Multi-voltage, multi-out PSU

[adamburgess]

Hi everyone. Not posted for ages but still pop by now and again! Hope everyone is making the most of this awful time for us.

 

Just moved house and had space for a custom made studio desk, so I had one made.

Still a work in progress - waiting for some rack hardware to mount everything properly.

 

Want to keep it neat, so looking for a DC power supply to get rid of a load of wall warts.

 

At the moment I need:

 

2x 5V for a couple of USB hubs

1x 9V for the Korg keyboard

4x 12V for the MIDI and small Audio interfaces, and a couple of old spinning drives

 

Greatest current requirement is 2A and I guess an extra out for any added bits n bobs wouldn't go amiss.

 

The lamps, X32, and sound module etc are doing great with some 5-way Wago connectors. They're great and thanks to BigClive for alerting me to those a while back.

 

Obviously, cheaper the better as I've just moved and haven't really had a gig since March. Don't mind adapting something to work, maybe get some modules from amazon and box them up? eBay isn't great here.

 

Be grateful to hear any thoughts! Cheers, and greetings from the UAE.

 

Adam

 

[Alec]

There are loads of products around like the Fuel Tank range for guitar pedal boards, covering 9/12/18v. Nothing much with USB outputs, which is surprising these days. I did spot this with one USB output. Also, your current rating may take you beyond that these will produce - but it's not quite clear whether your 2A was for one device or all of them put together.

 

While not a single box solution, you could move to a pedal board PSU plus separate USB PSU - that could neaten things up quite a bit.

[Jivemaster]

All depends on whether you will want/need to modify the desk equipment in the future. A 13a 4/5/6 way extension lead offers more flexibility for later changes.

[sandall]

When building this kind of setup I screw a row of 4 or 6-ways along the underside of the desk, so everything 13A is out of sight, & cut a series of mouse-holes for the cables.

[adamburgess]

Thanks, guys.

 

The guitar pedalboard supplies don't supply enough current. The keyboard needs 1.7A, hubs and interfaces 2A each.

 

I did come across a 12V, 5A CCTV power supply with a 4 way splitter. Suppose that could do my 12V stuff. The two interfaces say they need 2A each @12V, but a lot of that is probably to charge an iPad, if connected. Don't imagine the hard drives would need anywhere near that. Then I'd still have to find something similar for the 5V @2A hubs blah blah… Doesn't really solve anything.

 

I will have 1U free, so possibly get an IEC output rack and some in-line supplies… No. I hate wiring IEC plugs <_<

 

Sandall, there is room in the back of that 'bay' to screw that current 6-way to the top (underside of the shelf). Just that 2U punched panel and a 1U patchbay to go in there. That's a dead simple, free fix and will keep it out of the way of other cables :)

 

Thanks again.

 

Adam

[Jivemaster]

I'd also consider separate power supplies because of the risk that a single psu would introduce earth loop problems with common power rails and digital links being grounded.

[sandall]

there is room in the back of that 'bay' to screw that current 6-way to the top (underside of the shelf).

I would rather keep all PSUs & 13A plugs out of sight under the desk, both for neatness & to keep them away from audio. Where I'm sat I have 13A strips (total 18 sockets) & a trailing 4-way lining the kneehole of the desk, with all PSUs on shallow shelves under the desk. There is a 4-way & a 6-way screwed to the shelving behind me, with another trailing 4-way. Totally agree with Jivemaster about using separate PSUs, but more because it make moving things around a lot easier.

[BOD20]

You'll get the 5V and the 12V from a standard "ATX" computer power supply - should be able to provide reasonable amps too. You should be able to get a used one very cheap, or even free if you know someone who is getting rid of an old computer. Lots of guides online as to how the connector is wired and how to extract the appropriate voltages.

 

The 9V would require a separate supply, though.