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AC 117 Volt is it possible to put a DC socket??

khedorjee

Apr 29, 2016
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Hello

I have a question, I want to power a guitar amp which is an analog so the lowest kind of guitar amps on the market, well at least mine is, 20w power and consumption of 24w.

The amp power supply is of AC 117 Volt, and the power consumption is 24w,

I want to know if I can put a DC in socket of 9v or 12v or more (I don't know), and power it with a DC cable, and then the idea would be to power it with one of those Lithium battery Polymer to be able to play anywhere?

I don't know if you understand my question, thanks so much in advance for your time
 

Gryd3

Jun 25, 2014
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Jun 25, 2014
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4,098
Hello

I have a question, I want to power a guitar amp which is an analog so the lowest kind of guitar amps on the market, well at least mine is, 20w power and consumption of 24w.

The amp power supply is of AC 117 Volt, and the power consumption is 24w,

I want to know if I can put a DC in socket of 9v or 12v or more (I don't know), and power it with a DC cable, and then the idea would be to power it with one of those Lithium battery Polymer to be able to play anywhere?

I don't know if you understand my question, thanks so much in advance for your time
Yes, no, maybe.
Ideally, you would have a schematic or take the unit apart to determine what happens to the AC 117V input.
Often, they go to a transformer which has a single primary winding for 117V... and a secondary winding that is sized to provide an appropriate voltage that is also center-tapped.
Internally, this center-tapped secondary side gets filtered and rectified to provide a 'Ground', Positive voltage and Negative voltage to the electronics inside.
So... if you can find, or provide the materials for someone else to find the 'operating' voltage of the circuit inside, then a battery conversion is most certainly doable!
Note though, that if this is the case, you will most likely need two batteries. One to provide the positive voltage and another to provide the negative voltage. Please also be careful with Lithium based rechargeable batteries... they dislike being drained too low.
 

hevans1944

Hop - AC8NS
Jun 21, 2012
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Or you can just purchase an inverter that runs off of 12 V DC and produces some sort of AC output at 117 V AC. Many of the cheaper inverters don't provide a very good sine wave output, and this may make the power transformer in your amp unhappy. Best to try before you buy if at all possible.
 

khedorjee

Apr 29, 2016
3
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Apr 29, 2016
Messages
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Yes, no, maybe.
Ideally, you would have a schematic or take the unit apart to determine what happens to the AC 117V input.
Often, they go to a transformer which has a single primary winding for 117V... and a secondary winding that is sized to provide an appropriate voltage that is also center-tapped.
Internally, this center-tapped secondary side gets filtered and rectified to provide a 'Ground', Positive voltage and Negative voltage to the electronics inside.
So... if you can find, or provide the materials for someone else to find the 'operating' voltage of the circuit inside, then a battery conversion is most certainly doable!
Note though, that if this is the case, you will most likely need two batteries. One to provide the positive voltage and another to provide the negative voltage. Please also be careful with Lithium based rechargeable batteries... they dislike being drained too low.


Thanks very much for your help, what DC voltage would I need for 117v AC??
And I would not be using basic AA batteries more like a portable polymer lithium battery if that makes a difference, I am not knowledgeable about electronics, so that's why I might ask rookie questions
Thanks
 

khedorjee

Apr 29, 2016
3
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Apr 29, 2016
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Or you can just purchase an inverter that runs off of 12 V DC and produces some sort of AC output at 117 V AC. Many of the cheaper inverters don't provide a very good sine wave output, and this may make the power transformer in your amp unhappy. Best to try before you buy if at all possible.
Thank you very much for your answer, so do I need an inverter to supply negative and positive power supply, or with a portable battery such as this
http://www.tracerpower.com/12v-4ah-...ry-pack.html?gclid=CNrezvfuuMwCFYIK0wod-gAH8A
Would work ?
Thanks
 

hevans1944

Hop - AC8NS
Jun 21, 2012
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Thank you very much for your answer, so do I need an inverter to supply negative and positive power supply, or with a portable battery such as this
http://www.tracerpower.com/12v-4ah-...ry-pack.html?gclid=CNrezvfuuMwCFYIK0wod-gAH8A
Would work ?
Thanks
The inverter is powered with whatever battery you desire. The inverter acts like a portable wall outlet: you plug your guitar amp into the inverter just like you would plug it into a wall socket. No modification of guitar amp is required.
 

Gryd3

Jun 25, 2014
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Thanks very much for your help, what DC voltage would I need for 117v AC??
And I would not be using basic AA batteries more like a portable polymer lithium battery if that makes a difference, I am not knowledgeable about electronics, so that's why I might ask rookie questions
Thanks
No idea. This is going to be entirely dependant on the circuit inside. It could be low or could be high... but considering the 'power' output, I can't imagin the required DC voltage would be very high... Remember that the 117VAC will be converted inside the unit to something lower. This is what we may try to replicate so you don't need the AC117 anymore. This is just one of the possible answers though.

Thank you very much for your answer, so do I need an inverter to supply negative and positive power supply, or with a portable battery such as this
http://www.tracerpower.com/12v-4ah-...ry-pack.html?gclid=CNrezvfuuMwCFYIK0wod-gAH8A
Would work ?
Thanks
This is by far the easiest solution. The inverter will most often take a 12VDC or 24VDC input and provide AC117 output on a regular AC outlet... it's not as efficient as the method I had brought up, but you have the option of using almost any regular device with an inverter and does not require any modifications to any stereos or amplifiers you have, or may have in the future.
 

hevans1944

Hop - AC8NS
Jun 21, 2012
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Either way you go, you will be powering your guitar amp with a battery which you will have to re-charge from a wall outlet somewhere. The 12 VDC-to-117 VAC inverter will not be as efficient as hacking your guitar amplifier to provide it with whatever DC it requires from an external battery, but you have no idea how to do this. Or do you?

The 12 V battery you posted a link to has only a 4 AHr capacity, good for less than an hour of use with a 50 watt load, maybe an hour and a half with a 25 watt load. And the price is outrageous. You need a battery with as many AHr capacity as your can afford, depending on how long you want to play your guitar on battery power. If you are thinking about taking that guitar amp on the road to play outdoors with no access to a 117 VAC wall outlet, I would suggest you use a separate automobile battery to power an inverter, and a trickle charger to re-charge the automobile battery after you get home and have a wall outlet available.

You could power the inverter from the cigarette lighter receptacle in an automobile instead of using a separate battery, but you run the risk of running the car battery down, and not being able to start the car later if you do this with the engine not running.

I am sure @Gryd3 could show you how to connect one or more external batteries to your guitar amplifier if he had a schematic of the electronics inside of it. Can you provide the name of the manufacturer and perhaps a model number or type (Super Stratoblaster or some such)?
 
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