Download 1) Voltage, current, AC, DC, regulated, unregulated - what do

Cioks - Power To The People
FAQ
1) Voltage, current, AC, DC, regulated, unregulated - what do these terms mean?
2) What
are the different ways of powering effect pedals?
3) Which of CIOKS power supplies should I choose?
4) What is the difference between PSA and ACA effect pedals made by BOSS?
5) How much power do I need - what is the current draw in mA (milliamps)
of my pedals?
6) Batteries - how long do they last?
7) The Blue Jean power supply - what is that?
8) The Carl Martin Big John power supply - what is that?
9) Where do I get more information about effect pedals in general?
Â
1) Voltage, current, AC, DC, regulated, unregulated - what do these terms mean?
Voltage
is measured in Volts, usually abbreviated to V, and most of the effect
pedals need 9V to be working. Although some pedals need 12V, 18V or
other voltages. A fresh 9V battery gives you 9V. Mains voltage (the
wall socket) in most European countries is 230V. In USA it's 115V and
in Japan the mains voltage is 100V.
Current
is measured in Ampere or milliampere which is 1/1000 of an Ampere. Both
units are mostly seen as abbreviations A or mA. 1A being 1000mA is
quite a big current for an effect pedal so most figures for pedals'
current draw are given in mA - milliamps, which has nothing to do with
an amplifier.
AC is an abbreviation for
Alternating Current, opposite to DC which is Direct Current. The mains
voltage is alternating and therefore AC. There is no + nor - defined,
because the polarity changes constantly with the frequency of mains
being 50Hz or 60Hz depending on the country you are in. Hz is an
abbreviation of Hertz used as a unit for the frequency. 1 Hertz means
one cycle per second. An 'A' used for tuning (440Hz) is a tone having
440 vibrations per second.
http://cioks.com
Powered by Joomla!
Generated: 14 May, 2017, 13:38
Cioks - Power To The People
Having a DC
voltage source the current will always flow in one direction, from plus
towards minus. A battery is a DC voltage source with a well defined
polarity (the + and -). Most effect pedals are designed to be used with
a DC power supply.
An AC power supply consists of one
single component - a transformer. When connected to the mains the mains
voltage is transformed to a low voltage. Since no rectifying is taking
place the output voltage is still alternating, changing polarity. The
output has no + nor -.
If a rectifier, being either one or four diodes, is added to the transformer along with a capacitor, you end up with an
unregulated power supply.
The polarity is now defined and the output of the circuit has a plus
and a minus pole. If no current is drawn you will be able to measure
the power supply's idle voltage at its output. When you connect it to
for example an effect pedal the current begins to flow. This will
result in a voltage drop at the power supply's output. So, the output
voltage of an unregulated power supply depends on the amount of current
you draw from it - the higher current, the lower voltage. A battery is
an unregulated power source and so is a BOSS adapter of the ACA type.
A regulated power supply
consists of a transformer, rectifier and a capacitor like the
unregulated one. On top of that or actually at the end of the circuit
you will have a voltage regulator. It's an integrated circuit (an IC)
which makes the output voltage stay at the same level regardless of the
current drawn from the power supply. A BOSS adapter of the PSA type is
a regulated power supply. All CIOKS power supplies are regulated. It
means that no matter if you draw 10, 50 or 200mA from the power supply
the voltage stays 9V DC. Of course, if you overload the power supply or
short circuit it the voltage will drop. That would be the case with all
power supplies types - AC, DC, unregulated or regulated.
All
CIOKS power supplies are equipped with a short circuit protection.
There is no possibility to damage the power supply by making a short
circuit at its output. The green 'CHECK' indicator just turns off to
tell you that something is wrong either when you overload or short
circuit the power supply.
Back to top
Â
2) What are the different ways of powering effect
pedals?Well, there is a very good explanation to that question on another web site and the link to that is:
http://members01.chello.se/pastorn/fx/mods/power.htm
Back to top
Â
3) Which of CIOKS power supplies should I choose?
http://cioks.com
Powered by Joomla!
Generated: 14 May, 2017, 13:38
Cioks - Power To The People
First question you
should ask yourself - how many pedals do I have now and will I have
more in the future? If the answer is 5 or less, you can perfectly use
the Baby which has 5 outlets. Your total current draw must be kept below 280mA - the max. output current of the Baby.
Read How much power do I need? and check out the Current Consumption Table to figure out the total current draw of
your pedals.
In case the answer is 5 or more you should go for the Big John. It has 7 outlets and its max. output current is 600mA. If
you run short of outlets you can use the Split Flex cables to virtually expand the number of outlets.
The Double Jack
is specially made for users of BOSS pedals of the ACA type and
particularly those manufactured before 1997 or pedals of other brands
which require 12V DC. If you own one or more of these you should choose
the Double Jack.
If you have a pedal which requires 18V DC take a look a the Booster Flex.
Please also take a look at How much power do I need?
Back to top
Â
4) What is the difference between PSA and ACA effect pedals made by BOSS?
According to BOSS you should use a PSA adapter for PSA pedals.
Since the PSA adapter is a regulated 9V DC power supply you can use any
regulated 9V DC power supply for your PSA pedals. In this case all
CIOKS power supplies can be used. So simple is that.
The ACA pedals
are more complicated. As we all know they work fine with a 9V battery
which provides the pedal's circuit with 9V DC when new. ACA pedals made
before August 1997 were made to be fed with 12V DC through the adapter
jack. Inside they have a limiting resistor which brings the voltage
down to 9V before it reaches the pedal's circuit. Therefore you should
feed these pre-August 1997 ACA pedals with 12V DC which can be provided
by the Double Jack.
After
August 1997 the limiting resistor in ACA pedals was removed and both
the PSA and ACA pedals were made compatible with the PSA adapter - 9V
DC. If you buy a new BOSS pedal today you can be sure that all CIOKS
power supplies can be used to power it.
If you like you learn more about this ACA/PSA matter, take a look at a more in-to-depth going explanation at:
http://members01.chello.se/pastorn/fx/mods/bossadapt.htm
Back to top
Â
http://cioks.com
Powered by Joomla!
Generated: 14 May, 2017, 13:38
Cioks - Power To The People
5) How much power do I need - what is the current draw in mA (milliamps)
of my pedals?When you buy an effect
pedal you will always get some kind of documentation along with it. The
documentation should state following three specifications:
- what voltage the pedal needs?
- is it AC or DC?
- what is the type of adapter jack and its polarity?
- how much current it draws?
The
answer to the first three questions is in most cases 9V DC with centre
negative DC-plug. If that is the case for all your pedals you are
lucky. You just have to add the current figures for all your pedals and
then you know how much power you need. Make sure when buying a power
supply that the total amount of current you need (plus a margin) is
below the max. current draw figure of the power supply.Â
If you can't find the documentation you can look your pedals up in the Current Consumption Table.
Here you will hopefully find the figures you are missing. It is a list
containing a number of pedals of different brands. It definitely
doesn't have all pedal types existing but it grows when we get more
information.
The figure for the current draw of a
particular pedal is either the one stated by the manufacturer in the
specifications (3rd column) or it is measured (4th column). The two
should be the same but in some cases they are not and then you should
take the measured one.
The last column tells you what
voltage the pedal needs. In case of BOSS pedals PSA means 9V DC,
ACA/PSA means 9 or 12V DC and ACA 12V means 12V DC.
If you want to measure the current draw of your pedals yourself, the explanation to how you do it is to be found at:
http://members01.chello.se/pastorn/fx/mods/power/measure.htm
Back to top
Â
6) Batteries - how long do they last?
Alkaline
are the most common type of household batteries. They have quite high
capacity but can't be recharged. They come in different sizes and
voltages. Those typically used for effect pedals are the rectangular
shaped providing 9V.
The capacity of batteries is
measured in Ampere-Hours abbreviated to Ah. 1Ah corresponds to 1000mAh.
Typically a standard 9V battery will have a capacity of 550mAh. It is
able then to provide the rated current for one hour before being
exhausted. So, basically you can draw 550mA from it for one hour, or
275mA for two hours and so on. In reality it's not quite that simple
because if the discharge current is high, the battery won't last as
long as it should in principle. The capacity also depends on the
temperature in which the battery is used (drops at low temperatures)
and how old the battery is. After one year of storage at room
http://cioks.com
Powered by Joomla!
Generated: 14 May, 2017, 13:38
Cioks - Power To The People
temperature, batteries will provide 93 to 96 percent of their initial
capacity. When stored for four years service of about 85 percent is
still attainable.
To figure out how long an effect pedal
will work on one battery you simply take the battery's capacity and
divide it with the current draw of the pedal. The figures are to be
found in the Current Consumption Table.
If you have a digital delay DD-3 from BOSS which draws 55mA according
to the specifications, it will work for 550mAh / 55mA = 10 hours.
Running a Carl Martin Rock Drive from a battery it will work for around
50 hours.
You have to keep in mind that the output
voltage of a battery will drop with the time you draw current from it.
This will lead to changes of the sound and quality of the effect's
output signal. When using CIOKS power supplies you can be sure that your pedals always get the nominal 9V DC.
Back to top
Â
7) The Blue Jean power supply - what is that?
CIOKS
was established on November 23rd, 1991. The 10-year anniversary was
marked by the release of the 10-year anniversary signature power supply
- the Blue Jean. The Blue Jean was manufactured in 200 numbered copies
with gold plated outlets, blue and high-bright red LED status
indicators, golden signature of the company's founder and a signed
certificate of authenticity. All of them were sold in Denmark and still
bring a smile on the lips of their owners.
Back to top
Â
8) The Carl Martin Big John power supply - what is that?
In
year 2002 CIOKS has made a co-operation with another Danish company Carl Martin. The Carl Martin Big John is a more luxury version of CIOKS
power supply Big John. The electronics inside is the same but the
design differs with gold plated outlets and blue and high-bright red
LED indicators. It is only sold by Carl Martin in Denmark or their
international distributors outside Denmark.
Read
the complete test of three products from Carl Martin - De Layla, Two
Faze and Big John brought in the British magazine "Guitar Buyer" in
February 2003. (Size 1.016 KB)
http://cioks.com
Powered by Joomla!
Generated: 14 May, 2017, 13:38
Cioks - Power To The People
To learn more about Carl Martin go to: http://www.carlmartin.com
Back to top
Â
9) Where do I get more information about effect pedals in general?
A
lot of links to other sites could be listed here. Instead we will give
you just one. It's to the effect section of Harmony Central, a link
which should lead you to answers on other questions you may have: http://www.harmony-central.com/Effects
Back to top
http://cioks.com
Powered by Joomla!
Generated: 14 May, 2017, 13:38