adamburgess Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Hi everyone. Just read over on prosoundweb about someone using an ATX power supply to power a Sennheiser wireless rack. I've got 6x units to power. Getting sick of the separate PSUs. Has anyone done this, or is it really too cheap and bodged? All the guitar pedal type ones DO look cheap and don't go over around 200mA - the units need 400mA (or, is it 450?). Thomann have a rack unit which looks ok. Or... I have a half space left in the rack so shall I just get the expensive Senny one and be done with it? Thanks for your thoughts. Adam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandall Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 I've just got rid of a Sennheiser one into an installation, as 4 single PSU's were more useful to me, but when I recently needed a way of powering a load of 12v stuff I got a 2A PSU from Amazon or CPC & a fan-out of 2.1mm plugs from Amazon for £1 or so. Not very elegant, so if you went that route you might want to make a half-space panel to hide it behind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamburgess Posted March 2, 2015 Author Share Posted March 2, 2015 Thanks. I'll take a look around for something a bit more beefy than I think I'll need. Probably just put something on a rack shelf in the rear. It's got a USB audio interface and an Airport Express to go in, so, that's a bit inelegant, anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simontaylor Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 I've just got rid of a Sennheiser one into an installation, as 4 single PSU's were more useful to me, but when I recently needed a way of powering a load of 12v stuff I got a 2A PSU from Amazon or CPC & a fan-out of 2.1mm plugs from Amazon for £1 or so. Not very elegant, so if you went that route you might want to make a half-space panel to hide it behind. Interestingly, I tried using a PSU from CPC (5a/12v) or so, enough power for our 12 radio mic receivers anyway, and then split this using a 1 to 12 way CCTV DC jack breakout cable. When plugging in the receivers one by one (just to be on the safe side), some would power down and refuse to switch on, it was a bit random. Some would work, others wouldn't. The breakout was fine though upon testing. Never figured it out, thought best not to go any further for fear of damaging the receivers. Went back to the Sennheiser PSU on 2x 6 way extension leads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandall Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Interestingly, I tried using a PSU from CPC (5a/12v) or so, enough power for our 12 radio mic receivers anyway, and then split this using a 1 to 12 way CCTV DC jack breakout cable. When plugging in the receivers one by one (just to be on the safe side), some would power down and refuse to switch on, it was a bit random. Some would work, others wouldn't. The breakout was fine though upon testing. Never figured it out, thought best not to go any further for fear of damaging the receivers. Went back to the Sennheiser PSU on 2x 6 way extension leads. When I looked at the 4 single PSU's I took out I found they were a mixture of 2.1mm (NT 2-1 UK) & 2.5mm (NT 2 UK) - very curious, as they were all G1 receivers, originally bought new. Maybe your problem was dodgy contacts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamburgess Posted March 2, 2015 Author Share Posted March 2, 2015 Mine are a mixture of various 100/300 RX and one IEM TX from 6 years back to last week. Got another 2 old ones which we sometimes break out. (Yes, I'm just in a band using different 'bands', but the four new ones are the new UK frequency spec should I ever return from the Middle East ? They all play together nicely here where it doesn't seem to matter about rules!) Radio and TV is still mostly analogue or down a cable. I've plugged different PSUs into them all never really worried about it. They've all worked. That why I'm wary about the quality of a single PSU. Maybe they aren't what they say they are in the tin? And... The newer PSUs are a lot wider than the old! So need to find decent power strips with switches so they'll go in - then they're bulky in the rack ... Blah, blah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandall Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 I've plugged different PSUs into them all never really worried about it. They've all worked. That why I'm wary about the quality of a single PSU. Maybe they aren't what they say they are in the tin?Good point. And it's not just cheap PSU's that die without warning - ones with expensive names on them do too - I've even had to replace the mains transformer (!!) in my quite expensive PAT tester. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richardash1981 Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 when I recently needed a way of powering a load of 12v stuff I got a 2A PSU from Amazon or CPC & a fan-out of 2.1mm plugs from Amazon for £1 or so. Not very elegant, so if you went that route you might want to make a half-space panel to hide it behind.I've been down this route for a set of 4 Trantec S4.4 receivers, except that I had to make the fan-out because the DC power connectors are a weird size, and the only people who seemed to do the right ones were Maplin, as plug on a moulded lead to bare ends. This caused considerable confusion with plugs which physically fit but didn't make contact! So I have a little plastic box with the junction of 5 leads in it, and a single 2.1mm trailing socket to plug the PSU into. Works fine, even with a switch-mode PSU (ought to - the recent S4.4 are coming with switch-mode wall warts). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parky58 Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 The sennheiser DC jacks are an odd size. It has been discussed on this forum before.. I bought 4 leads from sennheiser. They were about £7.70 each but worth it for a reliable connection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 If you use the antenna distro box it supports powering G3 receivers via the BNC line, which reduces cabling in the rack, means the power connectors are locking, and reduces the amount of sockets needed in the rack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 There can be an issue with PC style power supplies, some get quite miffy if there isn't a decent load on the 5V line. "Miffy" in this context means that the regulation goes to pot, and the other output voltages are then sometimes nowhere near what they are supposed to be... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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