Universal Adapter Key / Tool out there?

[part12studios]

Hi everyone,

So as anyone here has certainly dealt with.. you get something without a power supply.. and you dig through drawers of various orphaned wall warts or available universal ones with varying attachments / appendages..

I find this is terribly inefficient and puts buyers and a clear disadvantage to even know if they will have the right kind of plug in their arsenal.

Sooooo my question is this. Is there some kind of tool out there that has EVERY possibly ac/dc plug type on it? This isn't meant to provide power. It's more like maybe some kind of swiss army knife of adapter tips..

how do people know what size a given device has? we know manufacturers are nice enough to tell us voltage and polarity (most of the time) but the physical jacks feel like an unnecessary mystery.

I know some of it (maybe all of it...) is to force customers to buy THEIR adapter but if this really were the case they could be way more dickish and have uber specific interfaces (i'm looking at you Mutron III creator)..

My current case is that I bought a Doepfer mcv4 with no power. uses 9v / 100ma.. but no power adapter.. it's coming in the mail and I believe I will have something that works but it's never a sure thing..

Thanks,
Caleb

[vicd]

Just dig at ali's.
https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?ca ... connectors

[part12studios]

cool is some of these on ebay but what concerned me was "laptop" being in virtually all of them.. I will indeed dig deeper there.. i just thought about the displays you see at some hardware stores where you can see a wall mounted display that has tons of screw sockets so you can take YOUR screw and screw it in to find which one it fits into and then you know what you need.

Also part of this is to help identify not just what voltage / amperage needed for a PSU.. but also the right connector size so you can search with some specific terminology to insure you order a PSU that fits as well as provides the right

I dislike having these universal ones because its kinda wasteful and I prefer to just have a single rated plug be devoted to a device if / when possible. I know it's probably me being a bit OCD but I just figured I can't be the first guy that wants to order a PSU for a device and know what the name of a specific plug is.

[commodorejohn]

Radio Shack used to have something like that, but, um, Radio Shack's not doing too hot these days.

[part12studios]

yea i just learned they went under AGAIN? crazy.. but yea there is a local place called "you do it electronics" that's basically a long standing radio shack of sorts.. I'll take the device to them and see.

Just ridiculous that jacks don't have some conventional sizing system. I don't mind it most of the time because most devices have some ebay representation and the prices are reasonable but this thing I have coming.. a Doepfer mc4v, is weird.. 100ma (tiny amperage right?) makes it odd.. and i don't know what size it is..

I wonder if a 500ma adapter would be harmful.

[Tidda]

I guess 100mA is plenty of current for a simple MIDI to CV converter. That Pittsburgh Modular eurorack MIDI to CV converter you were looking at only uses 40mA.
And as that 40mA coverter can used with big power supplies that come with big eurorack cases, typically 2A or more, it's not a problem to use a 500mA adapter. 100mA is just the minimum.

I'm not sure about the size of the plug but my guess is it's the common one as found on Boss/Ibanez adapters for guitar effect pedals. But don't use one of those, you need center positive, like Moog (moogerfooger) adapters.

Tidda

[part12studios]

would a 500ma PSU damage something that asks for 100ma? i worry i might zorch the hardware. i know a 1amp psu would be very likely to be dangerous.. being a much greater distance.

[commodorejohn]

Nah. It won't provide more current than the device itself is drawing.

[part12studios]

oh really? psu only puts out what is drawn? not "pushed"? Is that common? so why would anyone not want a 1am PSU? only a 300ma PSU? more proprietary stuff? perhaps it keeps cost down?

[DavidH]

I think that the pin sizing is voltage related, not current related. I think the most dangerous thing is likely reversing the polarity. I agree the current rating of a psu is more cost driven than anything. I have a 1amp genuine 9v Boss PSA adapter that I chain several fx pedals off in my home studio for the Rhodes and Moog rather than several lower rated ones. I have found some of the cheaper ones can be noisy too.

[part12studios]

cool good to know.. i've worried in the past that a 1000ma psu might fry something.