Daisy chaining off a power supply

JonB

What methods do people use to daisy chain off a power supply? I've got a onespot cs7 but have more pedals so will daisy a couple of analogs. It's purely home use. I'm thinking 3 options:
Pre-made daisy chain 3/5 ports but could be a bit messy on the wiring.
Gigrig distributor which seems ideal but a bit pricey for my home use
Make my own daisy chain and either solder or wago to get the correct lengths of cable.

ecc83

"Rolling your own" will give you the neatest, bespoke result I think? However you MUST pay strict attention to polarity, one mistake there could be very costly. A volt meter is absolutely required...Test, test and teast again!

Dave.

Supportact

You can buy daisy chain power cables with just the two outlets if that's all you're going to need. Possibly neater to make your own if you want them an exact length, but a bit of a faff. 

Fiddlesticks_

I’ve always just used normal daisy chains in this situation. For neatness, if I have a daisy chain with more connectors than I need then I just chop off the bit I don’t need and isolate the cable end with some electrical tape. Of course that means them extra taps are gone forever, but I’m ok with that.

prowla

The MXR one seems to have a good reputation.

impmann

Daisy chains are fine until you have a noise sensitive pedal or a cheap, nasty wall-wart powering them. Frankly I utterly despise them, having lived with them for years as they were for a long time the only thing available.

Even for home use, I'd always suggest using a proper isolated power supply set up - yes its more expensive but a good one will get the best from the pedals without injecting noise.

english_bob

Fiddlesticks_ said:

I’ve always just used normal daisy chains in this situation. For neatness, if I have a daisy chain with more connectors than I need then I just chop off the bit I don’t need and isolate the cable end with some electrical tape. Of course that means them extra taps are gone forever, but I’m ok with that.

If you're using a big PSU with female connectors for the cables then you can just trim the cut wire down and use the offcuts as another mini daisy chain. 

Alexlotl

I run 8 pedals from a 1Spot CS6. I have two Y-Splitters, so my Wampler Ego Mini and Ibanez TS Mini are sharing one port, and my Keeley Super Phat Mod and Ibanez 850 Fuzz Mini are sharing another. No issues with noise.

One of the Y splitters came with the CS6, the other is a Mooer brand one off Amazon, as the Truetone ones cost a fortune. 

I was always told it was fine to daisy chain analogue, non-time-based effects, which is why I’ve stuck to drives and compressors.

snowblind

I'd just go for one of the Caline power blocks. About £30 for 10 isolated outputs. There's a bunch of these things around and they make a world of difference to noise levels in a chain. Much better than daisying of a single PSU.

Fiddlesticks_

english_bob said:

Fiddlesticks_ said:

I’ve always just used normal daisy chains in this situation. For neatness, if I have a daisy chain with more connectors than I need then I just chop off the bit I don’t need and isolate the cable end with some electrical tape. Of course that means them extra taps are gone forever, but I’m ok with that.

If you're using a big PSU with female connectors for the cables then you can just trim the cut wire down and use the offcuts as another mini daisy chain. 

Yeah I forgot to mention that too.

When I said “gone forever” I meant gone from that particular cable so you can no longer power as many pedals from one power outlet - but yeah you can then use that off cut as a lovely separate cable 

LionAquaLooper

snowblind said:

I'd just go for one of the Caline power blocks. About £30 for 10 isolated outputs. There's a bunch of these things around and they make a world of difference to noise levels in a chain. Much better than daisying of a single PSU.

Are they really isolated though?  A lot of these cheap Chinese ones have been exposed as being just glorified daisy chains in a box.  

stickyfiddle

My Zuma is full so use a big daisychain for a couple of analogs - connected from one outlet on the Zuma and using tape & velcro to secure the spare ones under the board. 

26.2

LionAquaLooper said:

snowblind said:

I'd just go for one of the Caline power blocks. About £30 for 10 isolated outputs. There's a bunch of these things around and they make a world of difference to noise levels in a chain. Much better than daisying of a single PSU.

Are they really isolated though?  A lot of these cheap Chinese ones have been exposed as being just glorified daisy chains in a box.  

My understanding is that they are exactly that. I looked into an £80 Palmer block a few years ago that was also non-Isolated, although the blurb implied strongly that it was. 

Beexter

Another option is a gigrig isolator - you get 4 isolated outputs from one connection to your power supply of choice.
Overkill? Possibly. Silent and problem free? Yes.

snowblind

LionAquaLooper said:

snowblind said:

I'd just go for one of the Caline power blocks. About £30 for 10 isolated outputs. There's a bunch of these things around and they make a world of difference to noise levels in a chain. Much better than daisying of a single PSU.

Are they really isolated though?  A lot of these cheap Chinese ones have been exposed as being just glorified daisy chains in a box.  

Haven't opened it up to find out for sure however I do have a direct comparison with a straight chain off a PSU and the Caline and there is a very observable improvement. I'm getting essentially no noise on a chain of 10+ pedals. Some of the heavier draws eg the valve O/D are sitting on their own supplies but even the regular 9V low current jobs were definitely noisier on the shared supply and we are talking about the original chain PSU being supplied for the purpose of powering pedals, not some random wall wart with the right polarity on the end of the wire.

If I get time one day I'll take a look inside the Caline to confirm.

PetGerbil

What is the difference electrically between isolated and non-isolated ? 
What do they do differently ? It's obviously more expensive to do, else they would all do it.
Just wondering.

Sporky

There's no connection between the different outputs, basically. Including the ground. That means no ground loops, and no clock noise from one pedal getting into any others.

Typically done by having a transformer with multiple separate taps, each into its own regulation. It can be done electronically too.

DesVegas

My board has 7 pedals, 6 running off a daisy chain and one on batteries, i'm going to add another one tonight and that will be batteries too... all i have to do is remember to unplug the input jacks on the 2 with batteries and it remains buzz free

ElectricXII

My PSU is a T-Rex Fuel Tank Junior, so 5 isolated outputs. I don't daisy chain, but I do run two pedals each from three of the outputs using 1 into 2 cables. Noise free and easier than completely re-doing my pedalboard.

Fingers657

Sorry I’m not into splitting off one socket of a none or isolated power supply to more than one pedal per socket.
It’s a health risk .
My advice for what it’s worth is buy a decent isolated power supply with the right amount of sockets for your needs.
Dont mess with electrickery.

Sporky

Fingers657 said:

Sorry I’m not into splitting off one socket of a none or isolated power supply to more than one pedal per socket.
It’s a health risk .

How so?