering the mix of digital and analog, I had no noise problems at all.

You may just want to try a Volto daisy chained to your pedals first. Batteries, by nature, produce 0 ripple (no rectification involved) and are massive filters for other, induced noise on the line. It may be all you need. If you do have noise problems, you can then go the next step and try isolation - but I never found it necessary.

If you do buy a Volto, give it a really good charge (at least 12 hours) before first use or you will limit the max capacity of the battery.
 
#3 ·
Thanks! I guess the only other reason I was considering isolation is just in case one of the Daisy chain outs (connectors? Input thingies?) malfunctions and shorts out a pedal. But because everything is connected, the whole board would go out. I've had this happen once with a 1 spot and an older Daisy chain and I had to take the whole board apart to see what was wrong. With a light up isolated output, it might just show me which pedal shorted out.. is that a dum/unnecessary thing?
 
#4 ·
Not dumb or unnecessary, just a question of priorities.

IME, with general use, cables tend to fail 'open' and not 'short', unless they've been crushed or pinched. I used to think that for the price of isolation, you could have a few backup daisy chain cables, but the Chinese isolation units are getting pretty cheap. Of course, they can fail as well and being active, they may be more prone to having problems. It also depends on how 'integrated' your pedals/pedalboard are. If rewiring it is going to be very difficult, isolation may be a better strategy as compared to rewiring a daisychain while an audience (or jam buddies) wait. My pedalboard with the Volto can be rewired in about 2 minutes (the other two have integrated AC power supplies).

So many variables involved. Gigging for money? Yea, you want redundancy and hardened tech that is not likely to fail. Jamming with buddies, you are a bit more tolerant of failures and taking time to sort out issues. Playing at home, these issues are only an annoyance and not a 'show stopper'. Only you can decide how resilient/redundant you want your rig to be.
 
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#6 ·
Not dumb or unnecessary, just a question of priorities.

IME, with general use, cables tend to fail 'open' and not 'short', unless they've been crushed or pinched. I used to think that for the price of isolation, you could have a few backup daisy chain cables, but the Chinese isolation units are getting pretty cheap. Of course, they can fail as well and being active, they may be more prone to having problems. It also depends on how 'integrated' your pedals/pedalboard are. If rewiring it is going to be very difficult, isolation may be a better strategy as compared to rewiring a daisychain while an audience (or jam buddies) wait. My pedalboard with the Volto can be rewired in about 2 minutes (the other two have integrated AC power supplies).

So many variables involved. Gigging for money? Yea, you want redundancy and hardened tech that is not likely to fail. Jamming with buddies, you are a bit more tolerant of failures and taking time to sort out issues. Playing at home, these issues are only an annoyance and not a 'show stopper'. Only you can decide how resilient/redundant you want your rig to be.
That makes so much sense. Really all you need at times are fellow musicians to bounce your thoughts off. I'll go for the volto now and see if I need isolation later on if I end up playing regular shows :)
 
#8 ·
I'm *pretty sure* (not certain) the Volto is not just a pure battery though. There's most likely some chopper / buck circuitry at the output to change the Li-Ion voltage to 9V out.
So pedals see a power regulator and capacitors, not a battery.
Anyone who knows for certain, correct me if I'm wrong.
Never thought about it, but probably true. It charges off a USB supply at (I think) 5V so that may be the native voltage of the battery.

None the less, the rest holds true. It is a lot less affected and seems to filter the spurious crap on the DC line better than wall warts or cheap AC-DC converters did.
 
#9 ·
I use a Outlaw Effects Nomad, which has a battery pack built right in. Its new so I have only used it for 5-6 months, but so far it is pretty sweet. Various voltage outputs, nice carry bag. Slow to charge though. Sounds horrible when you use it and its plugged in.



C
 
#10 ·
Perhaps more diy than you would want to tackle...
I recall seeing something where a guy rigged up a cordless power tool battery to run his pedal board. Kind of a Volto on steroids.
I thought it was a clever idea. Rechargeble battery/voltage regulator/heat sink/filter caps.
 
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