Alternative Power Supply

Wizard Mike · Joined: Jan 26, 2009 Posts: 52 Location: Charlotte

I was exceptionally bless to have had the opportunity to work at music store for a short while before they went bankrupt. The pay was terrible but I did get the fringe benefit receiving any piece of gear that couldn't be fixed (or abandoned). Keyboards, amps, test equip. you get the idea.
I was thinking that a possible power supply solution for a small "all-in-one" synth unit would to use the existing power supply module from some of these high end keyboards to power another unit. The module has a transformer already installed and feeds a circuit board that outputs a variety of voltages to power the plethora of boards contained in the unit.
Has anyone already tried this. I couldn't find any threads discussing this topic. I would like to recycle as much of this used gear as I can due to the fact there is no Techno-Waste recycling facility in my town. I like building my own gear, but I also want to be responsible while doing so.

pcp2020 · Joined: Dec 25, 2007 Posts: 40 Location: boston

Hi,
I am a big fan of recycling. I just built a power supply from an old Tascam tape deck. this thing was a trash find, it worked for a bit then it started to eat tapes on deck one and then the motor died on deck two. I ripped it open and it had almost everything I needed. Transformer, rectifier, both pos. and neg. regulators. the only thing I used new was the caps, four 3300uf. also I have recently used a power supply out of an old dvd player to power a sequencer that I made. The biggest issue that I find with power supplies that you find in regular consumer goods is that they are not regulated, but thats an easy fix.