AC power for iGaging DRO: ONE power source for multiple units

[ARC-170]

I'd like to power my iGaging DRO's on my mill (I have 3, one for each axis) with an AC power adapter. BUT, I'd like to use ONE plug that has 3 cords, one for each DRO unit. Anyone ever done this?

I was thinking this one would work. Here's a screenshot in case the link is dead:


Each unit runs on 3V (300mA, I think), so I thought a 9V power adapter would work. The one linked above is 1000mA. Electricity is not my strong suit, so let me know if this will work or not, or if there is a better solution.

Thanks!
-Jeff
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[Dabbler]

Nope. get a 3V power adapter. Make sure it has it as DC continuous rather than DC pulsed. The diagramme for this looks like:

 

[silence dogood]

The one that you showed is each one those plugs put out 9 volts not 3 volts. You could get a 3-volt adaptor with a 3-way cable or a 3-way adaptor with a surge protector and plug in 3 3-volt adaptors. I would go for the latter because it would protect the DROs.

 

[ARC-170]

Nope. get a 3V power adapter. Make sure it has it as DC continuous rather than DC pulsed. The diagramme for this looks like:


View attachment 460069

How would I tell if it's pulsed or not? I haven't seen anything about "continuous current" or anything similar in any of the descriptions, but is this assumed? Would the mA rating matter?

The one that you showed is each one those plugs put out 9 volts not 3 volts. You could get a 3-volt adaptor with a 3-way cable or a 3-way adaptor with a surge protector and plug in 3 3-volt adaptors. I would go for the latter because it would protect the DROs.

Yeah, that makes sense now. I thought I would get a 3V adapter with a 3-way cable since I'm plugging it into a surge protector already. Whatever I do, I want ONE plug.

 

[ChazzC]

How would I tell if it's pulsed or not? I haven't seen anything about "continuous current" or anything similar in any of the descriptions, but is this assumed? Would the mA rating matter?


Yeah, that makes sense now. I thought I would get a 3V adapter with a 3-way cable since I'm plugging it into a surge protector already. Whatever I do, I want ONE plug.

The iGaging AC adapters are 3VDC @ 300ma, so you want 3VDC @ 900ma to be safe.

 

[ARC-170]

The iGaging AC adapters are 3VDC @ 300ma, so you want 3VDC @ 900ma to be safe.

I think all the adapters I saw were 1000mA max and indicated that 300mA would work, so you're right. I'd even have 100mA extra! Ha!

 

[Dabbler]

How would I tell if it's pulsed or not? I haven't seen anything about "continuous current" or anything similar in any of the descriptions, but is this assumed? Would the mA rating matter?

You can look at the photo of the CSA tag and check for the diagramme that I posted in the above post. If it has that diagramme, it won't work with the Igaging scales.

My Igaging scales (before I sold them) only needed about 15 ma current. my guess is that the power supplies are 300ma because that is what is cheapest due to larger volume.

 

[homebrewed]

My iGaging scales only use a few mA of current. A 300mA PSU is huge overkill: but you may find that higher-current supplies actually cost less. Economies of scale and all that.

One factor that could play a role in terms of noise pickup. Capacitive scales can be really sensitive to electrical noise. Switching power supplies can have relatively poor isolation from the input AC, or just have a noisy output. To minimize coupling from noise on the AC mains it would be best to use a linear supply with a transformer to step down the voltage. They can be had as "wall warts" just like the switchers. Maybe a bit more money but I think the price differential is well worth it, considering the line isolation issue.

I built an external power supply setup for my older iGaging scales that don't have the external supply option, and I made sure that the main power supply was a linear regulator type just for that reason.

 

[ARC-170]

I got a power supply and a 3-plug cord. I had to get adapters because the plugs were too big.


It's a lot of wires, so I'm going to see if I can clean it up a bit. I think I got a bad batch of batteries; they were dying faster than I think they should have. And one set would die while the other sets were fine, so I'd sometimes have to make sure I got done before they died.

These were barrel power cords for guitar pedals.

 

[ChazzC]

I got a power supply and a 3-plug cord. I had to get adapters because the plugs were too big.
View attachment 461792 View attachment 461793

It's a lot of wires, so I'm going to see if I can clean it up a bit. I think I got a bad batch of batteries; they were dying faster than I think they should have. And one set would die while the other sets were fine, so I'd sometimes have to make sure I got done before they died.

These were barrel power cords for guitar pedals.

You won't need this setup for long – get over to Yuriy Land and pick up an iGaging TouchDRO Adapter while they're still available!