Hello, I need help figuring out how much power my pedals draw.

[Nyklus]

I am in Russia, and have a power converter to go from 220v to 110. and that is running into a power strip.
with three american adaptors.

a 9v one spot and two 12v. guyatone adaptors.







I was told

"make sure its not grounded and yr transformer can handle the draw of all yr sh*t. good luck"

my transformer is a
voltage valet v16
http://www.voltagevalet.com/PDF/V5B_manual.pdf

if you need to know what pedals im using let me know, but i thought the adapters would pull all the juice, and this would be more relevant.

[GGBB]

Stinkfoot has a great section on this: http://stinkfoot.se/archives/821.  Your pedals may already be listed: http://stinkfoot.se/power-list.

[PRR]

> i thought the adapters would pull all the juice

Often not. There is some keep-alive power in an un-loaded adapter, but it sucks more as you add loads to it.

The Guyatone outputs 12V 0.2A or 2.4 Watts, may be poor efficiency, might suck up-to 5 Watts.

The Visual Sound outputs up-to 16 Watts, is efficient (and small), probably never sucks more than 20 Watts.

I have NO idea what that GE is. If it is the flip-side of the Gyuatone, add another 5W.

5W+20W+5W is 30 Watts.

> my transformer is a voltage valet v16

As said in the other thread, this is NOT for electronics.

You want the * 50 Watt * converter. It can handle the maximum load of your pedalboard, and outputs a *clean* power wave, not a chopped/buzzed wave only suitable for *heaters*.

[Nyklus]

AHH so this one, i have might work better?

http://www.voltagevalet.com/prod_vc_fna/V5B.html

Model: V5B
Price: $18.00
Input: 220-240VAC 50 Hz
Output: 110-120VAC 50 Hz
50 Watts Maximum
Weight: 0.75 lb.
Dimensions: 2 3/4"H x 2"W x 1 3/4"D
UPC: 0 46914 20052 5

[Seljer]

Yep.

That or a nice chunk of iron in the form of a 1:2 voltage transformer, though thats kind of annyoing to lug around when you're travelling.


The 1600W one is probably a electronic "converter" with a large transistor in it that just turns chops the voltage up at a high frequency. If you make the on<->off periods 50% each it effectively halves the RMS voltage. This works fine for 'dumb' resistive loads like heaters and lamps. Most devices have insulation thats is very over-rated so they can handle the extra voltage, they just quickly burn up if you put too much power into them
Like PRR mentioned, you need something that gives you a nice sinewave.

[slacker]

Just a thought, the one spot will work any where in the world, no need for a converter.

[Nyklus]

oh i hope i didnt ruin my pedals by using the 16000 W one. they acted funny and shorted out.

thanks for all your help. One question. do you think it matters at all which convertor i run my computer at? its a mac and it has a trnasformer in the power supply.

[Seljer]

Many newer laptop power supplies are like the OneSpot and automatically sense the supply voltage and adjust their electronics accordingly.  Verify this first obviously. By the look of it Apple sell a set of converters that just change to geometry of the plug so it seems to be the case.

Otherwise, do as the converter's manual specifies, the 50W one is ok (and 50W should be enough for a laptop), the 1600W is only for irons and heaters and whatnot.

[Nyklus]

Ok this is great, pedals all work fine, anxiety gone.

i was confused at first cuz the guyatone pedals i have use tubes that heat. sooo i was like uhhh iron, but no. i understand now. its all good.

thanks for your help everybody.

rectified.