Running 9 volt FX pedals from a 12 volt battery?

Rocker

Is it possible to run standard Boss type 9 volt FX pedals from a 12 volt battery.  I have an unused 12 volt sealed lead acid battery [ex electric golf trolley] that is doing nothing and I wondered if it could be used to power my FX pedals.  Thanks.

ICBM

Yes. I don't know any 9V pedal that would be harmed by 12V - and with a battery, there's no danger of it putting out much more than the rated voltage, which some poorly-regulated supplies do.

There are a few pedals that will sound different, mostly vintage-type fuzzes.

mrkb

Be careful with klons - the internal charge pump doubles the voltage from 9v to 18v, so a 12v input may cause that circuit issues/damage.

ecc83

Agree with IC, should be fine. However SLAs can put out massive current so fit an inline fuse of about 1 amp.

Dave.

ICBM

ecc83 said:

However SLAs can put out massive current so fit an inline fuse of about 1 amp.

That is a good point.

That's also one of the things I don't like about these modern very-high-current (above 1A) switch-mode power supplies - they're capable of overriding the crude protection circuitry in a lot of pedals. If you reverse the polarity by accident, a supply like that won't shut down when the protection diode shorts it, it will keep on producing current until the diode burns away completely leaving the circuit unprotected, and often destroying the parts the diode was trying to save.

A 1A fuse should prevent that.

ecc83

"We" used rechargeable SLAs for a time in test meters. Then a meter developed a fault and drew excess current (which an alkaline could not do) resulting in extensive burn out and swelled battery.

"More" is not always "better"!

Dave.