GCX DC Power Consumption

[PHLTHS]

Hi Voodoo Labs

I’ve recently purchased 3x GCX Audio Switchers and a GCP unit.

I want to clean up the power cables as much as possible so I’ve been reading that the GCX can be powered by either 9VAC or 12VDC from previous posts.

I wanted to find out what is the current consumption requirements of a GCX on its own and also when the GCX is phantom powering a GCP when using 12VDC?

Does Voodoo labs have any power supply that I can purchase to power up all my GCX switchers and phantom power my GCP?

Thank you.

[Marlboro05]

Hi there, I’ve got the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power AC, it has 4 x 9v and 2 x 12 v (either 9 or 12 v can only be used for 2 of the ports). I power 1 GCX, I have 2 and have powered them both, I also have 2 x GC Pro’s running through phantom power off the GCX. I have modified one of the the GC Pro’s so that the power goes from Midi out to Midi in. I have used this like it for a year now with no drama.
I actually power a Decimator Pro Rack G Stereo mod, a RJM Mini Switch Gizmo and the GCX, which in turn does the 2 x GC Pro’s.

Cheers Brett

[PHLTHS]

Hi Brett

Thanks for that. I still would like to know what the current draw of the GCX with and without a GCP using 12VDC in case I can find a larger power supply to run the lot plus my other gear.

I believe in other posts John says that the GCX @ 9VAC draws 400mA and with a GCP attached it draws 800mA

So I believe switching to 12VDC, they should be 333mA and 666mA respectively?

[JohnClark]

I'm not sure I've measured for exact but I'd still stick with the safe minimum of 400mA for a GCX. If providing Phantom Power to a Ground Control Pro I'd say the 800mA is the safe bet. The important thing is that from a DC source the GCX must see 12VDC... at 9VDC the relays will not always trigger

p.s. We use AC power for these since it won't suffer as much of a Voltage Drop across the length of the MIDI Cable. To a DC supply, the MIDI Cable carrying the Phantom Power will look like a resistive load and add to the overall current draw. The longer the cable, the bigger the load.

[PHLTHS]

I'm not sure I've measured for exact but I'd still stick with the safe minimum of 400mA for a GCX. If providing Phantom Power to a Ground Control Pro I'd say the 800mA is the safe bet. The important thing is that from a DC source the GCX must see 12VDC... at 9VDC the relays will not always trigger

p.s. We use AC power for these since it won't suffer as much of a Voltage Drop across the length of the MIDI Cable. To a DC supply, the MIDI Cable carrying the Phantom Power will look like a resistive load and add to the overall current draw. The longer the cable, the bigger the load.

Hi John

Thank you for getting back to me.

Last question, would you see any issue with the following configuration?

1x GCX + GCP running on 9VAC
2x GCX running on 12VDC?

Any issues with each unit running on different types of voltages but all interconnected via MIDI?

Thank you

[JohnClark]

That shouldn't be a problem at all. Only the first GCX will be sharing the power via Phantom Power... the other two won't use the powered pins on the MIDI connections.