9 Volt Battery Adapter Idea?

[Pigyboy]

I am sure I am not the first and this is so simple I don't know why I had never thought of it.  My inspiration was I recently sold some pedals to a guy and I have yet to have a problem with some mis-understanding how to use one of my pedals. Long story short he used a 40 volt AC adapter on two of the little beaver fuzz pedals.  Smoking one pedal didn't convince him so he did them both. He said there were sparks and smoke but luckily I can report once I got them back they were totally fine. I was surprised but they do have full reverse polarity protection so it must have been his power supply that burned. Anyways, I am going to supply one of these with all the battery-less pedals from now on.  It made me think we all need a few in our cases for that time at a gig when an adapter breaks or the AC mains plug is too far away. Usually a 9v battery is easier to find than a new adapter or an extension cord.

Thoughts?

[Steve Mavronis]

Very cool. It would be neat to incorporate a little battery meter somehow?

[nexekho]

Yeah, quite a nice idea.  I'm reminded of the battery adapters I see kicking about with a PP3 connector on one end and a plastic retainer for 4 AAs on the other.

[R.G.]

I've seen that before somewhere. It works.

It is possible to design a power inlet that would take in anything from about 5V to 50V, AC or DC, and provide safe, stable power to a pedal at 9V. However, the necessary stuff would be more complex than the pedal, perhaps many times more complex.

It is impossible to fool-proof anything: they just keep making bigger fools. This is why nanny-states always fall apart.

[Pigyboy]

^^^^
Somethings some of us just take for granted I guess.
If I told you who the above mentioned musician is you wouldn't believe me anyways but it always kind of seems that lots of people who have made a Mark (Arm)in music don't really know/get/or care to understand lots of the simple in/out workings of gear.  I guess that is what makes them great.

Chris

[theundeadelvis]

In the past, I have made those for people who I've given pedals to. For some reason I never install a battery snap inside, even if there's room. I guess it's my way of giving a friendly nudge, and saying, "you should use a power supply."

[runmikeyrun]

I always write with a sharpie next to the DC jack what the voltage is and the polarity.  I draw the little polarity picture the same way it's drawn on the power supply so hopefully it makes it easier for people to figure it out.  I also do it on my pedals to remind myself.  After a few months sometimes I forget too!

[zombiwoof]

Another suggestion is to have the battery enclosed in a black plastic battery box, which could have a small velcro strip on the bottom to attach it to your pedalboard.  Looks a little neater and less funky.

Al

[aron]

I've done this before. I used to use a rechargeable pack with something like that - but at the end I just went with a one spot. I got tired of my tone changing from day to day because the batteries were putting out different voltages if I didn't recharge etc...

[Pigyboy]

I didn't think about rechargables - a bit involved for me but interesting.  I wouldn't want to use the external battery long term but in a pinch they could be handy.

Chris

[R.G.]

I didn't think about rechargables - a bit involved for me but interesting.  I wouldn't want to use the external battery long term but in a pinch they could be handy.

The one I like is salvaging two battery packs and a handle/socket from a used cordless drill, replacing/fixing the dead batteries, which is why these things get junked, and having a plug-in socket on the pedalboard where you can cram in another eight hours of music power in two seconds.