Wiring help needed please!

mardymusic

Hi everyone. 
I'd like a little advice as to whether something is possible. I'm starting to think it's not as so far today I have managed to blow up a tuner pedal and a pedal board power supply!
I have built a pedal board, really pleased with it, kinda looks like one of those expensive blackbird ones. I wanted to have a kettle/iec input on the side going into the pedalboard power supply. 
I wired the 2 core cable onto the iec chassis, live and neutral, plugged it in and... bang! Tried it twice now hence tuner pedal fire.
What have I done wrong? 

mardymusic

Hopefully here is a picture showing the three things I want to connect. 

mardymusic

this one maybe...

Funkfingers

No pics visible. Probably Photobucket preventing third party use.

mardymusic

Damn it. What do you mean by third party use? I used imgur and created an account first. 

mardymusic

I read the tutorial on here also. Doing it with my phone so maybe that's the problem.
Reckon you could help with the wiring funkfingers? I'll DM you the pic link if that's possible? 

Funkfingers

Imgur should work. Every image that you upload will be given a unique hyperlink. You need to copy and paste the unique direct link into this thread for your photograph to appear.

mardymusic

This one...

mardymusic

http://i.imgur.com/iuValsk.jpg

mardymusic

I think I've done it! Hallebloodylujah!! Any help appreciated. The nordell power core is now buggered, new one ordered. They are great by the way. Cheapish and no noise. 

Funkfingers

Okay. One photograph is now uploaded. Unfortunately, it does not illustrate the modifications that you have performed to the end of the two-core cable and the three-pin socket.

The obvious question that springs to mind is, what is on the other end of your three-pin power supply cable? 

The PowerCore box is a DC distributor. According to the screen-printed legend on the case, the unit is designed to receive 18v DC. That supply has to come from a separate transformer.

If, instead, you connect directly to a 220-240v AC mains electricity supply, it is inevitable that something (or somebody) will be damaged.




The first rule of Electricity Club is ... you DO NOT f*** with electricity.

mardymusic

Ah ok. I was wondering about a transformer. Thanks.
So attached to the end of the 3 pin power supply was the 2 core cable with a 9v pin going into the power core box. On the other end of the 3 pin was a kettle lead.
Any advice on what Components I would need to solve this problem? 
If you haven't guessed so far I am a novice. A 'google how to wire a plug' novice. 

ICBM

If you did as Funkfingers said - which I'd guess you did, because there's really no other way to set fire to a pedal -and connected that little coaxial cable to the back of the IEC socket -

PLEASE STOP NOW before you kill yourself. Seriously. Take all this kit to someone who knows what they're doing and ask/pay them to do it properly.

With respect, although everyone has to start somewhere - mains electricity is not the place to, and there are many safety rules which need to be learned before you can do a job that won't potentially endanger you even if you do get it working.

There is another box which needs to be connected between the IEC socket and the Nordell box - it often comes attached to the mains plug and many modern ones are so small that they are often mistaken for just the plug itself, but there is some extra circuitry in there. If you want to use a board-mounted IEC socket you will need a separate in-line one of these to step the 230VAC down to 18VDC.

mardymusic

Thanks you two. 
I'll be more cautious in future. I did get advice from my father in law before I started, he's an electrician but now I'm starting to think he either didn't know what I was attempting to connect or he doesn't like me very much! 
Ill have a chat with him later. 
Everything you have said makes sense. 
There is a Yess electrical round the corner from me I'll go ask if they have something. 
So the box that comes with laptop power is the sort of thing that would work? 

mardymusic

http://i.imgur.com/fnnpIZj.jpg

mardymusic

That's the inside of a US plug that came with a EHX pedal. It has the 18v pin at the other end. Could I use this? Attach the two red wires to the iec mount? 

mardymusic

Would have to cover the unit after so it's out the way. 

normula1

Even if it were in one piece. that PSU is not powerful enough.
To reiterate @ICBM's earlier comment, please do not mess with mains electricity until / unless you have been trained to do so. It can and may very well kill you and further, if any wiring is not done correctly it may kill someone else too. "covering the unit" is not enough protection.

Sorry to be blunt, but mains electricity is dangerous stuff. To put it into perspective, when I was being trained, I was taught that the lowest voltage to kill someone was 27 volts and mains is not far off ten times that..

mardymusic

Ok. I'm going to get an laptop power unit from ebay and use that. Thanks for everything guys. Appreciate it. First time posting on here after lurking for ages and it's been really helpful.  

ICBM

mardymusic said:

So the box that comes with laptop power is the sort of thing that would work? 

Yes, if it's the correct voltage (18V), current capacity (the same or greater than the Nordell one) and plug polarity (and of course size). If it's *all* of these things then it will work.

The other problem then is how to connect it to the back of the IEC socket in a safe way. You must not just solder the wires on and hope for the best - or even use "insulating" tape to cover them - they need to be properly sleeved and then the whole unit enclosed in a way which covers all the metal parts on the socket completely and can't easily come apart. Bear in mind that if something goes wrong and a live wire gets pulled off and touches something, it could potentially connect to *you* via the pedalboard and the guitar strings.

You may be better mounting a laptop power supply on the board in such a way that you can simply detach its power cord, that way you won't have to worry about doing anything with wiring on the mains side.

Funkfingers

mardymusic said:

I did get advice from my father in law before I started, he's an electrician but now I'm starting to think he either didn't know what I was attempting to connect or he doesn't like me very much! 

Your father-in-law probably based his advice on the incomplete/inaccurate information with which you furnished him. If you show him the remains of what you attempted, he will probably swear loudly for about three minutes.

mardymusic said:

The nordell power core is now buggered, new one ordered. 

If you can afford a new PowerCore distributor box, you can probably stretch to the official/approved wall wart PSU.