Hi,

I've just been reading the topic about converting soundcraft mixers to 12v. My question is whether it is possible to run a DJ mixer on 12v?

Is there a particular brand or model which lends itself to this? As I know some of them run off an external transformer, so surely if you just bypass that to run off 9-15v DC (with the correct fuses of course) it should work right?

Cheers

Phil

Basically yes...

If the amp uses a power supply that gives a DC output then you'll be fine. However, many of them run off AC rather than DC and they'll use the AC supply in a voltage doubler circuit to give + and - voltage rails which won't work if you give it a DC input.

Cheers

James.

Cheers for the info

The amps are 12v DC amps. It's all going to be running from a bank of 2 leisure batteries, I just want to take an invertor out of the equation as it will be a small setup, and running for long periods of time.
Would you advise running at a low ohm-age too?

Phil

If your mixer has a wall wart with DC output then that can likely be changed to a battery supply of adequate rating. Some of my old mixers had an AC wall wart this would not work, in fact would likely destroy the mxer if fed with DC.

Do look for possible need for isolation, wall warts isolate from the mains shared batteries do not.

Jivemaster has made a very good point here! Get it wrong and it could generate alot of smoke.

It does strike me that "a dj mixer" is simply not sufficient to provide any answers that make any real sense. If you can tell us what it is, maybe we can do a bit of research, find out what kind of PSU it has - then we can say yes or no - without this info, we're just saying probably, but maybe not - just to cover ourselves.

Much of course will depend on your electronics ability. If you have a mixer that requires less than 12V, then to someone used to knocking up simple regulator circuits, it's pretty simple - to somebody else, it's like magic - some kind of secret skill!

Some of the cheaper DJ mixers actually run on a 12v transformer from the box. If you can find one of these I'd say you're half way there.

Check out some of the lower end Gemini, Citronic and Numark kit and you should find something.

A transformer is not the same as a DC power supply. As Jivemaster says, if you are unlucky you will end up damaging something if you fail to understand the difference.

Cheers

James.

I forgot to add that the are 12v DC

I also remember trying to connect a phillips cassette player to an old sinclair Z12 amp off one battery. one ran the signal sheath to the +ve rail the other ran the screen to the -ve rail Fortunately the battery sagged and the screened cable melted before anything else failed. An isolated psu may be needed.