Recommendations for a voltage regulator unit

[James G]

I'm looking for something to power the Superclock 4. The transformer in my dac has an unused 12v line. Could I use this and just connect it to a regulator instead of buying an entire power supply?

I'm interested in something ready-made or at least very easy to assemble that could do the clock some justice. Any recommendations?

[leo]

Is it 12v DC ? if so is it RAW DC or is it regulated 12v ?

[James G]

Hi Leo,

It is 12v dc. The wire is coming strait out of the toroidal transformer, so that means raw, right? It is a single blue wire and it has a square plastic plug with a round hole fitted to it.

[leo]

RAW just means straight rectified voltage without any regulation.
If its DC you'll obviously have a rectifier and a smoothing cap on the output of that transformer secondary .
The Superclock4 can take + 5.5V - + 18V so you could try the cheapest easiest option first and tidy up the RAW supply, say change the standard recitiers to schottky and add CRC filtering.
The Superclock4 psu would probably be the best choice if space and funds allow or you could try one of the super regs as pre-regulation .

I preferred the Paul Hynes PR3 used as a pre regged psu over say RAW or standard LM317 based regulation. I need to try some others tbh yet to compare

[James G]

RAW just means straight rectified voltage without any regulation.
If its DC you'll obviously have a rectifier and a smoothing cap on the output of that transformer secondary .
The Superclock4 can take + 5.5V - + 18V so you could try the cheapest easiest option first and tidy up the RAW supply, say change the standard recitiers to schottky and add CRC filtering.
The Superclock4 psu would probably be the best choice if space and funds allow or you could try one of the super regs as pre-regulation .

I preferred the Paul Hynes PR3 used as a pre regged psu over say RAW or standard LM317 based regulation. I need to try some others tbh yet to compare
Hmm, I probably got something mixed up. I'll have another good look next time I open it up, which won't be long.

The rectifiers are these black barrel-like things, right? How can I tell that they are not already Schottky? They all look exactly the same to me. Do you think you could send me a link to the types you are talking about? I'll see if I can find them one day. Thanks!

http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss213/jgjpn/diode.jpg

[leo]

Its possible they are schottky but usually standard types are fitted, they should have a part number printed on them.
TBH I'd rather be sure what that supply was for before changing anything or using it. I wouldn't want anything to go pop :)

[DSJR]

As I recall, PS Audio usually knew what they were doing, so if you don't really know what you're doing - DON'T!!!!! - for fear of damage.

If the wire comes straight off the transformer, it'll almost certainly be AC and will need rectification, smoothing and regulating to the required voltage.

[James G]

Fair enough fellas. It already sounds like it's getting into more than what I bargained for. I think I'll let it be for now.