PROJECT: Battery Vampire

[cOOter]

I've been going through heaps of 9v batteries in my guitar effects pedals.
Bloody things still have 7volts or more in them as they hit the bottom of the bin.
So I thought, why not drain them some how.



I had two el'cheapo voltage regulators laying around I bought online for a few bucks.
So to take my mind off the looming world war three, I slapped a kit together...

http://www.dx.com/p/20083-adjustable-pow...AcLh6JfaSo



Screw spending more money - old lolly tin too the rescue.



Some old cords as well..


Took four hours to plan this out.


While I was asleep planning, some of DaVo's fairy mates done the job for me.


I got lumped with the can cutting job.


Make a small hole in the lid for the adjusting screw -- Nanna will never notice.


Hot glue that bugger onto the lid..


Tuned the output to 5 volts...input was around 16 volts.

Device specs: Input: 3~40V; Output: 1.25~35V (adjustable); Current: Max. 3A


Now to see if it works. Me fancy multi-use battery charger with 12v and 5v USB input booted up OK and sucked those old 9 volts dry.

Who needs Dick Smith crap anyway  

[Thunderbird]

Beautiful!  

I might have to get a couple of those little regulator doodads myself, pretty neat.

Why don't you use a 9 volt plug pack for your effects pedals?

Or alternately assuming there is room or you don't mind and external solution, there is a kit at Jaycar that can use a couple of AA, C or D cells (I'd use rechargeable ones) and steps up to 9 volts

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp...TID=965#11

Just a thought.

Had a brain fart.

Theres always these as well

http://www.dx.com/p/lson-xl6009-dc-dc-bo...AeolbscRhE

[cOOter]

Crickey, I almost had a heart attack when I seen the price of that Jaycar 9v converter do-hickey.
Nanna didn't give me that much spending money. 

The handiness of my rig, is it can take any input up to 40v and output up to 35v
Jaycar kit is a limited 3v input, and only offers 9v output.

Nanna gave me another lolly tin. I'll make another kit with a daisy chain on the output side for the
effects pedals and use some old random wallwart I find my my trash bucket for the input.

That DC-DC boost power module would be handy as well. 
I forget the name of the homemade ones folks make on YouTube.
For the sake of 3 or 4 dollars, I think I'd rather just buy one 

I have similar in the car. 13.7v in, and 16v to 21v out power for laptops.
That was very expensive through -- I needed a $10 loan from Nanna to get that one.

Speaking off Nanna's, where's my pillow...it's about that time of the day.