Power supply advice/question

The power supply for one of my units had died. I want to replace it and was wondering about the following:

* What is the main advantage of having an internal power supply unit over let's say normal wall wart power supply? are there more requirements in general for audio units regarding the nature of the current/voltage arriving which the wall-wart don't provide?

* Are there ready made 12 DCV internal power supplies to purchase off shelf?

* I saw in some places people use old computer power supplies, is this recommended?


As you can understand from my questions I'm not an expert and only wish to have my unit working again, what's the easiest solution? Wall-Wart, replace the entire unit with off-self, source for one or try to get this one fixed?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Which unit? Model? What symptom?

ejod said:

The power supply for one of my units had died. I want to replace it and was wondering about the following:

Click to expand...

What Unit?

ejod said:

* What is the main advantage of having an internal power supply unit over let's say normal wall wart power supply? are there more requirements in general for audio units regarding the nature of the current/voltage arriving which the wall-wart don't provide?

Click to expand...

advantages: everything in one box, no need to carry something extra to make it work. Did it ever happened to you forgetting a wal wart and not being able to connect that pice of equipment?
Most common Wal-Warts only have one rail, for example +9V, most of professional audio equipment use Bipolar rails for example +18v and -18V.
Wall Warts are usually small so not a lot of power capabilities, less than 1 Amp for example.
When wall warts have higher amperage they're normally switching power supplies, not really the best type for pro audio where normally linear PSU's are preferred.
More power , more rails, linear PSU = bigger transformer, bigger circuit, much bigger than normal cheap wall wart plastic cases, if you build this externally we would call it an "External PSU" and not a wall wart, search for it in this forum

ejod said:

* Are there ready made 12 DCV internal power supplies to purchase off shelf?

Click to expand...

I'm sure there are. Search Power One brand in farnell, mouser or digikey. Power One has a nice range quality PSU's

ejod said:

* I saw in some places people use old computer power supplies, is this recommended?

Click to expand...

main things are always the voltages you need and the current capacity you need, if a Computer PSU provides what you need, why not use it?

ejod said:

As you can understand from my questions I'm not an expert and only wish to have my unit working again, what's the easiest solution? Wall-Wart, replace the entire unit with off-self, source for one or try to get this one fixed?

Click to expand...

What Unit?

Thanks a lot guys! it helps me a lot!

The unit is Igor's CRM monitor controller. I've bought it ready made, it looks like the PSU is a ready made board taken from some piece of equipment. Anyway, do you recommend building, fixing, sourcing or buying?

If it works well why not fix it?

take pics

what suppy does the CRM needs?

Thanks guys for your input. Tried to figure out the problem in this PSU without any luck, I think it's easier for me to purchase a new built PSU.

Will this be a good choice for Igor's CRM monitor controller? :
AC/DC    15W - 85V~264V ⇒ +12V / -12V (see attachment for more details).

Any input is helpful!

Thanks again,
Tom